Semen storage, transport, handling and thawing

 

There has been a lot of discussion on these topics  this winter.   Many inseminators are in such a hurry they put the straw directly into the AI gun unthawed, theorizing the cow’s body temperature will thaw it adequately.    Others, especially those trained by CRI Genex, are using “pocket thaw” rather than the universally recommended warm water bath.

CRI Genex (and Taurus Service) were the only major AI companies to use whole milk as a fluid extender for semen straw packaging.    “Cream” is the natural substance most able to protect the sperm cells through the critical temperatures at which water crystallizes.    Thus they could get away with recommending “pocket thaw”, knowing full well that this would damage sperm cells extended in the more common egg yolk, powdered citrate, or soybean oil fluids used by their AI competitors.   In our opinion, given you generally do not know which choice was made for the bulls you buy, warm water thaw bath at temperatures between 92 F and 98 F are your best bet, especially for late fall, winter, and early spring when air temperatures are well below a cow’s body temp.

Why was whole milk not universally used?    (1)  the cream content of commercial “whole” milk varies by 40%  (3.25% minimum to over 4% blended average);  (2)  it is the most difficult media to be able to see the motility and acrosomal retention on sperm cells, requiring more expensive magnification.   Volume semen produced in AI studs goes more smoothly with other extenders.

The bigger issues affecting conception rates over longer-term semen storage

Prior to 1968, semen was generally packaged in 1.0 or 1.2 cc pyrex (glass) ampules.   These are easier to transfer between tanks, can be stored virtually indefinitely without loss of potency, BUT required eight to ten minutes thawing time (in 40F ice water) to fully liquify.    Even after experimentation with warm water thawing, you still need two minutes to reach body temps.

From 1968 forward, the French straw system took over, using a 1/2cc plastic wand that took up less tank space (10 on a cane compared to 6 or 8 ampules) AND would thaw out in 40 seconds in warm water.    The stainless steel breeding guns offered a bit more rigidity than the plastic tubes used with ampules.     Under optimal handling, conception rates initially rose from this switch from ampules to straws, as faster freezing and thawing saved sperm cells.

However, the transfer of straw canes between tanks had to be done faster (eight seconds or less is recommended), and the longer straws are stored, the risk of exposure damage to straws in the upper cups on canes was greater.    Canisters holding the canes should not be lifted above the neck tube when extracting a straw to breed a cow.     ALSO once thawed that straw needs to be in the cow within 15 minutes  and protected from temperature drops (“wind chill”) once the AI gun is loaded.    It is also advantageous to warm the AI gun before inserting the straw.    None of these precautions were necessary in the days of ampules and ice water thawing.

Gender-sorted semen (and most imported sires) are in the even more fragile 1/ 4 cc ministraw.

What really defines an outcross sire today?

 

How do we avoid “inbreeding depression” when the new sires are all related?

How do we avoid breeding cows too big for our freestalls, too straight-legged to walk concrete alleys, too short-teated to milk out without liner slippage?

How do we avoid making cows too narrow and shallow to eat a least-cost forage-based ration?     Cows who also need hoof-trimming constantly to avoid lameness?    

How do we breed cows to get a full lifetime of production, so we are not stuck with fast cow turnover and $3500+ replacement cow auction values?

 

We know how.    Maybe it is time you ask us for a little help.

 

 

Mich Livestock Service, Inc   “For the Best in Bulls”    and    “High energy forage seeds”
ph (989) 834- 2661        email greg@michiganlivestock.com       PO Box 661  Ovid, MI 48866

Examples of “heterosis” sires

In “aAa” terms, in which six major qualities relating to all the functions you expect from a cow are analyzed in your cows and in available AI sires, the vast majority of higher Genomic value sires will express these three qualities:

TALL   (aAa #2)    is the physical expression of the “growth” hormone (bovine somatotropin) in which adolescent feed intake goes to bone and internal organ growth, suppressing body energy (“fat”) deposits.   “Tall” quality heifers will mature faster, and achieve mature levels of milk production quicker.    Metabolically, they respond more to corn and oilseeds than forages.

STRONG   (aAa #4)    develops larger chests in which larger, muscled hearts pump more blood volume, building more muscle over a heavier skeletal structure.    “Strong” supports immune function and health from blood circulation of antibodies and leucocytes (infection fighters) to the extremities.    “Strong” quality heifers will become larger as mature cows.   

