Welcome to the Select Sires Podcast talking Your Success, Our Passion, starting in 3-2-1.
Joel Penhorwood
This is the Select Sires Podcast and thanks for joining us. I’m Joel Penhorwood and joining me, Director of Communications at Select Sires, Leslie Maurice. Leslie, thanks.
Leslie Maurice
Hey, happy to be here, Joel. Excited about the topic today. Very timely and definitely where our industry is moving to, we’re excited about this.
Joel Penhorwood
Absolutely, and as we talk about what we’re going to talk about, you know we hear about beef x dairy and the phenomenon that everyone is thinking about. How can we best use it in our situation? Well today we’re going to be
talking about beef out of dairy. A little bit of a different take on that and joining us today, we’ve got two outstanding folks that know more about HerdFlex in particular. And so, joining us today, Chris Sigurdson and Brandon
Thesing.
Before we get to that conversation, though, it's time for our highlight of the podcast. As we'll find out on today's topic, HerdFlex can be a part of a strategic heifer replacement strategy. In today's world of tight margins and ensuring
every pregnancy counts, that also means being as sure as ever before that animals in production are staying healthy. Select Sires can help through our portfolio of Herd Management Solutions. Jill Strangstalien tells us more.
Jill Strangstalien
Hi, I'm Jill Strangstalien, director of Herd Management Solutions for Select Sires, and with me today is Scott Gottschalk.
Scott Gottschalk
Hi, I'm Scott. I am the national account manager working with the animal health products for the company.
Jill Strangstalien
Today we're going to talk about one of the staples of our Herd Management Solutions product portfolio. We're going to talk about the Tri-Start Bolus.
Scott Gottschalk
The Tri-Start Bolus, and where does this come in? It is a really fantastic direct-fed microbial. It's a strong dose to help get animals feeling better get them on feed better get them eating better. And any time you talk about direct-fed
microbials, you're talking about autoimmune responses and healthier animals. So, let's just quickly talk about where would you use it. Every now and again, we have a tough calving, that tough calving has led to either an animal that's
not feeling well, the mama cow's not feeling well. She might even get a DA, a displaced abomasum, she goes off feed, some of the cattle sometimes get a really bad case of dysentery, you got a sick one and you got to get them in the
chute or work with them anyway. You get one of these boluses down their throat, you're going to put 100 billion direct-fed microbials into their stomach, and within 24 hours you've totally repopulated the gut.
Jill Strangstalien
And we've always got those challenges following vaccination or transport. You know, another good place would be even for show cattle. Growing up in a show family, you often had an animal that was off feed in the show circuit, and so those
would be some other additional benefits. So, we call Tri-Start our show-me product. Basically, the results are obvious and they're very quick, one of the staples of our program and we invite you to contact your Select Sires representative
and learn more about Tri-Start today.
Joel Penhorwood
More on that product and other options to help you and your cattle online at www.selectsires.com. Onto the main discussion. Chris, Brandon, thank you so much for joining us today. If you don't mind, I'm going to hand it off to you to kind
of give us an overview of each of what you folks do and a little bit of your backgrounds and working with dairy producers and beef producers as we'll be talking about today.
Chris Sigurdson
Sure, happy to be here. Thank you for the chance to share our perspective on HerdFlex and how we're working to position that obviously to create more value for our members. So, my position now within Select Sires is general manager responsibilities
for both the Minnesota cooperative as well as COBA, and with that, of course, is the responsibility to serve our members and support my colleagues, both client facing and within the background that make the value proposition come to
life. My background has been involved in a couple of different ag businesses through my career. Udder health, milk quality, genetics and reproduction. And I spent some time at one of the world's leading embryo technology companies
prior to coming to Select Sires, and as a result of that I had some passion and interest in how embryos can potentially become a significant part of what Select Sires brings to its members.
Joel Penhorwood
Thanks, Chris. Brandon, over to you.
Brandon Thesing
Awesome. Thanks for having me join and excited about the topic that we have today. I've been with Select Sires for 10 going on 11 years now. And I currently work for both MidAmerica and Minnesota Select Sires as a corporate account manager.
