Beef-on-dairy breeding is a rapidly growing trend that has crept into both dairy and beef operations across the U.S. The practice is changing the landscape for the U.S. beef industry, according to Dr. Zeb Gray, a feedlot specialist for Diamond V. The National Association of Animal Breeders says beef genetics are being swapped for dairy semen at a booming pace. Between February 2018 to 2022, a whopping 5 million additional doses of beef semen were sold in the U.S., while sales of dairy semen dropped by an almost identical number.

Even so, U.S. dairy herd numbers remained steady at 9 million head. A year-round supply of beef cross calves is a game-changer for animal procurement, says Dr. Gray. He says it presents a solution for keeping full pens in feedyards, particularly now with a shrinking domestic beef herd.

Read more on beef-on-dairy breeding here.