OPEN   (aAa #3)    The quality of “Open” aids cows to continue milking in volume after they are pregnant, thus supporting lactation persistency.    It affects elasticity of rib and width of pelvis, so supports calving ease in heifers.    It works with “Tall” to suppress diversion of energy dense grains and oilseeds into weight gain so that milk volume is maximized.

When you consider the overriding goals of Genomic indexes, you can see how they focused on these three qualities.    However, as you pursue those into multiple generations, the other half of the qualities-- #1 DAIRY   (higher natural fertility, feminine refinement)   #5 SMOOTH  (a full rumen capability to synthesize energy from forages, more even body condition, sturdier on feet) and #6 STYLE  (better blending of muscles, durability of the bone structure, less hoof trimming) are being suppressed in cows and lost from the breeding population.

These are qualities that would enable you to get a longer natural life from cows, thus get more heifers as replacements, having more cows capable of matured levels of milk yield sustainable over several lactations.   It is hard for two-lactation lifetimes to be profitable at cow prices today

 

Look at  515 HO 402  Siemers Taos PRADA   at  AI Total.    His “aAa” is 6 5 1 4 3 2, so exactly a heterosis “outcross” to the typical Genomic physique.     Now with daughters in production, his PTA values have been climbing above his original Genomic estimates.

He is unique in offering double-digit gains in butterfat % and protein %  while still +1000 milk.
He is unique having both premium Casein markers, A2A2 Beta Casein and BB Kappa Casein.
He is unique in his strong “plus” for DPR in spite of that +1000 milk rating.
He is unique as a sire that can give you longer teats, bucking the general Genomic trends.
He is unique in being +1.25 on Feet and Leg composite, avoiding a “fence post” hind leg.

We offer more “outcross” Holstein sires than anyone.   “Prada” is an example.

Is “Avoiding Inbreeding” just a scam? -- to take over your herd breeding?

Mark Curry     (989) 984- 7027      Route Services and Sales

Sue Palen        (989) 277- 0480      Store/Products manager  (Order desk)

Greg Palen      (989) 277- 6031      “aAa” Breeding Guide/  Certified Seed Specialist

Mich Livestock Service, Inc   ***   “For the Best in Bulls”    “High Energy Forages”
110 N Main St  (PO Box 661)   Ovid,  MI  48866           office phone (989) 834- 2661
          email: greg@michiganlivestock.com          www.michiganlivestock.com 

 

I took a phone call from a Casein researcher in Iowa recently who had discovered a currently promoted high-Genomic-value AI bull already had twenty crosses to “Mogul” in his pedigree!
“Mogul” was still alive as recently as five years ago (passing in his eighth year due to paralysis in his rear end) and at that point had sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons with semen available.

“Mogul” himself was noted to have over 40 crosses to Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation who was born in 1965.    “Elevation” currently represents 13% of the modern Holstein genotype.    “How can we avoid massive inbreeding under intense Genomic selection from so few ancestors?” my new friend asked.    Good question, I thought…

Generations are moving so fast that few already remember that “Delta Lambda”, also deceased at only five years of age, the current leader in AI sons and grandsons, is a grandson of “Mogul”.   “Lambda” has 90 crosses to SWD Valiant and 40 crosses to Walkway Chief Mark, arguably the two greatest sons of Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, who was born in 1962.    “Arlinda Chief” sits close to “Elevation” representing 12% of the modern Holstein genotype.     Thus in these two great bulls from the beginnings of the “index” era you have 25% of the Holstein breed’s genes.

And it does not stop there.   Genosource Captain, who is the highest living GTPI Holstein sire of AI sons has 30 crosses to Norrielake Cleitus Luke (direct grandson of “Elevation”).   With In Vitro Fertilization added to Embryo Transfer, pre-pubescent heifers can have immature Ovum cells surgically aspirated from their undeveloped ovaries, fertilized with semen massaged from newly pubescent bulls, and have calves on the ground (incubated in and nursed by beef cows in Iowa) by the time they are 15 months old—the age you might have first bred them…  Except surgical exposure of a pre-pubescent uterus generally ruins them for breeding and calving normally, so their sons are generally “blank” in pedigree development.    75% of active Genomic sires do not have milking daughters; their ever-younger sires also have no milking daughters; their dam and both grandams may never have calved and so have no records or classification scores.    All the published “genetic value” is based on imputed trait values assigned to marker genes.

