How important is the beef cattle business, especially the cow-calf industry, to allied industries in North America? Extremely important, because the cow-calf industry and the ranching men and women that spend countless hours producing beef are the generators of new revenue and raw products! Therefore, there is no industry business factor more important than beef cattle reproduction. While most beef producers consider themselves as being in the “cattle business”, they actually are at the beginning of the food producing supply chain and, as such, allied industries feed off of the cow-calf producer’s production. According to a USDA study that evaluated management of U.S. cow-calf operations, 77.3% of operations are classified as commercial businesses, 16.9% are businesses that raise both commercial and seedstock cattle, and 5.9% of operations are classified as seedstock businesses. Regardless of the initial business type, i.e., commercial or seedstock, all cattle are eventually marketed as a delicious, tender, juicy, flavorful, highly nutritious protein food product.
Beef cattle producers and anyone interested in beef cattle reproduction for that matter, are invited to attend the 2nd annual Beef Cattle Reproductive Strategies meeting to be held on November 16, 2023, at the Dickinson State University, Agriculture and Technical Studies Department auditorium (Room 104). The program begins with registration at 8:30 am, welcome and announcements at 9:00 am, and the first presentation at 9:15 am.
As with any program dealing with the female estrus cycle, our first speaker, Annette Steffan, Heart River Genetics, will walk through the normal estrus cycle and then discuss modification of the estrus cycle for synchronization using two of the most common progesterone priming synchronization protocols (7-day and 14-day CIDR +PG).
How many times are there disappointing results using artificial insemination (AI)? Successful AI programs require increased management and attention to specific details. Therefore, paralleling Ms. Steffan’s estrus synchronization presentation will be a presentation outlining the Best Management Practices for a successful AI breeding season.
Natural service has a cost for purchase and maintenance of herd bulls. AI is no different and has additional expenses associated with the technique plus the cost for cleanup bulls. The immediate question is to determine if the additional investment in synchronization and labor are actually worth the investment. Lacey Quail, PhD student, Texas A & M University, has completed research evaluating the cost associated with estrus detection and will present her findings via Zoom from her office in Texas.
The full program agenda is nearly complete and will be posted on the Dickinson Research Extension Center webpage and in next week’s DREC – Update. Stay tuned for more information regarding this reproduction management seminar.