So ultimately, my main role and responsibility is I get the opportunity to work with our very best, mostly dairy producers, either the customers that we have, or the prospects that we're chasing after. And the end goal is how can I
help them make decisions that are most profitable and helping them make their next generation their very best. I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in animal science and started my career with Select Sires. And
luckily, throughout that journey, I've done a lot of different things, from sales to managing people to consultation, and really excited for the position that I'm in today, as well as getting to serve a five-state area and two of our
member-owned co-ops. So, it's been a blast so far.
Joel Penhorwood
Thank you guys for describing your backgrounds and it's great to see in-depth backgrounds and how we're bringing it to today's topic. So, if you don't mind, before we get further in-depth, let's just take sort of a big picture view of
what is HerdFlex, and how is it unique in the marketplace? Because it's different than say, oh, yeah, well, it's a beef x dairy option. Well, not really. Tell us about that.
Chris Sigurdson
Sure, certainly. Thank you. So, Brandon shared the phrase in his opening, making the next generation the best. Every single pregnancy is an opportunity to create the next generation that delivers the highest value, highest profitability
back to their business. In dairies that are doing exceptionally well, in reproduction, and calf livability and heifer completion rates, they're going to have this magical opportunity to make lots of baby cows, and which are the ones
that we make from each pregnancy are going to create the highest return. So HerdFlex, is a partnership with another leading ag company by the name of Simplot, and we can talk more about them later, but it's a partnership to lean on
their expertise, their technology, their assets, of the ability to make lots of really good embryos, custom designed to our dairies and present them into situations where they have pregnancies available, that aren't needed for replacements,
and pregnancies available that can really maximize return on each one that they produce. Brandon, what might you add to that?
Brandon Thesing
Yeah, as I think about how it's unique in the marketplace, it's ultimately Chris mentioned there where it's specifically made and tailored for making that most valuable offspring. So, for us, it is how Select Sires plays a role in utilizing
our beef department to understand how can we make the absolute best beef x beef calf that comes out. So, in the matings and the creation of those embryos, we are selecting sires that are specific for the market, as well as what we
think will perform the best. And then along with that, I think the HerdFlex story is also just as importantly about combining with our people on the ground, and our Select Sires team that an embryo doesn't do any good unless you create
a pregnancy. And so, I think that's tied hand-in-hand of that story of how it's unique is once Select Sires is able to work with our dairy producers of understanding how we implement that strategy into their dairy and ultimately how
we can make them the most profitable.
Leslie Maurice
You guys both talked about, even when you were introducing yourselves, the value that we all set out to create for our member-owners, and what we're doing about that, and then you're talking about creating valuable pregnancies. And so,
this program is really a little bit different than inseminating a cow with, well, it's a lot different than inseminating a cow with beef semen, right, but they're getting a full beef x beef calf. So, it is a traditional beef calf,
and that's creating a quality product to enter into the marketplace down the road. But let's talk about the value there versus, you know, like how that translates into beef x dairy, which everybody is talking about beef x dairy. And
let's talk about that value proposition a little bit more and dig into that if we can.
Chris Sigurdson
Sure. Yep. So I think if you if you start with the end in mind, what's the most valuable situation for the consumer ultimately, but for processors and feeders and ultimately back to the dairies, is because of the genetic attributes that
these calves have, it's the biggest return on investment through that process, given the ability to grow and to finish and present the carcass qualities that are most valued. And so, the other aspect that puts our dairies in a super,
well unique, but interesting position compared to traditional beef production, is they're making calves, pregnancies all year round, right? And, you know, the ebbs and flows of the availability of beef calves are one of the core challenges
that feeders and processors face on a regular basis, whether that's small scale or exceptionally large. And because dairies are consistently making calves all year round, it really changes the dynamics of the supply chain and boosts
predictable value even more for all the way through the system. So, while you know beef x dairy calves are obviously part of that same production system, it's the other attributes of that, that the right tailored genetics can present
in terms of timing of finishing, conversion of feedstuffs in a more hasty manner. And then certainly the carcass quality traits that the market ultimately seeks.
