50,000 actual pounds of milk in a 365-day lactation … Is still an enormous achievement for any Holstein cow!

 

50,000 pounds  (actual, not “Mature Equivalent”—which old timers call “Maybe Eventually”)  is 137 pounds per day, every day for a year.     While a normal lactation less than the world record cows (82,600 pounds in Japan;  78,170 pounds in the USA;  68,900 pounds for Red & Whites), it is still a magnificent 99^th percentile achievement for any dairy cow.

Our combine of  “real numbers”  AI studs may have the most sons of such cows

The ”Big Genomic AI studs” have adapted the IVF- ET technology to its most extreme level, thus their embryo donors never calve—never produce a drop of “real” milk.    The surgical process in use to harvest oocytes [eggs] from juvenile ovaries basically ruins the donor for any production.
With the exception of bulls big studs may buy from a handful of competing breeder-dairymen, you will never see a production record (or classification score) on the ancestry of their Genomic sires.    There are now bulls in AI service with no verified lactation or classification records for their nearest three generations of dams and grandams.

Examples  of  “real numbers”  cows behind bulls we offer

54 HO 929  Joliam DR Gamechanger- ET     (aAa 6 1 5)      A1A1 Beta Casein            $ 15
This even-tempered and intelligent bull is owned by No Bull Solutions.     His dam is the amazing USA world-record holder Selz-Pralle Aftershock 3918 who has twice exceeded 70,000 pounds (in fact, she did this back to back with only 55 days dry between!)  so has  three 50,000# lactations.
Her life production total of 317,150 pounds means she averaged 153 pounds per day in milk!!

54 HO 935  Jeffrey-Way Sporty *RC- ET       (aAa 2 4 3)                                           $ 15
This bull’s EX 94- 3E “Gold Medal” dam proves that polled in no way interferes with production.   Her last three lactations all exceed 50,000 pounds milk on 2x milking; with a life total to date of over 316,170 pounds at 12 years of age she continues to soldier on adding to exceptional totals.   Six of his seven nearest pedigree dams have made lactations above 40,000 pounds, proving this sort of behavior is maternally heritable.

Also worth considering:    566 HO 1303  Misty-Moor Porsche- ET    (aAa 3 1 5)     A2A2
His lower Somatic Cell Scores reinforce that healthy udders produce more milk, like his momma!
                                       288 HO 0237  Adaway Rio 2183    (aAa 3 4 5)     A2A2  &  BB
He has three maternal dams all over 40,000 pounds at immature ages, and is our highest PTAM.

Foreign investors now control the “Big AI” systems in the USA

 

Originally viewed as a major technology transformation in Dairy genetic selection, DNA mapping of the bovine genome is used to calculate “Genomic” index values.   Wider use of gender-sorted semen (under a patent controlled by Inguran LLC, dba “Sexing Technologies”) came about due to the sales spin put on Genomic “values”, causing a shift in favor of marketing young sires over progeny-tested sires, and the faster turnover of bulls from marketing lists.    

                              A destabilizing decade of change for the AI industry
At the time these two factors took hold the major Dairy AI studs were Accelerated Genetics, CRI Genex, Select Sires, ABS Global, Semex, Alta Genetics,Taurus-Service and International Protein Sires.   Sexing Technologies quickly formed “ST Genetics”  using the cash this generated to invest in high value Genomic ET donors…   Now, after ten years, first Accelerated failed and was absorbed into Select Sires;  then Genex failed and was absorbed into Alta Genetics;  Taurus-Service was purchased by ST Genetics; and last fall it was announced that Select Sires and ST Genetics are merging their genetic programs and technology development.   Ownership control of “big [Genomic] USA- AI” is now in Columbia, Europe, and Canada … 

Dean Wittenbach—in memoriam

  Many of you will remember Dean, our long-time route serviceman originally hired by my Dad (Charles Palen) back in the late “Curtiss” days, transitioning to Tri-State Breeders and Landmark Genetics, then Semex USA, then Taurus-Service.    Retiring in 2017, he had lived quietly with wife Julie outside Ionia.    Dean dealt with major circulation issues since then, and passed away after a heart attack late December. 
He was 72 years old.   

CONFIRMING PREGNANCY IN THE FALL

 

A highly skilled inseminator on a ranch with a lot of cows might choose to purchase their own “Ultrasound” equipment, but you have to be prepared to spend around $ 5,000.    For the rest of us, hiring a veterinary service to check the herd once or twice a year still pays, IF you decide to send the “open” cows to market, to save the feed $$ they will cost to carry to next season.

The cheapest alternatives today may include the Enlabs “P Test” which is a strip that will test for hormones in the urine stream.     They will give some indication nearly as early after breeding as ultrasound, but are most accurate around 60 days post breeding— and when you are checking spring bred cows in the fall, this covers a majority of the cows.

Breeding cows to get pregnant more easily, is a good long term strategy.    How much money is an “open” cow making you?     (She is costing you feed instead.)      How much do you currently spend to achieve optimal pregnancy percentages?     Genetic selection for cow fertility is maybe even more important to cow-calf profitability than chasing the premium price “performance” sires that do not enhance fertility genetics in your future cow herd.