Does “inbreeding depression” come directly from shared ancestors?

The last great study of “inbreeding depression” was done in Europe, where after only three generations using North American progeny-ranked Holstein sires on native Friesian origin cows, they were seeing the usual effects:   lower fertility, more stillborn calves, slower growth rates, less will to live, frailty of frame and lower immunity, thus more health costs, and shortened herdlife.    Yet the “threshold” for “inbreeding coefficient” (ibc= 8.25% pedigree relationships) defined from American studies had not been reached.    The obvious conclusion: inbreeding “depression” is caused from SINGLE TRAIT SELECTION  (in Holland Genetics’ case, a total focus on PTA Protein yield for selecting bull dams and mating sires) --  NOT from pedigree.     

While this study was never publicly acknowledged in the USA  (I only learned of it through our Canadian Holstein connections)  it had the effect of changing the simplistic USDA “Net Merit” in favor of adding health (mostly SCS), fertility (DPR) and Productive Life traits to the total index, which reranked the available sires.    AI studs hoped this “Net Merit”change would counteract the trends in favor of dairy crossbreeding that had resulted in more foreign semen importation and less use of AI stud computer mating systems that gave them near-total control of sire use.

At this point, with accelerated generations of Genomic youngsters leading to aggressive levels of ibc% in the bulls and rising efi% (expected future inbreeding) in heifer lots, a few studs still attempt to sell computer pedigree-based linear mating on “avoiding inbreeding”…  BUT if the same stud is breeding donors back to their sons and crossing brothers to full sisters routinely to impute the highest Genomic indexes, why should they tell you to do the opposite?

It is past time to face facts.    Avoiding “inbreeding” through a computer mating based on the sire and maternal grandsire (increasingly, linear trait data on your cows is no longer collected; they just encourage you to buy their genotype testing) is an expensive exercise in futility.   Just as Holland saw in the later 1990s, after totally outcrossing their Friesians to Holstein bulls, it is “single trait selection” – in the case of Genomics, defining an “ideal” genotype and discarding all animals from the breeding population that represent outcross genotypes – or basing all your matings on a single index over multiple generations – these lead to inbreeding “depression”.

But the symptoms this time are different, and thanks to heavy (expensive) use of technologies such as OvSynch (“synthesized”) reproduction added to gender-selected semen and Genomic testing, are more subtly expressed.    This time, inbreeding to an ideal genotype is producing strong, healthy young cows who are fully aged after two lactations—lacking natural fertility, looking more like steers than cows, behaving more like bulls, only willing to milk on “pig feed” rations, and lacking any will to live if they do get sick.    “Throwaway cows” is the expression of inbreeding you will see today.    And (just like with continuous crossbreeding) in the fourth and later generations, they just don’t milk anywhere near as much as all the “genetic value” says.

“aAa” breeding guide is the only mating method that insures against modern inbreeding loss.
It does this by leading you to “heterosis” combinations, avoiding extreme physical expression.

Is DNA testing for genetic “value” the future? Or a fad??

It is clear by now that lots of useful traits can be determined at birth from a DNA test.    It is less clear that selecting on DNA alone insures we will have the future herd that an ever-changing economic and agronomic picture dictates.

Those pursuing “Genomic ranked” breeding animals in both Beef and Dairy breeds are now in many cases three generations beyond ancestors with realized (=actual) performance.    Traits we overlook (as in soundness of feet) can get extreme over that many generations, and surprise us when the calves hit the ground and after.

Phenotypic selection will always have a place for those traits that relate to sorting between “maternal” and “terminal”;  for mating to control costs of production (as well as show and sale ring appeal); and learning to observe epigenetic effects from changing environments.    Observing relative adaptation from behavior as well as data  may be a big part of how we select cattle for future performance.

Mich Livestock Service, Inc        “For the Best in Bulls”   since 1978        ph (989) 834- 2661

How much help do your calves need?

Bos Taurus breeds have been selected over time to be fertile all year long (this is not true of many Bos Indicus and Bos Africanus breeds, where fertility follows the seasons).    The result of this is many of you calve cows in winter, to enhance the salability of those calves later.

