The Global Dairy Experience was back in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dec. 5-7, 2023, for thought-provoking presentations, discussions and networking opportunities.

Genetics play a larger role in calf performance than whether calves are raised in a traditional beef system or within a dairy system.

The 2023 Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC) annual meeting had an agenda packed with presentations discussing reproductive health, new approaches to management, beef-on-dairy markets, fertility, and calfhood health effects on reproductive performance that kept the more than 200 attendees busy over the three-day event.

Farmers can capitalize on several potential benefits by strategically integrating beef embryos into dairy herds through IVF, with increased revenue at the core.

While it may be tempting to raise every heifer calf, especially when replacement rates are high, it is essential to your profitability to identify when and why culling is necessary.

Assisted reproductive techniques have revolutionized the field of animal breeding, as these techniques allow practitioners and scientists the ability to perpetuate the genetics of superior animals; cryopreserve genetic materials such as embryos, oocytes and sperm; allow shipping and transport of genetic material globally; enable selection and control of the sex ratio; and facilitate cloning and stem cell research.

By prioritizing the optimal nutrition of beef cross cattle throughout their journey from calving to consumption, the detrimental impact of liver abscesses can be reduced.

In the realm of beef-on-dairy calves, the presence of beef genetics imparts inherent advantages, promising greater consistency and robust muscling when compared to their all-dairy breed counterparts. 

It is not the color of the animal’s hide that makes it valuable but the genetics under the hide that matter.