WHY BEEF ON DAIRY?
As the beef industry continues looking for top quality animals for both feed efficiency and carcass merit, utilizing beef sires provides a valuable revenue stream.
Semex’s Beef Up lineup takes the guesswork out of implementing a beef-on-dairy program by identifying beef sires that net a highly desirable and marketable cross. These bulls are bred and selected to increase your bottom line, add value to your bull calves and non-replacement heifers, and provide a premium beef product that consumers will enjoy.
Your Semex Genetic Advisor works with your management team, helping you select the best genetics for your herd, with many dairies utilizing genomic testing on either all or part of the herd. This important genetic information can be incorporated into the SemexWorks™ sire selection tool and our OptiMate™ mating program, providing a more accurate picture of your herd’s genetics. Elevate® assists in identifying your best females, allowing for easy implementation of Beef Up sires to add profitability to your dairy.
ROAD
We recommend breeding top cows and heifers to elite bulls with Semexx™ sexed semen to improve the genetics returning to your herd.
And conversely, you can choose to breed less profitable cows to Semex Beef Up sires that have been specifically selected to fit the dairy calf feeding market.
When the crossbred calves are born, you can then decide whether selling them immediately or raising to market weight is best for you. Good quality colostrum and proper antibiotic use are critical to the calf’s health and early development, giving them their best chance in the feedlot.
The beef industry pays a premium for top-quality animals excelling in feed efficiency and carcass merit. The Beef Up crossbred animals you raise meet these criteria, are highly sought after, will increase your bottom line and maximize your profit.
Consumers demand a high-quality product and Beef Up crossbreds are higher-quality than straight-bred dairy animals. Providing consumers with a higher quality end-product without compromising the amount of milk produced is a win for all involved in the Beef Up Roadmap.
Compared with straight dairy, the Beef Up sired animal results in improved dress and carcass cutability. Muscle conformation is improved when compared to straight dairy animals and the dressing percentage is comparable to native beef animals. So, to the packer as well, the crossbred animals are highly advantageous over straight dairy.
Producing a crossbred calf using a Beef Up sire reduces the purebred Holstein feed conversion from 8:1 to 7:1, saving up to four pounds of feed daily. This Beef Up performance is highly valued by the feedlot since they want to source animals who have been genetically selected for improved feed conversion to get the most value out of each feeder.
Using Elevate®, Semex Works™, and OptiMate™ to
build your genetic strategy.
Unlike traditional genetic evaluation tools and indexes, SemexWorks has been designed to take a different approach to sire selection by allowing the customer to create a personalized selection formula that fits their unique specifications. To further refine their selection index, dairyman can identify key traits, and reproductive or genetic solutions such as Fertility First®, Immunity+®, Semexx™ semen and Beef Up bulls.
There’s tight integration with SemexWorks to focus on breeding strategies and economic parameters that are important to the dairy operation. OptiMate, quickly and easily provides mating suggestions with complete forecasting of genetic progress.
OptiMate provides our clients with the ultimate user experience to tailor matings to their needs and goals helping them make the best decisions for their success.
That’s the Semex Difference!
ELEVATE YOUR PROFIT-MAKING DECISIONS
- Determine the number of herd replacements required.
- Set your profit return as the item to be maximized and discover your custom solution that provides the optimal strategy with the greatest return for your dairy.
- Genomic test your females to get more accurate estimates of merit/potential for better decision making.
- Mate your highest genetic females to sexed or IVF/ET to get more elite heifers from your very best females.
- Find the optimal strategy for mating beef on dairy to maximize the beef premiums available and still satisfy all of the needs of your dairy.
WHICH BEEF BREED IS BEST FOR YOUR DAIRY?
Using Angus:
• Calving ease, smaller birth weights
• Marbling/carcass quality, less ‘visual’ muscling
• Efficient growth, finish faster
• Largest genetic offering and most sires available
• Meets beef production chain needs
• Popular with Holsteins and Jerseys
Using Charolais:
• Adds ribeye and muscle
• Rapid growth - sell early
• Less calving ease / increased birth weight
• Calves are not black
• Popular with Jerseys
Using SimAngus:
• Simmental/Angus hybrid
• Weight gain, muscling, carcass yield
• Efficient growth
• Increased ribeye area
• Popular with Holsteins and Jerseys
Using Limflex:
• Limousin/Angus hybrid
• Calving Ease
• Low birth weight
• Smaller frame
• Strong performance
• Probable black calves
• Adds marbling
• Popular with Holsteins & Jerseys
Using Wagyu:
• High marbling
• Grade higher on average
• CoA genotyping - AA desired for low fat melting point
• Rich, beefy flavour
Consider PowerMix™, a pooled Beef Up product that combines three high fertility sires, chosen after careful evaluation for semen quality and non-return rates by Semex laboratory and genetic staff.
IMPROVES FERTILITY BY COMBINATION OF 3 BULLS
with different capacitation times = always active fertile sperm
3% - 5%
BULL A
# of
Capacitated
Sperm
BULL B
Source: Semex Internal Database
POOLING SPERM INCREASES CAPACITATION VARIABILITY
= more time to fertilize the oocyte
BULL C
Period of Ovulation
# of
Capacitated
Sperm
Period of Ovulation
# of Capacitated
Sperm
# of Capacitated
Sperm
Period of Ovulation
Period of ovulation
AT SEMEX WE HAVE ONE JOB TO DO... Help
you be profitable.
