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Facts About the Bull Semen Industry

All Associated Press News(AP) - _ Five companies do 95 percent of the collecting and distributing of bull semen in the U.S. They are Wisconsin-based ABS Global, Alta Genetics, Cooperative Resources International and Accelerated Genetics, and Plain City, Ohio-based Select Sires Inc.

_ Artificial insemination is mostly used in dairy cattle because farmers keep them in pens and can better monitor their heat, compared to beef cattle which typically roam pastures.

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_ The conception rates with artificial insemination, done properly, and the natural process are comparable at about 65 to 70 percent.

_ It's also recently become possible for farmers to pick the offspring's sex, but it's more expensive.

_ The U.S. Department of Agriculture rates dairy bulls based on milk quality, udder health and fertility, among other things, of the first daughters they produce at about a year old. The whole process takes about five years and only one of about 10 bulls make it to service. After that, they're rated four times a year. Beef breed associations do their own genetic evaluations and rank bulls.

_ Popular bulls can supply 100,000 doses per year. There are several bulls that make more than $3 million a year.

_ It's estimated that about 65 percent of the nation's dairy cattle were conceived through artificial insemination and about 10 percent of the beef cattle.

_ Dairy bull semen sells domestically on average for about $8 a unit and internationally for $6. Beef semen is generally higher, but the figures are unknown because it's usually sold privately.

_ 25-year-old sperm has produced calves, but it's unknown when sperm loses its fertility.

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Sources: Gordon Doak, president of the National Association of Animal Breeders and Paul VanRaden, a genetic researcher at the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory of the USDA.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.