Finally semen that settles cows

[Brand]

I want to give a high five to Genex for being the first company to list the bulls in current battery where they can list bulls (semen) that will actually settle beef cows and heifers..

 

[Kingfisher]

How many misses did you have in the past ?

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Never knew it took special semen to settle cows. I have always found that if the semen was good and the timing was right cows settled.

 

[cow pollinater]

It's a junk number until the reliability is up in the .70 range and even then there is variation from collection to collection. PLUS you're looking at a +1 meaning 1% better than average... You can beat that fifty different ways by simply managing your cows for fertility.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying that it's a sales tool. ;-) Don't pick bulls based on 1% better conception, you'd have to have thousands of insemenations to see that 1% difference reliably and any other fluctuations you see would be environmental/management on your end. Pick the BEST bull and take whatever fertility information you have into consideration when you pick him.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I like it, and with our experience I find it accurate. I get the best conception on the Upgrade and Topgrade semen over any of the other semen in my tank. But I have great luck with Genex semen period! I like them best, then Select Sires and third ABS. My worst conception comes from semen I get through Cattle Visions... and I know they just resale semen, but I have bad experience with all the semen I have bought through them.

 

[Son of Butch]

I want to give a high five to Genex for being the first company to list the bulls in current battery where they can list bulls (semen) that will actually settle beef cows and heifers..

Or more importantly which bulls to stay away from because of low A.I. conception rates.
compare
1an1217 Connealy In Sure p.c. 94 81%
vs
1an1195 Connealy Imprint pc 103 79%
that's a 9% difference
and it gets worse for In Sure when you factor in he is used mostly on virgin heifers and Imprint mostly on cows.
In Sure 19 ce -2.6 bw 2.29 sc
Imprint 4 ce 2.7 bw 1.22 sc

Surprisingly In Sure has a very high sc at 2.29 nearly double the much better conception bull Imprint at 1.22 sc
My guess is they just killed In Sure semen sales by publishing his poor conception rate.
So tip of the hat to Genex for being willing to print the bad along with the good.

 

[Amo]

I found this interesting as well. Not that Id use single trait selection of this. Select sires has this type of data as well.

I did find it interesting, at a meeting a person stated they switched companies because Genex had better quality semen than her previous employer! Guess Ive never noticed much difference between companies. I mostly use Genex, Select Sires, Accelerated, & ABS. I can see where say cattle visions might have more exposure.

 

[Son of Butch]

I found this interesting as well.... Select sires has this type of data as well.

ALL of the bull studs have had this type of data for over 60 years. [they just seldom made it public]
They also have similar data on stud employed technicians. [that will never be disclosed, not even to the technician]
Combine a low performing bull with a low performing technician and we're talking up to a 20% difference.

 

[Beef11]

I found this interesting as well.... Select sires has this type of data as well.

ALL of the bull studs have had this type of data for over 60 years. [they just seldom made it public]
They also have similar data on stud employed technicians. [that will never be disclosed, not even to the technician]
Combine a low performing bull with a low performing technician and we're talking up to a 20% difference.

They have data on employees? What about the women? Or a guy who has a vasectomy?

The dairy side has this data and it is very useful in making bull decisions.

 

[cow pollinater]

I did find it interesting, at a meeting a person stated they switched companies because Genex had better quality semen than her previous employer!

I have heard that about every company that markets semen at some point in time. 90% of the time it's BS and they're just trying to justify why they left and can't come up with a better reason. The other 10% of the time it's a mass exodus and there are a whole bunch of people saying the same thing.

 

[cow pollinater]

The dairy side has this data and it is very useful in making bull decisions.

The difference here is that on the dairy side young sire programs are set up specifically to eliminate bias as the semen is bought on a contract basis and no producer has any say in which bulls are used so they can really compare how the bull performs across ALL sectors of the dairy industry.
With beef cattle, unproven sires are marketed right alongside proven sires. I can tell you from experience that a DOC 20 bull and a DOC 0 bull are going to market to two very different sectors of the industry and one of those sectors is not very good at reporting information so without a program similar to the dairy young sire program they are comparing apples to oranges and it's a junk number.
Genex really has had their ducks in a row on semen quality for quite a while now but that wasn't always the case. It isn't always the case with any company. They're only as good as the lab staff and staff is subject to change.

 

[RoppFamilyFarm]

I want to give a high five to Genex for being the first company to list the bulls in current battery where they can list bulls (semen) that will actually settle beef cows and heifers..

I have been having my cattle AI'ed for 10 years, and I have never heard the term Settle cows? In fear of sounding stupid, cane someone explain this term to me?

 

[Son of Butch]

Settled = pregnancy resulted from the insemination.
i.e.
She settled on the 1st service.
or
She didn't settle in 3 trys.