Category Archives: Dairy

Biotechnology in Cattle: Artificial Insemination goals for dairy farmers


A few weeks ago, I started a series featuring biotechnology tools used in cattle herds across the country. David and Jennifer Heim are friends of mine and own a dairy farm in northeast Kansas. The Heims milk 85-100 Holstein cows and raise their heifer calves as replacements. They also raise corn, soybeans, hay, and other forages, mostly for feed. Jennifer greatly enjoys spending time with her breeding and genetics program and does an awesome job blogging about the events and decisions made on the farm. When she wrote this blog post describing their use of Artificial Insemination in the herd, I was pretty excited that she is allowing me to share it with you.

Holstein Dairy Calf Hutch Artificial Insemination

This little gal (who is not this little any more) is from one of the cows I personally bred, which is a very cool feeling. She’s out of the bull Boliver, who happens to be one of the few proven bulls we were using last year.

Breeding is important, but it really doesn’t matter what you breed a cow to if she doesn’t get pregnant. Last spring, we started using blood tests to confirm pregnancies. Since then we’ve tweaked our protocol to best suit our herd’s needs. Our milk hauler picks up our blood samples, and I am usually home on Sundays to draw blood, so every other Sunday, when our milk will be picked up on a Monday morning, I take blood samples from cows and heifers that were bred between 8 and 10 weeks prior who have not shown a heat since. The test can indicate pregnancy at 28 days, but we were observing a lot of heats just shortly after testing, and about a month after testing, when we were testing earlier. We’ve been on the every-other week at 8 weeks bred schedule for 3 or 4 months now, and have had very few come back in heat after being confirmed pregnant.

Several weeks ago we wrapped up pregnancy confirmations on all our cows and heifers that were bred in 2012. We tallied everything up, and here’s what we learned:

What are your conception rates with artificial insemination?

We started out the year with great conception – about 60%. Then we had two unexplained terrible months in March and April. Summer brought normal lulls due to heat, but was still better than March or April. After the heat subsided and the herd adjusted, we finished the year with solid conception and a lot of pregnancies, including several cows who were on their final attempts. Next fall may be busier than this one was.

How do you select sires with artificial insemination?

We used a lot of bulls – 34 total. Of many of these, we only used one or two straws as we were finishing a cane (the typical semen storage vessel, each holding 10 straws) as the year started or starting one as it ended. But, we were also only purchasing 10 units of most bulls. This wasn’t exactly unintentional. We were using mostly genomic bulls (the numbers come from DNA testing rather than daughter-proven performance), and since the technology is new, we like to balance our risk by using a variety. However, on paper, it was a little shocking,. We also hadn’t realized how few daughter-proven bulls we included in the mix.

What lessons have you learned with AI on the farm?

The excitement of genomics apparently went to our heads. We used 10 units of a sire named G W Atwood who has the show-rings buzzing with his fancy daughters, but in hindsight, that’s one of the worst investments we made. Don’t get me wrong, Atwood daughters are beautiful cows, but many are too tall for our stalls and less efficient from a feed intake vs milk production standpoint than daughters of other available bulls. That’s not what we’re looking for. Thankfully (I guess?), from the 10 units we only have two pregnancies, and they’re both short stocky old cows that should be complemented by Atwood’s dairy type, and their smaller stature will hopefully influence the stature of their potential daughters.

We also learned that conception is important. We knew this, but after the terrible time we had last spring, it really has started to hit home. One of my favorite bulls we used last year isn’t very fancy. His production isn’t off the charts. He’s just a decent bull, but he does his job – he gets cows bred. We purchased Shyster for two primary reasons – 1) his pedigree is a out-cross on almost everything we have (he’s not a cousin or brother to many of our cows) and 2) he was listed as a high conception bull. I’m not sure what his overall conception rate is in our herd now, but I know he was 3 for 3 on his first three breedings including a cow and a heifer who we had already given more chances to get pregnant than most farms would. Shyster gets cows bred, and that’s what breeding is really all about!

What plans does your farm have moving forward with AI breeding?

Our biggest take-away from all the data was the need to focus on our specific goals moving forward. Our plan for 2013 is to use more units of a few carefully selected proven bulls while still mixing in a variety of genomic bulls who best fit our goals, based on both numbers and pedigree. These steps will hopefully help us achieve the focus we feel we are lacking.

What traits are you looking for in dairy cows?

Holstein Dairy Calf Hutch Artificial Insemination

This calf is over a year old now, and we confirmed her bred today. She’s out of the bull Planet, who is still near the top of the proven lists, and is bred to sexed Grafeeti. We are milking two Planet cows currently, and we really like them.

Our ideal cows are moderate in size, convert feed efficiently into milk, and are durable and healthy to hopefully stick around for the long haul. In addition, we have started looking more closely at components (fat and protein), which are the portion of the milk we are actually paid for. Thankfully, components also happen to be very “heritable”, meaning that in just a few generations, they can be greatly improved. And if the cows look gorgeous while producing gobs of milk, that’s great, too.

And I’ll say it again, conception matters. The best bull in the world does us no good if we don’t get cows bred. Conception is affected by a lot of things – the cow’s feed and environment play a role along with our breeding techniques, but the semen plays a role, too. For most bulls there is conception data of some sort available, and we intend to take advantage of it. Semen that doesn’t get cows bred is money down the drain.

Every bull doesn’t have to meet all of these criteria; we look at more than numbers. And we do carefully mate, so we know the cow’s strengths play a role, too. That being said, I am very picky when I select bulls. I think I should be. These are our girls, and we have to do what’s best for them and their future daughters. Anything less would be selling our herd, our milk check, and ourselves short.

