“Male sexed semen is an opportunity to capture value,” said Kansas State University's Ken Odde, who also helps manage a family cow-calf ranch in South Dakota. “The opportunity’s greater when the price spread between steers and heifers is significant.”

Dairy producers must realize that improving first-service conception rates to 45%-60% is possible. This goal takes a multifaceted approach that starts in dry and transition phases and leans on superb management practices.

Every cow and calf in your herd is a representation of hard work and calculated management decisions. Each new generation has the ability to serve as a building block for future performance and profitability.

Selecting a proper mineral supplementation strategy can be quite complicated with all the different product offerings and brands available. In selecting the right program for your herd, it is helpful to not only have an understanding of your forage quality but to also think about what goals you want to achieve.

As cattle producers – beef or dairy – it is critical to remember that both our industries have the same end product: beef. This concept that all cattle contribute to beef production has never been more closely aligned than with the current growth in the mating of dairy cows to beef semen.

In cow-calf operations, reproductive rate is the foundational productive function of the enterprise. Obviously, if cows do not become pregnant, then no calves are produced for revenue generation the following year.