Over the years, the dairy industry has dialed in its focus on understanding that gender ratio impacts profitability. It has become commonplace to manage the number of heifers you are creating and optimize the value of those calves not intended for the replacement pen. When you are contemplating the gender ratio of your calf crop, you must answer the question, “Do you need a pregnancy aimed at future herd genetics or short-term profitability?”
Future investment or short-term cash flow
Because of higher input costs and strong calf prices, determining the outcome of every pregnancy has never been more important. The decisions you make on breeding day impact the future of that calf before the pregnancy is even confirmed. You can create two types of calves – one for future herd genetics and the other for short-term cash flow. Before your breeding day, you must determine how many of each kind of calf you need to ensure you are producing the right number for each bucket.
Determining the number of ideal females you need for your future goals is crucial, as raising a heifer is an investment. However, if you decide to breed for too many short-term cash-flow beef pregnancies, you may have to buy replacements in a market with no surplus of heifers, which can get costly.
Think about these questions when determining the outcome of each pregnancy:
- What is your current herd performance versus your future herd goals?
- Why are you culling females in your herd and at what rate?
- How many heifers do you need to raise?
- What opportunities do you have when marketing beef crosses?
Yes, every pregnancy has a purpose, but determining their outcomes is critical. The positive news is that in today’s day and age, you have the tools available to zero in on the selection intensity of your females and maximize the value of your beef cross calves. Let’s dive into the tools you have in your toolbelt to maximize profitability on your dairy.
Make genetic progress faster with embryos
The major benefit of implementing in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos in your genetic plan is the rate of genetic progress you can make. You can create an entire herd of ideal cows and optimize the return on your investment when using IVF embryos. With this tool, you can make dramatic changes in one generation because of the increase in selection intensity. That’s where it pays off.
Picture a bell-shaped curve. With IVF embryos, you can multiply your best cows – the most genetically superior animals – from the middle portion of your herd. To say it another way, you can increase your selection intensity, for example, to the top 10% of your herd, and the cows in the middle portion who are good producers become recipients of a higher-genetic-quality heifer calf. IVF embryos allow your herd’s best cows to generate multiple heifer replacements versus one as the result of artificial insemination. While focused on the female side of things, it is critical to point out that with IVF embryos you can use higher genetic merit sires and reap his benefit across multiple cows.
This tool is quickly becoming more utilized in today’s dairy operations. Here are a few of the benefits IVF embryos bring to the table:
- Creates a more elite and uniform group of animals
- Greatly reduces twinning rates on a dairy
- Improves summertime conception performance by removing the fertilization factor of breeding
- Increases the actual lifetime profit of your herd by improving its genetic value
While there are many benefits, there are also a few challenges you must consider. First, IVF embryos do cost more when it comes to creating a pregnancy when compared to artificial insemination. Second, it takes a very defined reproduction plan to carry out all the logistics of implantation. Finally, there is the opportunity to experience higher abortion and stillbirth rates. While we don’t mention these to make you shy away from using this tool, we do want you to be aware of the challenges and express why it is important to have a partner when implementing. Regardless, the benefits far outweigh the challenges when considering the genetic progress made when using IVF embryos.
Prepare for future demands with male-sexed beef semen
The next tool that is gaining traction for dairies is male-sexed beef semen. While it doesn’t necessarily bring genetic progress to your herd, it can increase the value of the calf you create. The beef supply chain realizes the benefits steers bring to their systems in terms of better feed efficiency, average daily gain and feed conversion. Markets such as Overland Stockyard are noticing the value of male animals and rewarding producers based on their calves’ gender.
Today, it may feel like you shouldn’t pay attention to the gender of your calf crop because of the strong need to fill bunk space in feedyards and hooks at the packers, which drives solid calf prices. However, when the market softens, it will be key to produce a black calf that excels for supply chain profit drives – feed efficiency, carcass traits and growth traits – and not just a live black calf. At that point, your calf buyers will be pickier, but your awareness of tools can help you stay ahead of the curve.
Male-sexed semen provides you the opportunity to leverage your team, facility and business strengths. If you can retain ownership of these beef calves to a designated weight rather than selling day-olds, this is where you’ll see the advantages of genetics designed for the beef supply chain. You glean the benefits of running a beef cow-calf herd without the beef cow and get paid for your calf growth quality. Changing the ratio of the gender of your calf crop – like you’ve done for years with dairy genetics – can help differentiate yourself and lead to sustainability.
Where to use these tools in your genetic plan
Since these tools are beginning to gain traction in the marketplace, here are a few suggestions on where to use them in your genetic plan:
- Embryos and male-sexed semen should be deployed into fertile heats that will result in a pregnancy, but only in animals not critically needed to create a replacement – think of females you want to harvest milk from but not genetics.
- Females who are good candidates for embryos or male-sexed semen are the ones who are healthy, will give us another calf and will remain in the herd through that lactation.
- Typically, you would want to use embryos and male-sexed semen in young animals and use on first and second services.
- When implementing male-sexed semen, you should handle it just like female-sexed.
You have access to more tools in your toolbelt today than ever before. Are you leveraging them to maximize profitability?