Follow Jennifer’s story and learn more about decisions made on her dairy farm through her blog, on Twitter (@jmheim33), and on Facebook.

What do you want to Ask a Farmer about Artificial Insemination or Biotechnology in Cattle?

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Undercover video reveals shocking images of Wisconsin dairy farm


Yesterday, a new undercover video was released from a Wisconsin dairy farm; a farm much like one of the many family farms across the country. Actually, after reading so many reports of animal welfare concerns, these revealing scenes from behind closed doors are pretty shocking. Watch the video for yourself.

See the original post on the DairyCarrie blog.

Seriously though, we have Carrie Mess (the leader of the Agriculture Proud Banditas) to thank for this video. And the barn doors were probably closed because it is cold in Wisconsin during the winter.

She has opened up a few doors by playing on the tactics of animal rights activists who regularly use scare tactics, emotion, and narratives to depict scenes of animal cruelty and welfare concerns in animal abuse videos. Well played, Carrie! Thank you for showing us that your cows are comfortable and well-taken care of while they are “doing cow things.”

Jersey Dairy Cows in Milking BarnI think the important point to be made with this video (originally posted on the DairyCarrie blog) is that we can all make videos, and we can all narrate scenes, but no matter how you play it, a video (or photos, or even a single blog post) is nothing more than a snapshot of the entire story.

Livestock production and farming is not a snapshot affair. A single measurement of anything is not an accurate depiction of the circumstances. It takes an entire dialogue, a relationship, and honest communication to gain an understanding of what happens in farming and food production. Carrie displays this well and follows through with the constant dialogue through her blog posts.

I am not saying things are perfect. Nothing is perfect. There is always something we can improve upon. It’s when we become content or complacent with our circumstances that we lose that desire to improve. There are several farmers and ranchers across the country working to improve and connect with their customers to learn what needs more improvement.

These dialogues cannot take place without a certain amount of civility in conversations. Sensational, emotional, provoking videos are not always the answer, but they do capture our attention.

Holstein Dairy Cows grazing wheat grass pasture

You may have been misled by the title of this post, and you may have been let down by cows doing cow things in the video, but it probably caught your attention better than a title of “Cows in a Barn.”

Be sure to stop by Carrie’s Blog, her Facebook page, or tweet her to ask your questions about dairy farming.

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AgProud: Family Dairy Farming


What’s it like to be on the same land your family has farmed on since the 1800s? Trent Bown knows and it’s something to make him Agriculture Proud. I’m excited to have this Utah family dairy farmer featured on my month-long series about the diversity of Agriculture. He does a great job showing how a family can farm on a larger scale and shows how dairy farmers care for their cattle. It’s another feature in the diversity we have in modern Agriculture. Why are YOU Agriculture Proud?

A few weeks back Ryan asked me to write a guest post on his blog about how being a family dairy farmer makes me Ag Proud. It got me to thinking….

I’m proud to be farming in the same spot that my family has been since the late 1800′s! My family started as most did back in that time, with a little bit of everything. A small chunk of land, a few pigs, chickens, sheep, horses & cows. They raised little more than they needed to survive on. Over the years different parts of the family took different aspects of the farm and went their own ways. The beef cows and the pigs aren’t around anymore and outside of my immediate family their are only a couple of cousins still involved in agriculture at all.

The farm now employs about 18 people and ships out 90,000 pounds of milk every single day. We certainly don’t do things the same way they did back then. We drive tractors instead of horses. We milk 40 cows at a time, in an efficient barn, not 4 at a time from a stool. If we need something, we hop on a computer and order it up, we don’t have to wait for the weekly trip into town for supplies. However, through all the years and all the changes, one thing remains the same…

The joy I feel getting up and going to work everyday. The gratification I feel after a long day in the fields. The beauty I see in a new calf standing up for the first time. I am proud to be trusted with the responsibility to care for these beautiful animals. I’m proud that I’m fortunate enough to work on this beautiful piece of land that God saw fit to bless this family with! Just as I’m sure my ancestors felt.

I AM PROUD TO PLAY A PART OF AGRICULTURE!

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Be sure to check out Trent’s pages online, his blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

AgProud: Tennessee Dairy Farmer Ryan Bright


Today my month-long series takes us to Philadelphia, Tennessee, visiting with 5th generation dairy farmer Ryan Bright. We’re celebrating the diversity of Agriculture by visiting with farmers, ranchers, and consumers from across the country and asking why they’re proud to be a part of Agriculture. Why are YOU Agriculture Proud?

I was at the grocery floor the other day grabbing a gallon of milk out when a friend of mine came around the aisle toward me. I was very proud to tell him that my milk now goes to both major brands they were selling that day. This instance is one of the great joys of being a dairy farmer: knowing that the fruits of your labor are right there on the shelf, in the frig, and on the supper table.

My pride in agriculture has something to do with history, too. Our farm is five generations strong and we’re working on the sixth. In the distant past we were more diversified in agriculture, but today our main focus is dairying. We milk around 100 holstein cows twice a day. While there are Jersey herds in East Tennessee, the black and white cows are the most common. Many of the dairy farms in the great Volunteer state have gone out of business due to financial reason or the aging dairyman. We’re happy that we have been able to keep our operation going.

Working with cows and land makes me ag proud as well. There’s a wonderful feeling about watching the progress that a baby calf makes as she grows into an adult cow to begin her milk production and knowing what steps you took along the way to make that happen.

I am ag proud to follow in my ancestors’ foot steps on the farm. I think there is something special about being in production agriculture and providing milk and other dairy products for people to enjoy.

Ryan Bright can be found on Twitter, but don’t forget to check out his thoughts about life on the dairy farm, and a unique view from his cows’ perspective.