For winter calving, we have some aids to calf comfort:
Calf  Ear  Warmers    (from Sullivan Supply)   fleece-lined, waterproof
Calf  Jackets   (lined with 3M Thinsulate)   come in small, medium, large sizes

For respiratory protection, we stock the usual vaccines.   This now includes:
Tri-Shield  First Defense   (from Immucell)   colostrum-derived antibodies
Focuses on K-99+ E-Coli, Bovine Coronavirus, and Bovine Rotavirus—major causes of scours.
Effective when given orally within 12 hours after birth.
Packaged in a box of 12 single-dose syringes.     Refrigerate until ready to use.

What if a calf is born adversely, and momma struggles with nursing it?
We stock freeze-dried COLOSTRUM:  “Bovine IgG Just Like Mom” label      (Aspen Vet Resources)
Effective when fed within 2 hours of birth.    If no maternal colostrum is available, a second dose within 8 hours is quite beneficial.    This is a powder that mixes easily in warm water.

What if a calf has had a setback, and needs to catch up?
FASTRACK  Ruminant Gel is pretty hard to beat.    5cc oral doses, restores appetite and speeds up rumen development so that all newly introduced feeds can be digested.

Results of a DNA study at Iowa State on causes of scours

Iowa State vet college received a grant to study calf diseases  (in hopes of developing DNA tests to enable gene therapies, replacing antibiotics being banned from food animals).    After 11,000 DNA samplings on sick calves and their healthy herdmates, they found a marker gene appearing to prevent debilitating scours from Salmonella and E-Coli infections.    Of interest was this gene is linked to the recessive Red hair color gene…    thus suggesting that the feeder market fixation with Black cattle (hoping to ride on the success of “certified Angus beef”)  may begin to change.   Iowa State has licensed this discovery to a company that will test your cattle for the marker.

The big debate that is arising from all the use of DNA testing in both Beef and Dairy cattle, is does DNA testing replace Genetic selection, which is based on trait measurement and behavior observation?     Advocates of DNA tests claim animals can be culled after birth just on genotype characteristics, and faster breeding progress made from a reduced gene pool of animals with an “ideal” genotype.     Critics of DNA selection point out that focusing only on a single genotype is a sure path for accumulating “inbreeding depression”.      They further note that we do not make our livings from the genotype, but from the phenotype (the living result that grows up and has adapted to our individual environment). 

The latest area of genetic exploration is “epigenetics” which documents how any sustained change in the environment alters the functions of genes.    And the environment will always be changing— starting with nutritional choices, and genetic changes in the feed themselves.

We keep learning as we go (ways DNA affects phenotype)

Mark Curry        (989) 984- 7027    Route Services and Sales/       OvSynch AI groups

Sue Palen           (989) 277- 0480    Order desk/  Product program manager

Greg Palen         (989) 277- 6031    Certified Seed Specialist/    AI Refresher training

Mich Livestock Service, Inc    “For the Best in Bulls”   and the forages to feed them
110 N Main St  (PO Box 661)   Ovid,  MI  48866           office phone (989) 834- 2661
www.michiganlivestock.com                              email: greg@michiganlivestock.com

 

There are three major proteins found in milk composition:  Alpha, Beta, and Kappa  caseins.    In the dairy industry, there is a growing consumer demand for milk that is only A2A2 Beta Casein.   This is of benefit to people with auto-immune diseases or the underlying DNA related to them, as having the best digestibility of that protein form.    (A2A2 is the “normal” beta variant for all mammalian species, but sometime in pre-history a mutation occurred in the Bos Taurus species [cattle of European origin] sometime before breed characteristics were segregated.   Mutations are called A1, B, and a few further mutations of the original mutation.    A1 molecule looks like a histamine molecule, and that interferes with digestibility.

Thus you can find the mutated beta caseins in beef breeds as well as their dairy breed cousins.   Some enterprising Angus breeders in Kansas and Nebraska decided to find out if A2A2 offered any benefit to newborn calves nursing their mommas (or surrogates).    They DNA tested all the bred cows for their Beta Casein markers, then tracked their next crop of calves.

What was the result?     Calves born from cows with A1 genes had more scours and digestive issues;  calves born from A2 cows were healthier and weaned slightly heavier.    As big a deal as this has become for specialty milk marketing, it surprises me that no dairy research into effects on calves has been done.    (Maybe big Pharma can’t figure out how to patent it??)

 

Time for an outcross to regain heterozygous vigor

Genetic evaluation has been designed since the 1960s to keep us on a path others thought desirable—the faster maturity of dairy cattle.    A lot of gene variation was lost in the narrowed sire bloodlines resulting from this single-minded pursuit.