Irregardless, whether seeking show type “clubby” sires, or performance type purebred sires, or maternal traits sires, our selection of breeds and variety of breeder sources works in your favor.

Mich Livestock Service, Inc  ***     “For the best in bulls”   as well as    “Higher energy forages”
ph (989) 834- 2661                              email:  greg@michiganlivestock.com

Yes, we stock “portable” semen tanks

 

Many of you keep an extra standard size (20 liters, six canisters) semen tank to be able to use portably in the breeding season or when attending events where semen gets traded.    As the typical “standard” tank weighs close to 60 pounds full, this can give you a strenuous workout in corrals or at fairgrounds when you get parked in the “back 40”.

We now stock for sale new “portable” semen tanks from MVE.     The canisters hold as many semen canes as a standard tank, but they only take 10 liters of liquid nitrogen and will weigh 20 pounds less when full than that older standard size 20 liter tank. 

Unlike the “vapor style” shippers accepted by UPS and Federal Express, that only hold nitrogen for three weeks, these model SC 11/7 vessels will usually hold long enough to be recharged on our eight-week service schedules.        They are 9 inches in diameter and 22 inches tall, so will ride on the car floor behind a seat or in the cargo space of a cab pickup.

At any time you find you need to upgrade your semen storage and transport equipment, give us a chance to help you arrive at the ideal configurations.

 

Mich Livestock Service, Inc   ***     “For the Best in Bulls”     “High Energy forages”
110 N Main St   (P.O. Box 661)   Ovid,  MI  48866    office ph (989) 834- 2661 fax (989) 834- 2914
website:  www.michiganlivestock.com        email:  greg@michiganlivestock.com

Select bulls from long-life naturally productive cows

 

What do we know about any momma cow who earns the nickname of “brood cow”?    She gets with calf every year.   She delivers a live calf every year.    She coaxes that calf to life after birth, getting it to stand up, teaching it to nurse.     As that calf grows alongside her, she teaches it to forage for its feed, preparing it for a seamless weaning.    She does this every year into a great older age.     No cow gets “old” unless she has good reproductive genes.     Any son she raises should have half his genetic makeup from her;  hopefully, it includes the natural fertility genes.

These kinds of cows produce the “maternal trait” bulls.     As much as you can, get your cows bred to enough “maternal trait” sires that their heifers meet your annual replacement needs.    It will over time produce a less efficient cow herd if you are forced to keep heifers from the “performance type” sires, as they will be more masculine/less feminine, have bigger calves and more difficult calving, all indicators of a progressive loss of fertility (the result of “single trait selection” over multiple generations).

Using “performance” sires on “maternal” cows maintains a constant level of heterosis in your mating results, so you will get competitive growth on your male “market” calves and superior mothering ability and potential long herdlife from your female calves.     The odd female that is not “shemale” enough to be a good mother cow brings a good price in today’s fed cattle market.

All “production” in animals and plants starts with “reproduction”

 

Should it be a surprise that statistically, the “average” of “club calf” cow herds is lower for all reproduction measurements than is true of “bare bones commercial” cow-calf operations?

In the case of “club calf” breeding, the focus is on genetic selection.    Specifically, we seek out sires with known success in siring top “show calves” or, among younger sires, a close pedigree relationship to such sires.     There is NO correlation between “show phenotype” and the basic economics of natural fertility, calving ease, growth to weaning, growth after weaning, marbling or other carcass traits.    One of you once told me, “the most important selection trait is HAIR.”  

Purebred breeders, on the other hand, should not be smug about purebred advantages in the competition with crossbreeders.     For example, there is a disturbing percentage of cattlemen who complain of  “lameness” in Angus service bulls bred with a selection focus on weaning and yearling weight gain.    In the “EPD” breeds, outside purebred shows, there is no consistency in selection for “phenotype” (physical conformation) and its relationship to adaptation to variable environments.      A feedlot is a long ways from a “natural” environment, but it is considered a viable “economic” environment.

To summarize, while different breeds and crosses appear superior in a given environment, the one constant across all environments is --  no calf equals zero income.    No cow-calf operation makes a dime from any cow that cannot produce a live calf each calving season.    In spite of this basic fact of commercial beef cow economics, all of us as purebred or show breeders have been (and may continue to be) guilty of “holding over” an open cow to the next year…

How do we select for optimal reproduction genetics?

Decades in the AI business have taught us, the relative conception rate of each bull has little to no correlation with cow fertility rates.    The physiology of male fertility is quite simple compared to female fertility:  produce normal sperm cells (intact acrosomal caps), within healthy testicles (no fat tissue inside and away from the body outside), and when used naturally, maintain good libido (seeking out and breed any cows in heat).      

By contrast, female fertility involves both physiology (produce healthy eggs on a regular cycle, maintain a healthy uterus through repeated parturition and involution) and metabolism (good use of nutrient energy intake to maintain body condition during lactation so that new pregnancy occurs in the desired season).     Increasingly, blamed on seasonal shortage of labor, we now use “OvSynch” [synthetic hormone injection] to enable AI reproduction in place of heat detection on the natural cycle.    Again, the external human/management/economic environment will use a technology solution to solve a natural biological opportunity, in spite of its impact on costs.

So how do we breed for momma cows that give us the best chance of successful reproduction?