Utilizing AI: The Perfect Gift for Your Cow Herd

By: Matt Woolfolk, Field Representative & Commercial Marketing Director

Ready or not, the Christmas season is here!  I hope that each of you get to take the time to enjoy your favorite traditions, whether it’s decorating your homes, singing Christmas carols, or just enjoying the time with your family and friends.

Personally, I enjoy watching a good Christmas movie.  My all-time favorite is without a doubt National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, starring funnyman Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold.  In a film full of one-liners, my personal favorite comes from the character known as “Cousin Eddie”.  After Clark receives his Christmas bonus from his company, he’s disappointed to learn that the year’s bonus is a one-year subscription to the “Jelly of the Month” club.  Without missing a beat, Cousin Eddie looks Clark in the eye and proudly exclaims, “Clark, that’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year!”

As Beefmaster breeders, there’s a gift under the tree that keeps on giving the whole year, waiting to be opened: artificial insemination (AI).  The perfect gift for cow herds from 1 to 1,000, bringing AI into the herd allows for increased genetic diversity and greater options when planning next year’s matings.  First and foremost, AI gives you as a breeder access to some of the breed’s greatest bulls whose genetics could not otherwise be brought into your herd.  You may not have been able to afford those high-selling bulls you fell in love with at the sales last fall.  But through AI, you can bring their genetics into your herd for a fraction of his purchase price!  Using AI also gives you access to trait leading sires with proven performance and progeny records, providing predictability and quality you might not find in your young herd bull.

Utilizing AI as part of an estrus synchronization protocol (also known as a timed AI program) leads to a shorter calving season, as well as a more uniform calf crop when it comes time to market.  Having a set of calves of approximately the same age and size is especially enticing for feeder calf and commercial bull customers, adding value to your cattle and money to your pocket.  Additionally, a tighter calving window from using AI streamlines herd management, thus saving time, labor, and costs for you as a producer.  Instead of bringing several small groups of calves to the pens for processing every month, herd work becomes a one-time affair with a uniform set of AI-sired calves.

If improving the quality of your calf crop is at the top of your wish list this season, AI is the tool you need to make it happen.  Availability of superior genetics and use of a timed AI program can help you produce a better, more uniform, and more marketable calf crop.  The added value that using AI brings to your operation truly is the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.