We gave up genes for natural fertility, for maternal instinct, for acclimation to the fluctuation of weather (especially sunlight heat), for natural insect resistance, and most importantly, for the stamina to produce into a fully matured longevity .

Hindsight now tells us that focusing genetic selection on data allowed us to forget many basic rules of biology, including the many tradeoffs there are in population behavior.    Faster maturity is now shown to have promoted rapid aging.   Genetics ignored observational evidence in the pursuit of the fantasy that “technology has a solution for all problems”.   One size fits all never really fits what is most needed which is the necessity to keep gene influences in balance when mating cows.

Mich Livestock Service, Inc   “For the Best in Bulls” and the high energy forages to feed cows

RECAP: MCA Michigan Beef Expo February 21-23 at MSU Livestock Pavilion

 

CONCEPTIONS   Beef Cow-Calf Route Newsletter         March-April 2025

Mark Curry       (989) 984- 7027     Route Service and Sales Assistance

Sue Palen          (989) 277- 0480     Sales Order Desk, Products program

Greg Palen        (989) 277- 6031     AI Refresher training, Certified Seed Advisor

Mich Livestock Service, Inc  ***   “For the Best in Bulls”:      High Energy Forages
110 N Main St (PO Box 661)  Ovid,  MI  48866          office phone  (989) 834- 2661
www.michiganlivestock.com                           email:   greg@michiganlivestock.com 

 

 

This was our third year as an exhibitor at Michigan Beef Expo, held at MSU in conjunction with the annual meeting of Michigan Cattleman’s Association.   Many of you stopped by our booth, and we appreciated the opportunity to visit with you.

Beef Expo is a unique event in that it brings the purebred breeding world into contact with the club-calf show world.   Under the aegis of M C A, which is our “watch dog” over government’s intrusion into beef production and marketing, this event helps to put all into perspective.

Promoting Breed Differences

Why do we have so many breeds?   At “Expo” we saw Angus, Shorthorn, Hereford, Charolais, Simmental, Limousin, Main-Anjou, Chianina, and Club-Calf crosses stabled breed by breed as an effective visual comparison.

The Hereford exhibit had this message:  “Herefords on tests show 7% higher pregnancy rates, a $20 advantage in feed efficiency and a $30 advantage in feedlot profitability, adding up to  $51 more profit per cow per year.”   (What was the “control” group?   Angus, of course, as the most populous breed across the continent.)

“Certified Angus Beef” is an example of effective breed branding recognition.

The message in this is simple:  effective breed marketing has two levels: (1)  produce a uniform quality product,  (2)  develop strong customer brand loyalty.     Add in the rules of “commodity economics”:  (1)  be a “least cost” producer,  (2)  produce to the volume the market requires.

There are reasons (advantages) for each breed, and there is room for all breeds.   To succeed the rest is up to you, in how you design your farm crop production and manage your cattle.

Once you enter into crossbreeding (as in the composites on which “club calf” breeding is based) there are some extra rules.   Heterosis effects  (hybrid vigor)  run out after three generations.

Genetic Selection has longer-term consequences

USDA’s Beltsville MD research farm did Dairy crossbreeding experiments in the 1940s- 1950s. Once that was concluded, the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory decided to enter into  Genetic Evaluation for purebreds (originated by the individual purebred Breed Associations).

The Predicted Difference was born in the 1960s.   While purebred associations were publishing sire daughter averages and daughter vs dam (“intergenerational”) comparison proofs, the AIPL produced daughter vs herdmate (“intragenerational”) comparisons, then introduced the idea that we could “rank” sires on the size of those deviations, named “Predicted Differences”.

This evolved into the Modified Contemporary Comparison.    Purebred breeder criticism of the PD concept revolved around the lower national DHIA breed averages compared to the “official” (supervised testing) HIR lactation averages from which Breed Association “proofs” were based.   Could bulls proven in below-average environments be equally useful for the highly preselected breeding herd?    MCC factored in the rankings of herdmates’ sires and pedigree indexes on the sires evaluated to produce what they now called Predicted Transmitting Ability.   The first index “composite trait ranking” was introduced, named  Net Merit $,  a term that has carried forward to the present time (although its formula has been repeatedly changed).

