My parents stopped using AI during foot and mouth. Got a bull in as soon as and now buys calves from local dairy farms and rears them on. Bull a few people do bull hire, They will bring the bull to you, not sure of cost or minimum times.
When you only have a couple of cattle an AI would be your best option, it will give you more of a selection of bulls.
Although starting to use bulls again improved the conception rate within the dairy herd. They are shifted on quite early as friesian bulls tend to turn quite nasty.