Brandon Thesing
Yeah, the thing to me that I think is really cool about our dairy producers is year after year, we just keep elevating and becoming better at the product that we're creating. This is a little bit different because it's not necessarily
on the milk side. It's on the on the beef side. And really for years, dairy producers have been beef producers. We've been making, whether that be Holstein or Jersey or whatever breed that you have, male steers, and that's been an
important part of the supply chain. And over the past couple of years, we figured out ways of how we can make that a more valuable product by making beef x dairy calves. We then have figured out what are the specific traits? What are
the type of bulls so we can make those calves even more valuable? And I see HerdFlex as a next step. The word that I'm going to keep going back to in our conversation is strategic. So, it's to me, how do I look at each individual animal
on my farm, and how can I strategically think about what can I do to make the most valuable offspring out of that cow? Whether that's sexed semen, beef semen, or beef HerdFlex embryos, and one example I have is a dairy that I work
with that has multiple breeds, the beef x dairy animals out of their Holsteins or out of some of their crosses, are still a very valuable and a great product. But they have some, whether that be Jerseys, or they have some other smaller
animals that they know just don't make as valuable a product, so they're very pinpoint of understanding how they can be strategic of what they're creating and what they're doing. So that to me, and along with a lot of the other characteristics
that Chris talked about that the HerdFlex value proposition from health and rate of gain to end carcass traits, it allows us to be really pinpoint on what we're trying to create.
Leslie Maurice
Yeah, I mean, I think that that's something that dairy producers over history have always been keeping focused on creating and producing a quality product for our consumers, and that's always been traditionally through milk. And you know,
Brandon, you said it great that our dairy producers have always been beef producers as well just kind of like as a byproduct. But I think turning a little bit of focus into creating quality beef, and in doing that for our consumers,
is kind of where the conversation goes a little bit. It's really interesting to bring that up to people and to our members.
Brandon Thesing
Yeah, you know, and one of the other things that isn't necessarily specifically tied to how this product are made or what the product is, but one of the distinct advantages that dairy producers have is traceability, is data collection,
sustainability, right? I'm throwing all the buzz words at you now. But truly as we think about what advantages and what makes this product unique and unique for our producers, it's the ability to again, elevate that story, and have
all of that in there that every single animal that's created can have an RFID tag on them that can tap back into their herd management software so that when that carcass is on the rail, we know exactly what it is, where it's from,
how it's been raised, that that story is there to tell. And we're excited to do that with HerdFlex.
Joel Penhorwood
Building on that idea of this added value proposition, and then also strategy to, you know, the strategic way we are putting in this program, what type of dairy is going to see the most value or return, or are you guys finding that it
is fitting in with their system?
Chris Sigurdson
Yeah, so Brandon touched on that just a little bit, let's bring more out. I'll start with where HerdFlex is going to work and where it's not, that piece of it. When you seek, you know, higher levels of opportunity, with that comes a new
set of challenges and potentially some risk, if you will, that one will need to embrace if you're going to utilize embryo technologies in your production system. And by the way, you know, there's a significant upscaling that's happening
in the U.S. dairy industry. In fact, I think a little bit behind maybe some other parts of the world that embryos are becoming a bigger and bigger part of commercial food production. And as a result of that, we're going through that
learning process. And HerdFlex is right at the front of that, along with the utilization of dairy embryos and other cases. But to make embryos successful, you're going to need to start with a dairy production system that is already
performing at a very high level of reproductive success, like we're not going to fix problems by throwing some embryos into the mix. You're going to have to be really, really dialed in, in terms of your reproductive performance parameters
already, which then present you the chance to consider embryos. And so, you know what kind of dairies? They're going to have to be ones that already have a lot of extra pregnancies to consider for this use. They're going to have to
be really good at reproduction already, which just speaks largely to the fertility of the cow herd, but also the performance levels of those involved in managing reproduction. And that's a complicated subject. But you know, just measured
by conception rate of use of semen starts to lend itself towards believing that we could probably make embryos work. But then of course, we don't put an embryo in on estrus day, right? It's a week later, and so we have to have good
management responsibilities and identifying those cows and then presenting them back to a professional embryo transfer technician. And then there's a technique aspect that goes along with that as well. So it's those kinds of dairies
that are that are performing well, managed well and have the personnel that understand this is different, and subject to a higher level of performance and expertise than breeding with semen. We're proving every day it's more than possible
to make this work. But we've also proven that it can go the wrong direction if we're not buttoned up in terms of the responsibilities of everyone involved.
