Rising Sexed Semen Use Signals Slow Rebound in Dairy Heifer Numbers

ZISK
Apr 24
1 min read

After years of breeding crossbred calves for the lofty beef market, dairy producers appear to be slowly shifting their practices to breed more heifers. According to Sarina Sharp, analyst with the Daily Dairy Report, “U.S. dairy producers prioritized heifer calf production last year, setting the stage for an incremental uptick in heifer supplies in years to come. It’s possible that U.S. dairy heifer head counts reached their low for the current cycle last year.”

Last year, dairy producers bought 10.6 million units of gender-selected semen, a 6.5% increase from 2024, according to the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) annual sales report. Gender-selected semen last year accounted for 64% of all dairy semen sales.

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