Through this entire period, into the beginnings of Genomic (DNA-based) ranking indexes, one thing remained the same:  Mature Equivalent factoring of young cows’ lactation records.   ME  was used by the purebred associations to allow “intergenerational” comparison of first lactation cows to their matured and maturing dams with multiple age lactations.    We used MEs because     in every tested dairy breed in the USA cows were observed to milk 30% to 40% more milk in their mature-age lactations than they did in first lactation.   MEs created “parity” over a range of age.

ME factors got carried over by AIPL into USDA “intragenerational” comparison of cows to same age contemporaries.    Anyone who understood high school mathematics could have seen that the only effect of using MEs instead of actual records was to inflate the deviations.    Yet the AI industry continued using ME data, perhaps thinking it would prove “the new bulls are better”.   

The primary goal of dairy genetics has been to “accelerate” the age of maximum cow yields.   The initial premise of the “PD” was that those heifers with the highest deviations were faster at maturing their production than the average of their contemporaries.   In fact as you broke down lactations (as the “Test Day Model” did later do) the key aspect of high PTA Milk sires was their daughters set the highest peak test yields in their first lactations.   The linear type trait appraisal system (used by all breeds today) was later based on the appearance of high-peaking cows.

Geneticists have succeeded in transforming cows to be faster maturing (and faster aging).   
Being mathematicians (rather than biologists) they never anticipated that making cows mature quicker would just accelerate the physical aging process, until three calvings wears them out.

Where are we today with all of this genetic evaluation ranking emphasis ?

The Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), successor to AIPL in index formulation and DNA application to Genomic ranking, has declared that ME factors are no longer used for calculating PTA values.    It seems that Genetic Selection for faster maturity has succeeded;  we no longer have any mature cows!     Why add 30% to every heifer lactation if only 20% of them will still be alive at the species age of maturity (five years)?    Just compare actual production.

Basically, today’s average cow will  die  before the end of her third lactation.    Cows no longer improve by 30% to 40% over their first lactation, because 80+% of all cows only complete two lactations.    It now takes as many days to raise a heifer calf to milking as we expect to milk her after her first calving!     Financial experts will tell you  the average dairy cow wears out before you have recovered her cost of raising.    There is currently a shortage of replacement cows so we are seeing prices APPROACHING $4000 to buy a replacement fresh heifer—and this in spite of technologies that were supposed to solve this, starting with PTA “Productive Life” indexes, and leading to the gender sexing of semen to favor 90% heifer calves.

In short, dairy industry application of 1960s genetic theories, as applied through AIPL’s index calculations and various ranking indexes, has changed the dairy cow’s lifetime epigenetically.    All the genes in modern Genomic cows’ DNA were existent in the cows from the 1960s , but in today’s environment they no longer help cows to live a full productive life.  Breed averages for realized PL today (after ten generations of measuring it) are essentially unchanged since 1990.
Getting entire populations to focus on one “selection path” (the ideal Genomic genotype) will, over time, virtually eliminate all heterosis for functional length of life.

Linear trait evaluation has taught us to admire cows with “frail” physiques.    Following show type selection paths frequently builds cows who are out of functional proportions, but may still possess more desired “femininity” as it relates to natural fertility and will to milk.   Genomics on the other hand, has confused “beefiness” with health support traits and in spite of all the “talk” about how the latest trait emphasis is on feed efficiency and reducing methane emission, none of this will come to fruition; the basic, underlying physical construction of high Genomic cows is grain and oilseed dependent and lacks the capacity to use low-cost perennial forages effectively.   

Finding a genetic solution to this historical inbred genetic selection path

Start paying attention to sires from cow lines recognized for “longevity” that show multiple lactations of consistent maturing performance over many generations.  In today’s sire populations, these are the only true “outcross” sires.    They will offer the ability for more “even” body conditioning and flatter, more persistent lactation curves reducing total feed costs.  They will give you cows with better natural fertility characteristics.  These will include the highest combined butterfat% and protein% bulls, especially if you are seeking A2A2 Beta Casein alongside BB Kappa Casein to qualify for future premium milk marketing options.        

 

Integrating beef cattle more profitably into grain-crop farming

 The national beef herd is the smallest it has been in sixty (60) years.  
The national dairy herd is also the smallest it has been in twenty five (25) years.

Meanwhile we have 50% more people to feed than there were here 60 years ago.

All this means that the current, profitable prices for deacon dairy calves and fed beef cattle are likely to remain for quite awhile—long enough to reinvest in your beef cattle side of your total operation.