Brandon Thesing
Yeah, I think Chris did an excellent job of walking through the day-to-day and the logistical piece of what's needed. As I think about it from say, a 5,000-foot view, I really think it's about people that are forward thinking, they're
opportunists, but also to me, it's about who are the dairymen that are sick of being price takers, and really want to be not only a price maker, but a price creator. And our very best dairymen are always trying to think of how they
can stay competitive, and what's going to position them at the market different than, you know, other dairies in the industry. And for certain, if you can understand how to implement this and put this management style into what you
already have happening, you create a distinct advantage. We've done an exceptional job of understanding how to get cows pregnant with semen really, really well. I have a peer group of around 45 dairies that I look monthly at their
reproductive parameters, the average preg rate in that group is 30. I mean that's crazy to think the average is 30. So, it's to me, it's about how do I go from not only good to great, but great to exceptional? And looking for those
the very best dairies. So yeah, great point, Chris.
Chris Sigurdson
I would just add to that, Brandon, ultimately, what this has to connect to is what's the value of the outcome that the market is going to respond to. And for dairies that are marketing the calf as a wet calf, that's different than those
that might retain them to four or five weights to those that might finish them. But the markets going to have to speak in terms of, you know, what's that calf worth to them? So back to your question of what's the, you know, what's
the ideal dairy, there's a pretty significant economic consideration in here. But assuming, you know, the reproductive things are in line, what's it cost to make a HerdFlex calf versus what it may cost to make a beef x dairy ProfitSOURCE
calf, or a TD calf in some areas of the country, versus what it cost to make a HerdFlex calf, and then what's the consumer willing to pay for that. We're still somewhat early in scaling HerdFlex to understand that value completely,
but we do have some good data and some good anecdotal experiences. And we also have the response of one of the largest feeders in the country that seeking many thousands of these HerdFlex calves so they can scale up their understanding
even further. So, what that really comes down to at the moment is Jersey dairies specifically are getting less for their calves than Holsteins in most places of the country. The calf that they don't need for replacement. And so, the
greatest value proposition today is likely in a Jersey dairy versus a Holstein. But it's market dependent, but I would say if you get right to it, little brown cows that don't get rewarded for bull calves they don't need to have a
pretty significant economic opportunity to look at creating straight bred beef calves out of those cows instead.
Leslie Maurice
I think that that's where my mind goes to is, you know, what's the value of the alternative, right? Like you're going to get a pregnancy and we at Select Sires have talked for the last few years if not more about right-sizing your herd
and getting and achieving your goals with the right amount of replacement heifers and making sure how that all plays into that bottom line and the profitability of the overall operation. And I think that this falls right into line.
Of course, each dairy has their own goals and you know, Chris and Brandon, your teams definitely work with them to help them achieve those goals. And at the end of the day, it comes down to the management styles and if we can implement
that, but I think that there's a lot of value here for these Jersey dairies to continue to right-size their herd while creating an impact in our food production system bigger than what they might be right now. And, you know, you talked
about the data, you talked about the packers. Are you guys comfortable sharing any of that information with our listeners?
