SEXED BEEF SEMEN
Although a relatively new product to the beef sector, sexed beef semen has made great strides in the industry. It offers many advantages to beef producers and the below points outline the benefits and best practice of sexed semen in order to maximise conception rates.
BENEFITS OF SEXED SEMEN:
• Able to breed own replacements and maximise the number of cows in the herd served to a terminal sire
• Specific markets suit heifers better than bulls/steers
• Heifer calves tend to be lighter boned and produce easier calvings
• Sexed semen is very suited to once bred heifer systems, as it replenishes your heifers stocks
• Heifers are very flexible, they are suited to breeding and intensive and extensive finishing systems
SUCCESS WITH SEXED SEMEN:
Success with sexed semen is about careful planning and preparation of both the animal and semen. Maximise success through:
• Animal selection. Where possible always choose maiden heifers, these are the most fertile animals on the farm and are not faced with the same stresses as a cow working in the herd. Cows are hard working animals and are less fertile than heifers as they have to calve, rear and maintain reproduction. When selecting cows, ensure they are young (3rd lactation or less) and have no history of calving difficulties. All animals should be healthy and free of lameness, etc and known to be cycling correctly.
• Service time. It is imperative with sexed semen to serve animals as close to 12 hours after standing heat as possible. Serving considerably earlier or later will almost certainly result in failure. Sexed semen is not recommended for use in fixed time AI synchronisation programmes.
• Nutrition. Good nutrition is imperative for good conception rates. It is important to get animals on a suitable and consistent diet at least one month prior to using sexed semen, with the aim to get animals settled, stress free and gaining condition.
• Semen handling and thawing. The protocols for handling and thawing semen are even more important when dealing with sexed semen, please see the dedicated section for this on page 5.
• Conception rates. With correct use of sexed semen it is not uncommon for producers to maintain conception rates with those of conventional semen. Conception rates in general maybe around 5% less, with those producers using sexed semen on cows seeing a 10% reduction in conception rate.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80