A.I. & Breeding

“Knowledge is power” is a commonly used phrase, and in the dairy genetics business today, there is no shortage of information available for dairy farmers to use to try to breed a more profitable herd of cows.

Some dairy producers who are breeding for beef crossbreds are only looking at two things: the price of semen and getting an animal that is as black as possible.

Producers can capitalize on available reproductive technologies to breed efficient, profitable cows. Multiple ovulation-embryo transfer (MOET) and ovum pickup and in vitro fertilization (OPU-IVF) are two such technologies that offer producers the ability to obtain offspring from high-net-merit females and bulls to achieve faster genetic progress.

You likely have heard of or already are implementing strategic breeding in your dairy herd through use of beef genetics, but the elephant (or beef-cross calf) in the room is this: What beef genetics should you be using?

Beta-casein gene influences production of milk protein casein which has A1 & A2 variants.

Creating a pregnancy requires your keen attention to animal health and welfare through a cow’s entire lactation. The road to creating a pregnancy begins long before you actually inseminate the cow.