Reproductive efficiency is a key driver of profitability in a cow-calf operation, since females that don’t conceive still consume resources without producing a return. Several factors influence pregnancy outcomes, including animal health, nutrition, stress and adherence to estrus synchronization protocols.

Some producers may be leery of adopting practices such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization due to perceived high costs and risk factors. Here’s a look at some of the numbers.

Optimizing the timing of insemination relative to estrus expression is a key factor in achieving high reproductive efficiency in dairy herds.

Maternal traits have been the core consideration for cow-calf producers when making breeding decisions and for good reason. The cow is the engine of productivity at the producer level.

Sire overconditioning is a prevalent issue in the beef industry. While “fat sells” when it comes to selling bulls, research has shown that excessive conditioning can negatively affect semen quality.

The number of straws of beef semen sold to the dairy industry has more than doubled in the last five years, although dairy cow numbers have been relatively stagnant. So what has changed?

The usual suspects (expected progeny differences [EPDs], genomic testing, heterosis) were covered, as were some issues (beef-on-dairy, methane emissions, cardiac health) that may have been a bit more of a surprise to the uninitiated at an event ostensibly dedicated to beef cattle genetics.

As a dairy geneticist, I am trained to preach precision breeding for high genetic gain. Therefore, mixing multiple bulls in one semen straw felt counterintuitive. But the dairy industry is not what it was 50, 30 or even 15 years ago.

This spring season has seen colder-than-normal temperatures in many parts of the country. Cold temperatures and wind can result in damage to bulls’ ability to produce viable semen. Bull breeding soundness exams offer the opportunity to identify and remove bulls from the breeding herd that have a low probability of siring calves.