Chris Sigurdson
So let me go to the middle piece, and I don't have the data in front of me today, but we did some evaluation of the initial smaller set of calves, from the dairies on to the growers onto some feeders. In particular, you know, a shout out
to these folks that are willing to stick their necks out just a little bit and help us learn along the way. A grower in southwest Minnesota, specifically, and then onto Triangle H Feeder, south of Garden City. From their perspective,
the calves are performing. What's also interesting, which isn't performance data, but the genomic testing attribute to these calves is pretty phenomenal and they continue to rank in the top 25 percent of the Angus breed in terms of
the EPD profiles from a performance perspective. We don't yet have known carcass data in any big set, so we're really relying on believing in genetics, believing in the attributes that the specifically selected sires that we're using
to fertilize the oocytes with and expect the outcomes to be based on that. But honestly, until we have the thousands that we're working to produce right now into the system, we won't know specifics. So, we're still betting on and relying
on what we know about the genetic attributes of the males and females that are going into making embryos.
Leslie Maurice
Yeah, and I think the other thing to point out, and sometimes it's easily forgotten and maybe glossed over to those people that would be holding on to these calves a little bit longer than then just like day-old calves and selling them
is that these are full-blood beef calves and they're going to be more efficient converters of feed to meat, right? Versus a traditional beef x dairy calf. So, I think that that adds value to this program, too.
Brandon Thesing
One of the things to me, as I think through, like what we're trying to do, we're ultimately trying to create a product that can't be nicked or docked or found something that's undesirable about it, right? So, this program is how can we
create a product that that can't happen to, and how can we do it before, again, I'm talking about creating the market before rather than just accepting some of those docks, we can create that more valuable product. I also think, again,
from a larger perspective, we understand the shrinking beef population and where some challenges will be there, and so I think that presents a ton of opportunities. And some of that's interesting that you mentioned before is our dairymen
are also no longer just milk producers. They're also becoming heavier involved in feedlot operations and retaining ownership. So, this is a full encompassing program and thought process that a lot of our very best producers are trying
to understand and figure out of what works best for them. And every operation and every situation is going to be a little bit different.
Joel Penhorwood
Sort of preempted that last question there, and we've talked about it quite a bit today as part of an advantageous replacement heifer strategy for the future of the farm. How does this fit into, and as Brandon was just saying there, it
might be different for each one, but does this fit into an ongoing beef x dairy strategy? Are dairies committing entirely to this as a, you know, a beef x beef program really? Or what are you guys seeing so far?
Brandon Thesing
Yeah, so I think what's really important, and I hope, if it's not already happening, that those that are listening, or whether they be producers or employees or consultants, that every dairy should already be thinking about, before I stick
a unit of semen or an embryo into that cow, am I being strategic? And am I thinking through is that is that the best decision that I can make there? And so, our ability to break down percentage wise, and understanding, okay, first
and foremost, how many replacements do I need to make so that this dairy can stay the same size or grow or shrink? And so, from there, we're understanding the utilization of sexed semen, the utilization of genomic testing, the utilization
of conventional semen. How am I making the most valuable female animals on my dairy? And then from there, once we understand how many I need to make, we then can break down and understand who should I make those out of, and again,
whether that be through a parent average ranking or genomic testing information, we can really segregate the herd down into, okay, here's who I want to make replacements out of because they're going to make my most valuable next generation.
And here are the animals that, you know what, genetically I really don't want a replacement. From there, we can then better understand who would be the best eligible animal to put an embryo in. So, I think on a blunt answer, no, we're
probably not going to have dairies that are all in just due to the fact of, we still need to get cows pregnant, and the number one way that these guys make money is milk, so keeping our days open is really important. So, we want to
be strategic about early services, younger lactation animals, as we know that we can get the performance out of those animals. So again, it's thinking through, how many do I need to make? Who should I make them out of? And then moving
forward from there, what product type should I be using?
Joel Penhorwood
So, as we talk about this, from your perspective of working in the field, making this happen, what are some common questions or maybe some points that you'd like to talk about? Sure, maybe they may be talking about something like conception
differences, conception rates, or the importance of the technician. Let's just jump into some points of conversation that you guys would like to have, and maybe would have, if I'm a producer asking you some questions.
