Use and users of artificial insemination in Swedish dairy cattle breeding, 1935–1955

ABSTRACT From the middle of the twentieth century, the new technologies and techniques of artificial insemination (a.i.) transformed dairy cattle husbandry and breeding across dairy-producing countries. While there are nuanced and multi-faceted studies of early a.i., previous work has not engaged much with its material usage, meaning that we know little about how different techniques, practices, and animal reactions promoted or restricted a.i’.s use for particular purposes. Here, I address this aspect by studying early a.i. in Swedish cattle breeding as a concrete set of technical artefacts used by humans and animals, thus reframing a.i’.s early history as a problem of use and users. I focus specifically on the artificial vagina, the predominant instrument used to gather bull semen, and show how the modes of use and non-use of the artificial vagina not only helped shape a.i. itself but also veterinary expertise, the institutions of breeding, and parts of the Swedish agrarian economy.