Report on semen sales

[HerefordGuy]

I thought this was a very interesting report on semen sales.  What do you all think? 

http://www.naab-css.org/sales/table29.html

 

[Chap]

very cool!  amazing how much Hostein semen is sold out there.  Now I can also figure out why the front 2/3 of all the semen catalogs are filled with angus bulls.

 

[knabe]

what is the difference between domestic semen sales and custom frozen semen?

wonder if there are any reporting discrepancies, ie private sales or commercial sales not reported.

 

[Bawndoh]

very cool!  amazing how much Hostein semen is sold out there.  Now I can also figure out why the front 2/3 of all the semen catalogs are filled with angus bulls.

There is a lot of dairy semen sold because they have poor fertility.  It is nothing to breed a cow 5 times before she actually catches.  I was told that there are farms that average 8 breedings before conception.  Seems totally wacky, but they are producing so much milk that some things have to be sacrificed. 

 

[HerefordGuy]

To my understanding, they use AI to breed almost every dairy cow.  The use of AI is much smaller percentage in the beef industry (about 6% http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p2486.pdf ). 

But, you are right, the dairy industry has major fertility issues.

 

[knabe]

There is a lot of dairy semen sold because they have poor fertility.   

not much diversity in holstein, just like thoroughbreds.  i think dairy is about to lose one more founder sire, then it will be down to 2 with one of them at 80%?

is it true that the other reason dairy uses ai is due to the size difference between bulls and heifers and that the heifers couldn't sustain the weight of a mature bull?

 

[TJ]

I thought this was a very interesting report on semen sales.  What do you all think? 

http://www.naab-css.org/sales/table29.html

WOW!  I think that is interesting.  More Lowline semen was frozen in 2008 than Braunvieh, Salers, Chi-Angus, Chianina, Murray Grey, Santa Gertrudis & a few others.  Cool!    (thumbsup)

 

[worthabit]

There is a lot of dairy semen sold because they have poor fertility.   

not much diversity in holstein, just like thoroughbreds.  i think dairy is about to lose one more founder sire, then it will be down to 2 with one of them at 80%?

is it true that the other reason dairy uses ai is due to the size difference between bulls and heifers and that the heifers couldn't sustain the weight of a mature bull?

I can't imagine, have you seen the size of holstein heifers lately? There are many that are 65- 68".

 

[knabe]

I can't imagine, have you seen the size of holstein heifers lately? There are many that are 65- 68".
[/quote]

i haven't, my only reference is 25 years ago.  the dairy bulls i collected for class back then were far and away bigger than beef bulls and would have crushed the heifers.

what size are they at puberty?  so, i guess the females have increased in size, have the bulls stayed the same or gotten smaller?

and a repeat,

what is the difference between domestic semen sales and custom frozen semen?  some big jumps in numbers comparing those two, particularly herefords and maine's.

 

[FXDS]

Pure conjecture, but is "custom frozen semen" collected and frozen for breeders in herd use without being sold?  There are a lot of Shorthorn bulls syndicated with no semen available on the open market is the reason behind my thought.

 

[worthabit]

I can't imagine, have you seen the size of holstein heifers lately? There are many that are 65- 68".

i haven't, my only reference is 25 years ago.  the dairy bulls i collected for class back then were far and away bigger than beef bulls and would have crushed the heifers.

what size are they at puberty?  so, i guess the females have increased in size, have the bulls stayed the same or gotten smaller?

and a repeat,

what is the difference between domestic semen sales and custom frozen semen?  some big jumps in numbers comparing those two, particularly herefords and maine's.
[/quote]I'm not that into the dairy breeds, but I do know that the size I quoted would be close to calving. I would expect the bulls have sized up as well.

 

[dori36]

There is a lot of dairy semen sold because they have poor fertility.   

not much diversity in holstein, just like thoroughbreds.  i think dairy is about to lose one more founder sire, then it will be down to 2 with one of them at 80%?

is it true that the other reason dairy uses ai is due to the size difference between bulls and heifers and that the heifers couldn't sustain the weight of a mature bull?

I think it may have more to do with the fact that dairy bulls can be "tricky" to keep around - like they don't work and play well with others!

 

[DLD]

Interesting for sure.  And useful (maybe) in comparing dairy vs. beef and reminding us that no other breed in the beef business AI's like the Angus.  Past that, about all it really tells us is that a very healthy percentage of studs and distributors (or whoever) do not report all (or any?) of their collections/sales to the NAAB, 'cause I'm pretty sure those numbers don't reflect nearly all of the MA/Chi/Sim/Shorthorn/clubbie type semen collected and sold... probably not the other breeds either.