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Buying
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How
Many Straws?
The main question to answer before purchasing a semen tank is
how many straws will be stored. You must remember that a tank with a 500
straw capacity may only hold that many if they are packed at the lab. If
the canes are tight fitting you may not get them back into the canister
after pulling a straw to breed a cow. On average a 500 straw capacity tank
with 6 canisters will actually hold about 400 to 450 straws comfortably. The
larger the canister size the closer to the advertised holding capacity.
The larger diameter canister has a less severe curve and lets the canes
fall back into them easier.
It is important to understand that many people underestimate the capacity
they will need. In only a few years time you will accumulate semen because
of various sales and the use of newer bulls. You may want to keep the
older semen you have to use at a later date and over time the tank becomes
crowded. Also, you may have purchased only a few straws of one bull but it
will take up the room of ten straws because they are on a 10 straw cane. Overestimate the size you feel you will need and avoid being one
of the folks that calls me a year later saying "I should have gotten
the bigger tank!"
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Under
500 units to store?
If you want to store under 500 straws you will want to look at any
of the tanks in the 20 to 22 liter range. These are the least expensive of
all the tanks available, are very efficient and portable. There are
smaller tanks out there but they are used for shipping and have a
specially designed internal component that absorbs liquid nitrogen. The
addition of this material makes this tank more expensive. If you
want to store under 500 straws and Cost is the
main issue we recommend the
MVE XC20.
All liquid nitrogen tanks must be filled periodically as the liquid
evaporates and the level in the tank becomes lower. Cost of filling a tank
varies from region to region and can be quite expensive in some areas. (click
here to get an idea of costs in our area)
The longer the holding time a tank has the more time between fills.
When looking at specifications on the tanks the Static
Time is the amount of time a tank will hold liquid if it is
completely full of liquid nitrogen and is allowed to evaporate without
pulling out the cork. Working Time
is the length of time a full tank will become completely empty if it is
used on a daily basis (i.e. during breeding season). The more often the
cork is pulled and semen removed the shorter time between fills. If
you want to store less than 500 straws and Holding
Time is the main issue we recommend the SC
36/32
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What is the Difference?
The main question I get about the MVE
line of tanks refers to the 20 liter series. The MVE SC20, XC20, and SC20/20
look almost identical. The SC20 and XC20 are identical except for the
canister size. Usually you will see a difference in price between the two
tanks from other distributors but we purchase them at the same price and in
turn sell them at the same price.
The SC20/20 is an older version of these two tanks and is actually a bit
more expensive to produce due to the different style lid. In my
opinion there is no realized gain by the old style lid so there is no real
value in picking this tank over an XC20.
We do stock all three simply because some folks don't do their own research
and end up buying whatever their neighbor has in the barn.
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Resale
Value
There are many tanks on the market but only a few brands that will have
increased resale value based on the name. Of course all tanks lose value
in time but if you may be selling your tank within a few years this is an
important consideration. If Resale Value is
the main issue we recommend MVE
Brand. Check out the
Used Tank section to see
how well the MVE tanks hold their value as opposed to other brands.
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