AI Plus Synchronization Equals Higher Valued Feeder Cattle

by Teres Lambert for the Red Angus Genetic Advancement Edition

Artificial insemination isn’t just for purebred breeders. AI is also for commercial cattle producers seeking to increase weaning weights, improve post-weaning performance, boost carcass value and have more productive replacement heifers. If one or more of these objectives match your goals, then you might be wondering if AI can pay for itself in a commercial operation.

John B. Hall, Ph.D., Extension beef specialist, University of Idaho, would be on the “that just might be possible” side of the fence.

“AI can be economically beneficial to commercial beef operations if value can be captured in one or more areas,” Hall stated during a presentation at the Range Beef Cow Symposium XXVI.

The greatest opportunity for most cow-calf operations to capitalize on AI, Hall commented, is increasing the value of the feeder calf. But to capture this added value, he points out that AI must be partnered with an estrous synchronization program.

Estrous synchronization jump starts non-cycling females and tightens up the calving window.

Research from the universities of Missouri, Florida and others, shows that fixed-time AI – which jump starts non-cycling cows – will result in a greater percentage of calves born in the first 21 to 30 days of the calving season. Frontloading the calving season helps raise weaning weights because the average age of calves rises.

You also reap the benefits of a more uniform calf crop at marketing to boost your bottom line.

When researchers at the University of Florida compared two years of a 120day natural service breeding season to a 70-day breeding season including fixed-time AI in their 300-cow herd, they increased returns to the herd by more than $40,000 per year.

Realistically, if you have 100 cows and want 50% to calve the first 10 days of the calving season, natural-service bulls cannot accomplish that. This is not the bulls’ fault. It’s the simple fact that a sufficient number of cows are not going to cycle and breed on their own in order for you to get 50% of the calves in 10 days. An estrous synchronization program must be in place to get that done.

Additional Ways to Capture Value

By incorporating an AI program, you can select the genetics you want for certain traits: calving ease, growth,

AI Plus Synchronization Equals Higher Valued Feeder Cattle

carcass traits, maternal traits, etc. For example, if your goal is keeping replacement heifers, you can AI your heifers to calving-ease bulls with high growth and strong maternal traits.

Improving longevity and genetic merit of replacement females are on Hall’s short list of ways to capture value that can help pay for an AI program. Research shows that heifers that calve earlier in their first calving season will, on average, rebreed earlier. They stay in the herd longer and produce more pounds of calf during their lifetimes than heifers that delivered their first calves later in the season.

“Estrous synchronization and AI can assist in getting a high percentage of heifers to calve in the first 21 days,” Hall noted.

The best way to realize return on the AI investment, Hall maintained, is “taking calves all the way to harvest,” and added that “carcass traits are among the most heritable” and high-quality carcasses – upper two- thirds of Choice and Prime – can command a premium. In one case study of a 600-head cow herd, calves having both AI sire and dam increased return to cow by 22% and increased the percent of carcasses grading Choice by 38%, compared to calves that were a product of a natural service sire and dam.

For an AI program in a commercial operation to be successful, Extension beef specialists agree that management of nutrition and health must already be good. This increases the probability of acceptable pregnancy rates to AI is high. Estrous synchronization protocols must also be followed carefully.

Confident that his ducks were in a row concerning nutrition and health, C.J. Blew, Blew Partnership, Castleton, Kansas, is among the commercial cattlemen who have turned to AI. Blew Partnership started its AI program more than 13 years ago by AIing only heifers. A year later their AI program was expanded to include 2-year-old cows. Within a couple of years, Blew Partnership went all the way – AIing heifers and all cows.

Blew cited two factors for the switch to going totally AI, which they do for one round: timed AI and Gene, their AI professional.

“A lot of people avoid AI because of labor. But the labor part of AI isn’t as bad as you think,” Blew said. “Timed AI protocols opened the door for us from the labor perspective.

“And Gene, our AI guy, is very good at what he does because AI is what he does for a living. He came highly recommended to us and hiring him to AI for us was one of our smarter moves.”