IMPLEMENTING A BEEF UP STRATEGY WILL GENERATE MORE $ FOR YOUR
DAIRY
Less days open
Source: “Review-Cost of Reproductive Diseases and Conditions in Cattle” in The Professional Animal Scientist 18:26-32
Increased pregnancy rates by using PowerMix™
Farm labor and vet costs reduced with easy calvings
Easy calvings reduce production loss related with difficult calvings
Elimination of poor performing calves due to heterosis
Source: “Review-Cost of Reproductive Diseases and Conditions in Cattle” in The Professional Animal Scientist 18:26-32
Increased value from beef cross calves
Ontario
More calves born alive due to easier calving Easier Calving Faster genetic gain
Source: Dr. Kent Weigel, University of Wisconsin
Source:
Livestock Markets (Brussels, Listowel, Denfield, Cookstown) 2017
Semex Beef Up sires are specifically selected for their excellence in traits that are important to all industries involved in the Beef Up Roadmap, including your Dairy.
Beef sires have Expected Progeny Differences (EPD) which allow producers to compare and rank sires within a breed for traits of interest. There are plenty of different traits to consider, but the following are the most influential to the Beef Up Farm to Fork process.
CALVING EASE
CALVING EASE DIRECT (CED)
LOW BIRTH WEIGHT (BW)
We’re putting EPDs to work in helping you choose the best option for your operation, recommending sires with higher calving ease and lower birth weight EPDs. Fewer difficult births result in more live and healthy calves born!
UNDERSTANDING CED & BW EPDs
• Calving Ease Direct EPD is expressed as percentage of unassisted births
• A higher value indicates greater calving ease in first-calf heifers
• As calving ease increases, birth weight tends to trend downwards
• BW EPD predicts the difference in average birth weight of a bull’s calves (in lbs) compared to calves of another bull
• Birth weight is a more heritable trait than calving ease, meaning it is less influenced by management and environmental factors and more influenced by genetics
• A lower number is more desirable
23 SEMEX BEEF UP SIRES RANK IN THE TOP 10% OF THE ANGUS BREED FOR CALVING EASE DIRECT
Performance sires produce offspring with added performance and growth to increase profitability. This is evaluated by looking at both Weaning Weight and Yearling Weight EPDs to determine which bulls will transmit performance to their progeny!
UNDERSTANDING WW & YW EPDs
• Both are predictors of the difference in average weaning and yearling weight of a sire’s progeny compared to other sires
• Both expressed in pounds
• WW is the 205-day weight, and YW is the 365-day weight
WEANING WEIGHT (WW)
YEARLING WEIGHT (YW)
CARCASS WEIGHT
Beef Up carcass weight sires increase the weight and volume of product produced per animal, resulting in more profitability.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT CW EPD
• Is a predictor of the differences in hot carcass weight of a sire’s progeny compared to progeny of other sires at the same age constant endpoint
• It is expressed in pounds
• A higher number is desirable
• Generally correlated with increased performance
24 SEMEX BEEF UP SIRES RANK IN THE TOP 10% OF THE ANGUS BREED FOR CARCASS WEIGHT
Ribeye Area EPD predicts the difference in the ribeye area of a bull’s progeny compared to the progeny of another bull and is an indicator of total muscle in the carcass. REA is closely associated with greater carcass weight, weaning and yearling weights, a more desirable yield grade, and more retail product.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT REA EPD
• Reported in square inches measured between the 12th and 13th rib
• It is expressed in pounds
• A higher number is desirable
20 SEMEX BEEF UP SIRES
RANK IN THE TOP 10% OF THE ANGUS BREED FOR
RIBEYE AREA
MARBLING
Marbling, the intramuscular fat (IMF) in a cut of meat, has a huge influence on meat quality, which is highly valued by consumers. The MARB EPD is expressed as a fraction of the difference in the marbling score of a sire’s progeny compared to progeny of other sires.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MARB EPD
• Based on carcass measurements of harvested cattle
• A higher score is better and predicts progeny will have higher intra-muscular fat (IMF) and higher quality grades
• Generally correlated with a decreased yield grade
51.4%
SIRES
RANK IN THE TOP 10% OF THE ANGUS BREED FOR
In 2020 the American Angus Association developed a dollar value index ($Values) as a specific crossbreeding tool for Angus bulls on dairy cows. By comparing crossbred progeny the $Angus-on-Holstein ($AxH) and $Angus-on-Jersey value ($AxJ) help dairymen identify the most profitable Angus sires. A higher value equals a more profitable calf!
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AxH & AxJ
• A higher number is better
• $AxH ranges from -225 to 270 and $AxJ ranges from -199 to 278
• Traits included in the terminal $Value indexes include: calving ease, growth to weaning, post-weaning growth and feed intake, and dressing percentage
CREATING VALUE FOR ALL LINKS
Dairy
• Fertility
• Calving Ease
• Economics
Feedlot
• Feed Efficiency
• Health
• Gain
• Grid Value
Quality
Product Yield Improved Average Daily Gain
Processor
• Carcass Weight
• Ribeye size/shape
• Marbling
Consumer
• Affordable beef products
• Great taste and tenderness
• Ethically produced
• Reduced carbon footprint
