News

Dairy heifer supplies remain tight

A new CoBank report says the already-tight dairy heifer market is going to get a lot tighter.

Economist and report author Corey Geiger tells Brownfield the next two years will see sizable drops in dairy replacement cows. “Three hundred thousand less dairy animals coming into the milking stream this year. Next year, our projection for 2026 is almost 438-thousand.”

And Geiger says the expected recovery won’t be a full recovery. “We don’t see a rebound until 2027 and that will be up 285-thousand, but you’ve got to remember, that’s going to be after 800-thousand fewer heifers.”

Geiger says more than 90% of the dairy animals are bred with artificial insemination.  With conventional semen unit sales down almost five million units, while gender-sorted semen to make heifer calves is up three million units, and beef semen to create beef-on-dairy calves is up seven million units. “You know, these calves are selling for a thousand dollars a piece or more a couple of days after birth. I get it.”

Geiger says he expects dairy farmers will use more gender-sorted semen to make the dairy heifers they need without backing away from the profitable beef-on-dairy production.  Geiger expects the sale of conventional semen to dairy producers will continue to fall, perhaps another million units this year.