Q. WHY BREED MY DAIRY COWS TO BEEF?
A. With recent advancements in calf care, feeding, breeding and the wide use of sexed semen, many dairies have an overflowing pen of replacement heifers. And, as the beef industry continues looking for top quality animals for both feed efficiency and carcass merit, utilizing beef sires may provide you with a valuable revenue stream.
Q. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POLLED AND HOMOZYGOUS POLLED?
A. Polled cattle are cattle that are born without horns. When a polled bull is bred to a horned female the resulting calves will be a mix of both polled and horned progeny. Homozygous polled cattle are also polled/born without horns. When homozygous polled bull is bred to a horned female all resulting calves will be polled.
Q. WHAT IS POWERMIX™ AND WHY SHOULD I USE IT?
A. PowerMix is a combination of three sires, all with superior fertility, in one straw, offering a product proven to be excellent at increasing conception rates. Available as an exclusively beef product, all three sires in the Beef PowerMix are high fertility without sacrificing the traits needed for a successful beef-on-dairy cross.
Q. DOES BEEF SEMEN HAVE GOOD FERTILITY?
A. Beef Yield bulls are all selected for superior fertility. We optimize the number of sperm in each dose, and our quality thresholds for motility and morphology ensure you can be confident that every Beef Yield sire is extremely potent.
Q. HOW DO I MAKE SURE THE BEEF BULLS WE USE ARE LOW BIRTH WEIGHT?
A. Semex's Beef Yield program takes the guess work out of implementing a beef-on-dairy program, by identifying those beef sires that rank exceptionally well for low birth weight. While the environment and the dam being bred also contribute to the size of the calf, every effort has been made to ensure low birth weight sires are selected for this program. We also ensure these beef sires will net you premium dollars for your crossbred calves.
Q. WHAT ARE THE UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMEX'S BEEF YIELD SIRES?
A. Our Beef Yield sires have been specifically selected to fit into the dairy calf feeding market. These bulls MUST be low birth weight and have traits that will net a highly desirable and marketable cross.
Q. WHAT IS CE AND BW? HOW ARE THEY RELATED?
A. CE is Calving Ease (how easy the cow is able to calve) and BW is Birth Weight (weight of calf taken at birth). Generally, lower BW sires are also easier calving, but this is not always the case. CE figures play an important role, as a higher BW sire could also be a CE because of the shape of the calf at birth. For example, a calf that is higher BW, but is longer and narrower will have a higher (better) CE score than one that has a lower BW and made square and block shaped.
