With dairy heifer inventory numbers at an all-time low along with a high demand for Beef on Dairy cross calves, optimizing the value of every pregnancy needs to be at the center of breeding strategies. Dr. Ben Voelz, STgenetics® Technical Service Team Manager shares some insights into the evolving market dynamics and why a strategic semen allocation plan is critical for today’s dairy operations.
“The current state of the heifer replacement market is one of limited supply. The dairy heifer inventory market is at the lowest it's been since about the 1950s, and that's primarily been driven by the demand for valuable Beef on Dairy cross calves,” says Ben when discussing the current state of the industry. “The beef cattle inventory is also at a low for the industry. With that, we’ve seen the increased need to supplement the beef market with these Beef on Dairy cross calves, and since numbers don’t show that the beef cattle market has rebounded yet, I would anticipate that the Beef on Dairy calf market will continue to be strong for some period of time.”
With those numbers in mind and no end in sight for replacement heifer shortages or rebound for beef herd numbers, it is critical to create and raise the right heifers, while also maximizing the value of each pregnancy on the farm. Ben adds that this scenario of low inventories is presenting dairy producers a unique opportunity and bringing them more options when it comes to their breeding decisions. “I think that dairy producers’ flexibility is really at an all-time high in the industry with the advancements that we've made in gender-semen technology, the improvements that the industry has made in reproductive management or just on farm management practices. With that strong beef on dairy market, we have a ton of options when it comes to making strategic breeding decisions on farms today.”
When looking specifically at how to direct semen allocation on the farm, Ben says making the enough of the right replacements needs to be the priority. And that really comes down to having a well thought out plan for the future, focused on the goals of the dairy, the current state of the dairy, and the direction that is going to ensure there is a general target for herd size down the road.
“So we want to make sure that we're making enough heifers for the herd to sustain. In order to do that, we can strategically use gender-sorted dairy semen to create the best female replacement for the herd and for the future,” Ben notes. “With that being said, we also can strategically use gender-sorted male beef semen on the herd to create a higher value Beef on Dairy cross calf. So it's really, when we're talking about semen allocation, it's a balancing act of making sure that we're creating the correct or the needed number of female heifer dairy replacements and then maximizing the value of that Beef on Dairy calf crop as well."
With the current feed costs of raising heifer replacements, feed efficiency is also a factor that Ben says producers should consider. “The best way to reduce, say heifer rearing cost is to make a more feed efficient heifer. We can do that using genetic selection traits such as EcoFeed® that we've developed here in STgenetics®. Focusing on improving feed efficiency and really optimizing the gross potential based on the amount of feed that that animal's going to consume, we're able to produce a more profitable animal without sacrificing things like production traits or really giving up anything on the health trait side as well.”
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