While the results of Beef on Dairy calves are seen when born and information is gathered through these offspring, little is known about the impact of beef semen on the dairy cow. A project at Pennsylvania State University recently addressed the impact of using beef semen on gestation length of the dam.
“We set out to learn if these matings have any negative implications on your cow herd,” explained Bailey Basiel, a doctoral candidate from Penn State University. “I’m happy to report that using beef sires on your dairy herd isn’t going to hurt your herd of high-producing dairy cows,” she continued.
The project, which was summarized in the November edition of the Journal of Dairy Science, utilized a dataset of mature Holstein cows from 10 participating herds across the nation with herd sizes ranging from 100 to 13,000. More than 75,000 matings were assessed over 39,000 lactations that used matings from Angus, Brahman, Charolais, crossbred beef, Hereford, Limousin, Simmental, Shorthorn, Red Angus, Red Brahman, and Wagyu.
While the Wagyu and Limousin breedings did lead to a slight increase in gestation length and possible larger calf, Basiel emphasizes that increase did not cause dystocia, stillbirth or retained placentas.
“While there was a slight increase in stillbirth risk in the crossbred beef category, we found no effect on dystocia risk,” says Basiel. “We studied metabolic events, reproductive events, mastitis, and lameness and still found nothing different with the cows bred to beef.”
For more: How does beef semen impact dairy cows? (hoards.com)