Selective breeding has delivered benefits that are part of our industry’s rich history of effective farming. These breeding methods have improved productivity while using fewer natural resources
A record 9 million units of beef semen were sold to U.S. dairy farmers and cattle ranchers last year. This is an impressive number considering that sales stood at what was at that time a record 2.5 million...
Many A.I. studs are now offering straws of semen that contain sperm from multiple bulls. To understand the potential advantage of a mixed, or “heterospermic,” A.I. dose, let’s review...
Bob and Kay Zwald, the husband and wife team from Bomaz, Inc., Hammond, Wisconsin, are National Dairy Shrine’s Distinguished Dairy Cattle Breeder Award winner for 2021
Inbreeding is a complicated process. It has gained concern over the past decade as it’s become even easier to distribute sought-after genetics into more and more populations
The breeding age heifer contributes greatly to the future success of a dairy. She can also be the source of lost opportunities. Joe Dalton, University of Idaho, addressed the importance of getting young...
Every dairy farmer is striving for the same thing: the prefect cow. She milks better than any other cow and her components are 5 percent fat and 4 percent protein. She’s obviously pretty
Most Halloween stories are told to a tune of scary music that leave you feeling frightened and weary. When given the choice of trick or treat, we will all typically choose treat
In some livestock species, multiple births are preferred, but that certainly is not the case in dairy cattle. "Nobody likes to have twins. Twins are an incredible problem," said Paul Fricke, a dairy cattle...
Multiple options to consider when breeding heifers. One of your greatest assets should be your heifer population. Raising quality heifers starts with proper sire selection, good dry cow and late-gestation...
Welcome to A.I. breeding 101 - a virtual college class held here today! We have come a long way since the 1970s when fixed-time A.I. was first attempted in our industry. In those days, prostaglandin F2?...
Achieving excellent reproductive performance is a critical goal for any dairy enterprise because reproductive efficiency drives overall profitability. Although numerous factors affect reproductive performance,...
In 1989, a major breakthrough in sperm sexing was reported by USDA scientists in rabbits. Insemination of rabbit does with Y-chromosome-bearing sperm resulted in 81 percent males, whereas insemination...
When was the last time you or your A.I. technicians had an A.I. refresher course? A.I. breeding is not like riding a bicycle - once you master the skill of cycling you have no need of a refresher course....
What's the best timed A.I. program? There are so many synchronization programs that can be used on my dairy herd. My question for a future Artificial Breeding column is which synchronization program would...