DHI Notes...
Mar 2009 | Are you using sexed semen this year? | Bennet Cassell
A few days ago, a friend from the AI industry told me that sexed semen sales were down about 50% from this time last year. The reasons are obvious in the table above, with nearly $5/cwt drop in milk price compared to this time last year. But I also visited with a dairy producer who thought it might be a good time to buck the trend. His reasoning was that sexed semen is a technology that can be turned on and off, and right now, the switch is set to “off” for a lot of producers. Use of sexed semen is optional, and with tight budget constraints on dairy farms, this is one expense that can go. As a result, the heifer pipeline is being emptied, and the new crop will depend more heavily on use of conventional semen than it did a few months ago. Now might be a good time to start using sexed semen again, before it becomes popular again, as it surely will. Use of sexed semen today will yield a few more heifers during the period when not so many dairy farmers will have heifers to sell. The crystal ball is certainly not perfect on this question. There is very little way to know what milk prices will be 30 months from now, when conceptions to sexed semen today become springing heifers. Milk prices have a big impact on demand for replacement heifers. One thing is pretty clear: fewer producers are using sexed semen today than were using the product not so long ago. A seller’s market for replacement heifers might be on the horizon. It might be a good idea to start using sexed semen again during this “off” cycle.
State DHI averages for important management areas in February 2009:
Management area
February 2009
Change from last year
Rolling herd average milk Peak yield in heifers Days to first breeding Days open Net Merit of proven service sires Herd turnover less dairy sales (%) Monthly average SCS Feed cost per cwt. (milking cows) Milk blend price Bennet Cassell
Genetics and Management
