In America’s cattle regions, a revolutionary change is happening that might transform the feedlot industry. It’s centered around a special kind of probiotic, a tiny hero in the world of biology.

Blaine is not a truck driver. Yet somehow, here he is on Christmas Eve, grinding the gears of a not-as-new-as-it-looks Peterbilt pulling a recently emptied livestock trailer.

Depending on who you talk to, attitudes toward the use of implants in beef cattle production are very different. Most finishing yards are using implants today unless cattle are enrolled in a non-implant, natural or organic program that prohibits their use.

Efficiency of production, quality of product and sustainability are the intuitive goals of the cattle industry. Producers and consumers alike are interested in the economy of scale and acceptance of beef.

According to the USDA’s latest Cattle on Feed report, cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S. for feedlots with capacity of at least 1,000 head totaled 11 million head on Aug. 1.

“Male sexed semen is an opportunity to capture value,” said Kansas State University's Ken Odde, who also helps manage a family cow-calf ranch in South Dakota. “The opportunity’s greater when the price spread between steers and heifers is significant.”

In recent years, the dairy industry has witnessed a significant rise in the number of beef cross calves being born. This emerging trend of crossbreeding dairy cows with beef bulls at a large scale has not been a linear process.