Using sexed semen to get more value from cattle

Breeding using sexed semen can help your bottom line by creating cattle the market demands, says Dr Ken Odde, professor and department head emeritus of the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University.

- Dr Ken Odde

Sexed semen breeding programmes for the beef industry have primarily focused on developing genetically superior replacement heifers. “Male sexed semen is an opportunity to capture value. The opportunity’s greater when the price spread between oxen and heifers is significant,” says Dr Ken Odde, professor and department head emeritus of the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University.

Since retiring from academia, Odde has focused on creating more profitability for his family’s commercial cow-calf ranch in South Dakota in the US.

“About six years ago, I was sitting at the sale barn in Mobridge, South Dakota, and the price spread between [oxen] and heifers just struck me that day,” says Odde.

From that ‘aha’ moment, Odde started to pursue what a sexed semen breeding programme could look like for his ranch.

He shares strategies and protocols to consider for success, including fertility differences between cows and heifers, the use of splittime or fixed-time artificial insemination (AI), and the value of using breeding indicator patches to measure oestrus intensity.

FAST FACTS
Dr Ken Odde analysed industry trends to determine the economic impact of breeding for more male cattle.

He says when there is a good price difference between oxen and heifers, using sexed semen can be profitable.

Breeding decisions can also based on oestrus intensity gathered via a breeding indicator patch.

VALUE OF BREEDING FOR BULLS

Before breeding with sexed semen, Odde looked back at industry trends to see the economic impact of breeding for more males.