Blew added that, in addition to AI cutting their bull battery in half, AI upped their herd’s maternal traits – giving them better replacement heifers and increased end-product merit. AI also allows them to introduce new genetics of superior quality into the herd every year without purchasing new bulls.

“Having access to superior genetics is worth the time involved with AIing,” he said.

Comparing the Numbers

While fewer bulls for cleanup are needed when AI is used – and this would result in a cost savings – Hall

AI Plus Synchronization Equals Higher Valued Feeder Cattle

contended that this argument is “highly dependent on the cost of the bull, AI success rate and cost of AI.”

(Table 1)

Hall estimated that incorporating fixed-time AI into a 300-cow herd would cost $14,268, including the extra labor of working cattle. (Table 2) The cost of an AI pregnancy could vary from $95.12 for 50% pregnancy rate to $73.71 for a 65% pregnancy rate.

(Table 3)

When Hall compared the cost of an AI pregnancy to a natural service pregnancy, he drew the following conclusion: The cost of an AI pregnancy is about the same as a natural service pregnancy from a $4,000 to $5,500 bull. (Table 1 vs. Table 3)

To fairly compare the cost of a total natural service program to a combination of fixed-time AI plus clean up bulls, Hall developed a table that includes the cost of clean-up bulls in the calculation for total breeding costs. (Table 4)

Help is Available

Several tools are available online at Beef Reproduction Task Force’s web site – beefrepro.org/resources/ – to help you make decisions and guide you through the process of adopting reproductive technologies such as AI and a synchronization program.

The AI Cowculator helps answer the question “Is AI the way to go?” This particular tool uses actual producer inputs and predicted cattle values to determine the economic feasibility of AIing your cattle and delivers this info with the click of a button. The AI Cowculator also helps you locate nearby estrous synchronization product suppliers, gives you direct access to social media outlets where conversations regarding estrous synchronizations are conducted and provides access to a YouTube feed where helpful tips for estrous synchronization are posted.

Another free tool is the Estrus Syn-

*based on bull-to-cow ratio of 1:25 and a pregnancy rate of 90% chronization Planner developed to help herd managers make educated management decisions regarding estrous synchronization programs. This planning tool – a Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet – can be used to compare input costs of several synchronization systems as well as assist you with planning and implementing some of the more complicated synchronization systems. The tool can also help you optimize labor use and eliminate errors in the timing of injections, starting and ending the feeding of MGA, CIDR insertions, etc.

*based on four people at $8/hour for 8 hours for three working days.

The Estrous Synchronization Planner is the result of a partnership involving the Beef Reproduction Task Force, Beef Reproduction Leadership Team and the Iowa Beef Center.

The Beef Reproduction Task Force’s website also contains additional resources and documents developed to increase the success of an AI program and estrous synchronization program.

Bottom line: If you decide to implement an AI program, estrous synchronization program, or both, help is available. The experts want you to succeed and be able to echo Blew, who said, “I wish we would have done AI years ago. If we had, we would be years ahead of where we are today.” //

The Rally research collaboration between RAAA and Neogen is designed to increase phenotypic data collection and submission for mature weights, body condition scores and genotypes on Red Angus females. Female genotype and phenotype information helps to improve genetic predictions and overall data on your Red Angus herd.

This is a really great opportunity to receive genotyping at a reduced rate.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Registered females only

• Must test 90% of females on active inventory

- Already genotyped females can count toward this 90%

• There is also no cap on herd size, as long as the 90% requirement is met, so this program is tailored to small and large producers

• Samples submitted for the Rally need to be TSUs (tissue)

BY PARTICIPATING IN THE RALLY YOU WILL RECEIVE:

• GGP100K (GGP-LD) testing for $22 (regularly $50)

- OS and MA testing can be added for $2/test; other defect testing is normal pricing

• $5 Age Rebate

- At completion of testing, you will receive a one-time reimbursement of $5 for females submitted that are 6+ years old (circa 2016)

• $5 Phenotype Rebate

- Submit both Mature Cow Weights (MCW) and Body Condition Scores (BCS) for a one-time reimbursement

- Must be on every cow that weans a calf that season

- Must be within a week of calf weaning date

- You don’t have to apply for the rebates if you don’t want to; these are just additional ways to save money!