 

Producing any farm commodity at a PROFIT requires us to have a good handle on production costs.    This helps us survive times of lower prices, as grain farmers currently lament.    But it also requires us to think about all possible income streams, and the management of “equity” to produce greater future returns.     While your equity in machinery may slowly be rusting away, the equity in your cow and calf herd has risen.    You can push that up a bit more.

 

MIch Livestock Service, Inc ***  “For the Best in Bulls”   and   For the Best in forage seeds”
110 N Main St  (PO Box 661)  Ovid,  MI  48866        phone (989) 834- 2661
email:  greg@michiganlivestock.com          website:   www.michiganlivestock.com

How long will “high” beef cattle sales prices last?

CONCEPTIONS   Beef cow-calf route newsletter  Nov Dec 2024

Mark Curry           (989) 984- 7027      Route service and sales/ Ov Synch AI by appointment
Sue Palen              (989) 277- 0480      Office manager/ advance order desk/ products
Greg Palen            (989) 277- 0631      Certified seed specialist/ Refresher AI training

Mich Livestock Service, Inc     “For the Best in Bulls”     “For the Best in forages”
110 N Main St  (PO Box 661)   Ovid,   MI   48866    ***      phone (989) 834- 2661

Featuring sires through “Cattle Visions”           Featuring “Byron Seeds”   Kingfisher & Red Tail

In economics classes we learned that the pricing of “commodities” always falls to the level that clears the market of supply.   In most of agriculture, the industrial model of advice is “More yield solves all financial problems”—which has never worked for us (increased production beyond the quantity the market is prepared to use results in lowering prices to absorb the yield increment).

Thus, the secret to profitable farm commodity production is to become a least cost producer (rather than a maximum yield producer).    This allows you to capture savings when prices are good, to carry you through times when prices are not so good.    (Savings allows you to put up bins to store grain when you don’t like the current price, holding it from the market so as not to force prices lower).    (SAVINGS ALLOWS THE CATTLE PRODUCER TO SELL LOWEST EQUITY VALUE ANIMALS WHEN PRICES ARE LOW, RETAINING GROWTH EQUITY ANIMALS TO A FUTURE HIGHER VALUE.)       Cost control allows you a chance of profit whether prices are up or down.

It  Is  a  perversity  of government “cheap food”  policy ( since FDR’s  Great Depression)  that whenever a  farm  product  reaches  a  profitable  price,  the  ag  media  says  we  have “high” prices – instead  of  being  thankful  that  current  prices  allow  farmers  to  rebuild  equity  and stay in  food  production  for  the 95%  of people  who  do  not  grow  any food  for  themselves!

Will profitable prices continue?    The USA population of beef momma cows is at its lowest level since 1965.    The USA human population is 50% larger today than it was then.    As consumption of beef today “per capita” is nearly as high as it was in 1965, the national dairy herd  (producing deacon bull calves to feedlot and cull cows for hamburger)  has taken up the slack.    This aided the grain markets in propping up corn and soybean prices, given feedlot feeding of “dairy beef” was focused on grain (rather than pasture and hay, the preferred steer feed for critters still on a farm).

Recently, the practice of breeding dairy cows to beef breed sires  (to produce “premium” price deacon calves) is helping the expansion dairies generate non-milk cash flow to pay rising labor bills.    In spite of “sexed” semen, it now appears there is a shortage of dairy replacements.

How  does  dairy  farming  affect  beef  production ?

Anyone who has a dairy farm, whether the industry would admit it or not, was also in the beef business.   A ten million cow dairy population (prior to sexed semen) produced four million bull calves annually, ending up in feedlots.    Prior to 2015, these Deacon bull calves generated $400 million in non-mik income!     As dairy cows turned over after three calvings, you also had three million cows culled annually generating $500 million in non-milk income.  Cull cows and deacon  calves helped finance the large-herd replacement deficits, which was the biggest stimulus to the development of gender-selected semen!   Smaller dairies with better reproduction and herdlife were always the source of surplus cows to keep the expansion dairies in supply;  as they have been forced out, prices for replacements have risen to the $3000 mark, the highest-ever point in the history of modern dairy).   

