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Economist says dairy x beef feeders adding value to dairy industry

An ag economist says the dairy industry is using more beef semen, helping to grow beef supplies and add value to the dairy sector.

University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says advancements in technology have made this possible. “Now I can figure out which of my females I want to get a replacement heifer from and use sorted semen on those,” he says.  “And those cows that I really don’t want a female replacement from, those steer calves with beef semen certainly have a lot more value.”

He tells Brownfield the rise in dairy x beef feeders will add to beef production, which has been slowing as herd reductions have been on the rise.  “And it’s going to have been coming from that beef on dairy portion more than anything else right now,” he says.  “We’re going to continue to have more animals than we might have thought otherwise on the beef side, just because of what’s been happening.”

Brown says this allows the dairy industry to add value to dairy steers that wouldn’t have had a lot of value otherwise.