Before sexed semen, farmers would artificially inseminate a cow or heifer using conventional semen. Conventional semen is regular semen, which offers a 50/50 chance of breeding a male or female offspring.
In recent years, farmers have moved more towards using sexed semen. This is semen collected from the bulls and further processed in a lab to remove as many ‘Y’ chromosomes as possible.
When it comes to genetics, the offspring of the calf is determined by the chromosomes carried. The ‘X’ chromosome will result in a female, and the ‘Y’ chromosome will create a male.
By processing semen and reducing the percentage of ‘Y’ chromosomes, there is an increased chance of female offspring for the dairy farmer.
Typically, a dairy farmer will want to breed more heifer replacements from their best cows, and the male offspring will not typically hold much value, causing a strain on the farmer’s profits until that animal can be sold for beef.
Sexed semen is used to allow the farmer more control over the offspring they produce.
How is sexed semen processed?
When processing semen, the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ chromosomes are separated by determining their size or DNA content.
A laser is used to reduce the percentage of ‘Y’ chromosomes present in the batch of semen. It is possible that some male chromosomes will remain, but the chances will be much slimmer after being processed.
How fertile is sexed semen?
The fertility of sexed semen can vary, depending on the technology used to create it, and the processes taken by each varying genetics company.
Genus ABS is proud to offer the most fertile sexed semen available on the market today, Sexcel®, powered by IntelliGen® Technologies.
Sexcel® is continuously being improved by genetic specialists to optimise both its potential and impact on farm.
Currently, the sexed semen sold by Genus ABS has a 90% relative conception rate, which is extremely high.
This has been proven by Genus ABS’ Real World Data®, the world’s largest dataset for collecting cow records worldwide.
Real World Data® has gathered data from over 3.2 million inseminations from across the globe. 60% of the data collected contains insemination data from other genetics companies, to ensure accuracy in results.
How should Sexcel® be used?
When breeding the animals in your herd, you should always breed your highest genetic merit cows and heifers to sexed semen.
You should then breed your lower genetic performing animals to a superior beef semen, such as NuEra Beef Genetics, to ensure you produce a high-value beef calf.
This is what Genus ABS call the Winning Game Plan. By doing this, you can ensure the genetic progress in your herd will continue to grow and flourish, whilst also generating the maximum amount of profit.
Interested in using sexed semen on your farm? Get in touch with your local representative today or visit our website for more information.
01270 616681