From composted manure and beef-cross calves to methane-powered electricity and renewable natural gas, dairies continue to explore paths to garner bonus revenue beyond the traditional cash crop of milk.
The latest idea may be another collaboration between dairy producers and their beef cattle brethren: embryo surrogacy. Or stated another way, renting out uteruses.
“Right now, there are so many more embryos sitting in tanks than sitting in cows,” declared show stock photographer J. Brad Hook of Humeston, Iowa, host of the “Genuine JBH” podcast. Hook lamented that in the beef cattle show stock world, breeders have made remarkable strides in genetic analysis and mating that consistently produce excellent offspring. But what has not kept up with the breakneck pace of genetic progress and embryo development is the recipients in which to put them.
Hook explained that the supply of embryos has far outstripped the availability of beef recipient animals, especially in today’s high-dollar-value beef industry. “Recip” cows currently are extremely expensive to purchase. Custom beef recipient herds are largely booked, and also have increased their prices considerably due to the value of the animals. Today, the average take-home cost of an embryo born to a beef recipient is $4,000-$5,000 per calf, not even counting the price of the embryos.
Enter the humble dairy cow. She has to have a calf every year anyway, and in many cases, she may not be a chosen dam to create a replacement heifer for the dairy. So why not put a beef embryo in her, with a guaranteed price over market value for the calf?
That’s exactly what Lynchburg, Ohio club calf breeder Jake Osborn is doing. Osborn and his son, Wyatt, are partnering with an 800-cow Ohio dairy to bring to life the overflowing supply of embryos that are sitting in their tanks and others’ across the country. Last year they started with 9 embryos that resulted in 6 live births. But next year Osborn Show Cattle plans to produce about 150 calves via surrogate dairy dams.
“The appealing part about this situation is that the dairy is able to synch up a large number of recips at the same time,” noted Osborn. “You can get a whole string of calves from the same mating, born within just a few days of each other.”
Osborn said the attention to breeding details and readiness of dairy dams also results in considerably higher conception rates at the dairy. “At my place, a 20-30% conception rate on embryos was pretty common, which is not real conducive to making money,” he shared. “Currently, we’re running 55-70% conception in the dairy cows, which is way better on IVF embryos than I’ll ever do at my house.”
And the calves themselves? Hook attested that when he viewed Osborn’s spring sale calf line-up this year, he couldn’t tell them apart from the dam-reared calves in terms of growth and conformation. Osborn noted that the quality of the calves was due largely to the efforts of an excellent caretaker at the dairy. Ultimately, he worked out an arrangement to pay her a bonus on the embryo calves based on their sale price.
Another benefit was the disposition of those show calves. Purchasing families were delighted to take home animals that were broke to lead and tame and ready to go. “You can buy one for your 10-year-old and not have to worry about them getting hurt,” shared Osborn. “They’re a lot different than a calf that has been at the side of a normal recip cow.”
For the dairy, the value lies in the premium price they are paid for the calves, which Osborn said is above the healthy $800-900-per-head price they are currently receiving for their own beef-cross calves. The dairy owns the embryo calves until weaning at 60-90 days, then sells them back to the embryo contractor.
In further collaboration with the dairy, Osborn also plans to put embryos into cows identified on the cull list. After dry-off at the dairy, they will be sold at a premium price over cull value and raise their embryo calf, plus a couple more grafted onto them.
Looking forward, Hook and Osborn noted even more related business opportunities, such as custom raisers who would take the embryo calves at birth and rear them specifically into show cattle. The ability of dairy cows to calve out beef embryos also may be an avenue for purebred beef breeders to create more offspring. Plus, it could help rebuild the commercial beef cattle herd in the U.S., which is currently at its smallest size in more than 70 years.
“Not everyone is going to be good at this,” Osborn stated. “It really takes a special dairy – someone who knows a lot about nutrition and management, and really cares about calves.”
