In fact, a poll question during the September Hoard’s Dairyman webinar revealed that 71% of listeners currently use sexed semen in lactating cows. Before the poll results came in, webinar presenter Paul Fricke, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, guessed that number might even be higher. “There’s a lot of sexed semen now being used on dairy cows,” he stated.

Demand for heifers, or less demand for dairy bull calves, is one reason sexed semen became popular. The desire to make female calves from genetically superior animals is another. Fricke pointed out that another factor contributing to expanded sexed semen use is improved reproductive performance in dairy cattle.

Sharing data from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), Fricke explained that days open trended upward from 1955 to 2000, indicating that reproductive performance was declining over that period. In 2000, that trend reversed itself, and reproduction in dairy cattle continues to improve.

Fricke pointed to timed A.I. protocols, which first arrived on the scene in the mid-1990s, and the more recent addition of automated monitoring systems as tools that improved dairies’ ability to get semen into cows. Conception rates have also improved greatly, from an average in the mid-30% range just 10 years ago or so to near 50% now. He credited double ovsynch protocols, the high fertility cycle, and genetic selection as some contributing factors.

“We’ve been very successful at turning around the poor reproductive performance in lactating dairy cows,” he said.

Over the last decade, not only has sexed semen use climbed upward, but so has beef semen use in dairy cattle. Beef semen does not have the same fertility level as conventional dairy semen, but that no longer stops people from using it. In 2023, 7.9 million of the 9.4 million units of beef semen sold domestically were used in dairy herds.

“I think the reason we are able to use more sexed and beef semen in lactating dairy cows is the increase in fertility we’ve seen in lactating dairy cows,” Fricke shared.

To learn more about Fricke’s research in this area, view the Hoard’s Dairyman webinar, titled “Where’s the beef? Exploring the use of sexed semen, beef semen, and beef embryos.” This webinar was sponsored by Cryoport Systems.