Madison Co. Virginia | Brown Cow - 5/16/2021 19:31
I've never used sexed semen, and I don't expect I ever will. I just don't like the idea of what I think it's done to the dairy industry. I have bought from CRV a few times, this is the first year I've actually bought any NZ semen. Not sure if they do sexed stuff, but I've always had good experiences working with them.
To me, sexed semen offers the chance to get the highest value calves I can from my limited number of pregnancies. Nobody wants to buy Jersey bull calves. But I want Jersey heifers, and my friends want to buy my Angus crosses. Sexed semen allows me to accomplish this.
Edit: on a national level, supply and demand will prevail. If too many heifers come onto the market, the sellers will start using beef semen instead. If the price of heifers goes up, the balance will swing the other way, and dairymen will use more sexed dairy semen. It's allowed the market to become a lot more fluid and flexible than it once was, but ultimately it's not a bad thing.
I think it also improves the genetic potential of the heifers on the open market, because they are now average or slightly above average, instead of just being the lowest quality offspring that the seller didn't want.
Edited by kipps 5/17/2021 09:47
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Question for dairy farmers on cattle breeding
