The use of sexed semen in dairy herds

Abstract

Artificial insemination of cattle became a commercial reality in 1936, and in 1952 the first calves were born as a result of freeze-thawed semen insemination. The long-held aspiration for pre determination of sex became a reality with the development of sperm sorting technology with the first female calves being born in the UK in 1999. While most breeding companies supply sexed semen sorted by the original flow cytometry method, Genus ABS have developed the method of sperm deactivation. Whatever the method sexing accuracy exceeds 90% and conception rates can be expected to be comparable to conventional semen but only when management is good and importantly there are considerable variations in the fertility of different bulls as a result of the sorting process. The use of sexed semen offers producers an opportunity to maximise the beef production from the dairy herd while accelerating genetic improvement.