Value of deacon calves is four times what they used to be;  salvage on culled dairy cows twice what they used to be.    The deacon calf price has influenced 20% of dairy cows to be bred Beef, and with the national dairy herd down to Nine million cows (one million less than it has been for twenty five years!)  you can see how all-time record prices for beef feeding and slaughter cattle have led the dairy breeding industry to acknowledge Beef selection for the first time ever.

Basically, for your operation, smaller national cow herds (both Beef and Dairy) means your cow herd is worth more than ever, and your calf crop worth more than ever before.   Reproduction is the key to converting this value into farm income.

NOTE to PUREBRED and SHOW BREEDERS:   when commercial (commodity) cattle prices go up, the cost of quality replacements to improve your herd become more reasonable in comparison.  
The biggest weakness in cow herds built on EBV or show type selection is often related to lower natural fertility or more difficult calving.    Now is the time to do culling that improves your cow herd to regain maternal traits that optimize reproduction and calving ease, and in selection for new cows, seek longer reproductive life.    

The effect of grazing on financial returns to your land ownership

If you are a cash-crop farmer with cattle “on the side” you are painfully aware of how the runup in corn and soybean prices has run itself back down.    As your cheapest land is what you rent, it may still be profitable to plant row crops in rotation on that land;  but for any land you own, the growing of forages and the grazing of your cattle generates more profit than any “legal” crop.

The math is really quite simple.    If corn is $4.00 per bushel, and you are a good enough farmer to get 200 bushel per acre, you gross $800 per acre on corn, before all the costs.    Those costs are considerable, as you know:  seed, spray, fertilizer, fuel, machinery overhead, land rent…

If you return your “home” fields to grazing, dairy farmers have learned that high energy grasses generate $3000+ per dry matter ton in milk.   You can get 2 to 3 tons dry matter per acre from a grass pasture rotated to keep it vegetative (which means more than two cuttings of hay…)

Producing  quality  forage  for  cattle  within  a  grain  farming  emphasis 

Everyone knows the best corn crop you ever grow, is in that first year after you rip up an old alfalfa stand.     The soil is full of accumulated nitrogen from the nodules on the alfalfa roots.   The years away from row cropping have rebuilt soil structure with organic matter, and those corn root borers and other pests died or moved to other fields.   

You can rotate annual forage crops like Winter Triticale between corn and soybeans, planting as soon as your grain crop is harvested.    Triticale will be ready to harvest as a forage by mid-May (pre-seed heads) and your next corn planting will be timely.     The double crop insertion feeds desired soil biology through the winter, increasing nutrient transport capacity in the grain crop, and inhibits the overwintering of corn borer and other corn-specific pests.

Consider this as your new seeding approach:  Plant a Synergy X blend of alfalfa with a non-oat cover you can harvest green or wilt to bale in the same season.    In the following year, once a year of clear alfalfa has passed, it will be producing root zone nitrogen;  overseed high energy grass blends that will fill in open spaces between the alfalfa rows, and develop maximum tons of hay per acre.    Once the field is half grass, fence it and graze it (maybe you just bale a first cutting and rotate graze the rest of the year).     You can always frost seed red clover and cows will continue to see an optimal energy feed in front of them each season.

Whether you get five years or seven or ten years from this, you will be feeding an optimal feed to a maximum number of animals, while maintaining grain crop production in rotations as well as on your rental lands (which can always benefit from your winter-stored manure).

Why rotate graze?

Dairy farms set up for haylage harvest in Michigan generally get three cuttings in.    Those with dry hay baling systems only got two cuttings this year, most places.     If you push alfalfa into a four-cut season, you generally end up with only a three year stand life.   Nationally, the alfalfa acreage has declined from its peak, as big seed companies (owned by chemical companies!!) make a lot more on chemically-dependent GMO row crops.    However, when it comes to any farm feeding ruminants, the blend of legume alfalfa with high digestible grass is ideal for any momma-cow operation, nutritionally superior to corn silage and a lower cost per acre.

How does rotation make the difference?     We used to get six passes per acre in grazing our cows, by keeping the grasses in a vegetative (pre-seed head) state.    Picking the worst stand for that spring’s “sacrifice lot” (to get the cows outside for the earliest grass), all the other pastures could be cut for first-crop hay, and then rotate their regrowth for the remainder of the season.  
First-cut hay would feed the cows all winter;  the sacrifice lot would get planted to a grazable summer annual (we liked BMR-6 sudangrass) that could produce feed for the six weeks of hot, dry summer when the grass pastures are slowed down and need to regenerate roots.