Last weekend my youngest children were introduced to the Disney animated movie “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. It had been many years since I had seen it myself and I had forgotten most of it, even though my oldest children grew up watching it repeatedly. If you’ve never seen the movie, it’s the story of a disfigured young man born of gypsy heritage in Paris, raised in the sanctuary of Notre Dame cathedral. He becomes enamored with a young gypsy woman who saves him from a severe mob hazing in his first venture outside the cathedral walls. A pinnacle moment in the movie is when he swings down from the top of the cathedral to rescue the young woman who is being burned at the stake. He sets her free and carries her to the top of the cathedral, raising her unconscious, limp body over his head as he shouts repeatedly to the masses below, “Sanctuary!! Sanctuary!! Sanctuary!!!!”

As I watched the movie with my children and the story began to come back to me, I couldn’t help thinking about current issues within the swine industry in my home state of Wisconsin. 

Artificial insemination in swine has become such a common practice over the last 30 years that many almost take for granted the amount of science involved in the process. While the basic concept has remained constant since the beginning, the technology continues to evolve. New semen extenders, new single-dose protocols and new catheter styles are all being promoted in the quest to improve fertility results while using fewer and fewer sperm cells. I am often asked about the best catheters to use for AI in pigs. Let’s review the various styles.