. Loading a straw in the A.I. Syringe 1. Keep the straw in the cito thaw for at least 30 seconds, but not more than 15 minutes. 2. Once the straw is thawed, pull it out of the thaw unit and dry it off with a paper towel. Water is lethal to sperm. 3. Cut the crimped end with the cito cutter. Do not cut the end with the cotton plug. 4. Obtain a sheath and push and twist the straw until it clicks into the adaptor. 5. Push the straw and adapter into the sheath until the cotton plug end is just on the outside of the sheath. 6. Pull back the syringe plunger about 5 inches. 7. Place the sheath over the syringe with the straw going inside of the plunger. 8. Push the sheath all the way onto the syringe, forcing the adapter to the bottom of the sheath. Loading a straw in the A.I. Syringe 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Secure the spiral syringe by pushing and twisting the sheath onto the spiral part of the syringe. Press the plunger in until you feel it hit the cotton plug. Do not press too hard and lose any semen. Wrap the end that is inserted in the cow with a paper towel. Tuck in your shirt. Put the semen in the front of your shirt to keep the semen warm until you find the target in the cow. Pull the syringe from you shirt and deposit water slowly into a waste basket. Undo the sheath and discard it so another student can use the syringe. After 30 seconds with the straw in the cito thaw, take it out and wipe off all the water because the water will kill the semen. Use the cito cutter to cut the end of the straw off in a straight, even cut so that the straw will seed properly. When you place the straw into the sheath, you hold the sheath’s blue stopper in place with your left hand and place the end of the straw that you cut into the stopper until it clicks in place. Push the straw down into the sheath until there is about an inch of the straw still sticking out of the end of the sheath Grab the A.I. rod in your right hand and have the sheath and straw in the left hand. Make sure that the plunger of the A.I. rod is out about four inches, this is so that you will not push any of the semen out of the straw while putting the sheath on the A.I. rod. Put the end of the A.I. rod on the palm of your hand as shown and then, with the sheath in between your thumb and your first finger, guide the straw into the A.I. rod. This is showing the A.I. rod and the sheath at the end when the stopper is pushed all the way down. When you push the sheath onto the A.I. rod and you near about an inch of the end make sure that your O-ring is over the sheath and then slide both of them up. Some A.I. rods also have you twist the sheath into place instead of using the O-ring. After you are all set up, put a towel on the end of the A.I. rod and put it down your shirt, with your shirt tucked in. This is to keep the semen warm until you are ready to insert the A.I. rod into the cow or heifer. After you have the A.I. rod in your shirt, turn your shoulder length glove inside out and put it on your left hand if you are right handed, and your right hand if you are left handed. After you put the shoulder length glove on, put some lube on and then you are ready to go to the cow or heifer.