Chris Sigurdson
Sure. Excellent topic area to venture into. From a dairy perspective, of course, creating pregnancies is of ultimate importance. And so, it's a common question that's received as one starts considering embryos. And it takes a lot of concerted
effort between ourselves and the Simplot company that's helping us develop both people on our staffs as member cooperatives, but also employees of dairies that are willing to commit to the journey to move through the process of becoming,
you know, quite good at it. So, the technician component is paramount to ultimately success. When we did our initial round of research of putting embryos into lactating dairy cows, we had two primary technicians at five dairies - happened
to be in Minnesota. Paul Tveten and Seth Orr deserve a lot of credit for venturing into this. But after hundreds of embryos across nine months into similar groups of cows using both beef semen from Select Sires, or the embryos, we
saw very comparable results between the two tools to create pregnancy. Other than when we got out to, I'll say, more fertility challenging group of cows, so later lactation cows kind of third plus lactation, we've seen the embryo numbers
start to drop off a little bit. And this wasn't a super scientific study, but our belief would be that those cows are a little less fertile, but they're also probably bigger cows, and maybe a little more challenging to put the embryo
gently where the embryo needs to go. The piece that's super interesting, though, that's been well documented across many university studies and with various embryo companies is that when cows are under heat stress, we often see a boost
in conception and pregnancy rates using embryos versus semen. And I knew that given some of my background, but I didn't reveal all of that to our team that was putting in their first HerdFlex embryos. But when we sat down and looked
at the data, sure enough, there it was, again, that even in Minnesota, we have summers. And through that period, we see a boost of six to eight percent in conception with embryos versus semen. So when we jump back to this word strategic
that Brandon utilized earlier, I think that's a really important consideration we can think about that we may or may not seek to be utilizing embryos all year round, but we can certainly consider that not only is the calf outcome potential
a nice, you know, economic opportunity, but keeping reproduction to high levels of performance through even those times of year, when heat stress and all the other things we do to help our cows be as comfortable as they can. They still
can be affected by that in various ways, and certainly in reproduction. A very strategic use of embryos through that time could make some economic sense as well. So, kind of wrap that up, right herd right cows, but right people. And
for those that know how to artificially inseminate cows today, you cannot assume that you're going to become good enough at putting embryos in unless you're willing and able to commit the time in terms of the initial training aspect,
but then a whole bunch of practice time without embryos, you know, in the hundreds of times probably, and then the willingness to commit to transferring many hundreds of embryos. And in a relationship with Simplot, it’s a very
economically feasible way to do that, because they're interested in building an army of technicians in partnership with them both, again, our employees and employees on dairy. But once you get there to have local people that can put
in embryos, when embryos return the biggest investment, we can really change the landscape of the value that our partnership can bring to our members, which is pretty cool.
Brandon Thesing
Yes, so Chris really broke it down well there. The two main questions I run into is, how's it going to change conception and what's the calving ease going to be? And ultimately, I think another way to look at this or what can be really
difficult is, we're trying to do two things when we bring in an embryo program. We're bringing in a completely different system and management style, and we're training new people. So, to expect perfect results right out of the gate
is, is tricky. So, we have to lay the groundwork, and we have to set ourselves up for success, as well as we need to have enough confidence that we can put in enough of them so that we can feel really good about the results that we
get, right? So if we go into a situation, and after the first 20, or the first 40, or the first 50, we pull the plug, boy, I can guarantee the first go around that you have of finding recips and setting up recips, it's not going to
be as dialed in, so it just takes time. And so, what we really need to be is be patient, and make sure that our training process, our recip selection, you know, all of those key factors are really honed in. And then the second thing
as we talk about calving ease, that again is really important to understand what breed of beef sire we're using, who is the sire that we're using to make the embryo, and we're just going to continue to keep getting better as we collect
more information. And as I even mention that, we do an exceptional job at Select Sires of picking sires based on their fertility, we're going to hopefully get to that point with embryos as well. There's probably beef bulls that make
a more fertile egg. And as we continue to collect data from our dairies, and understand, how do we dial in and get this process more strategic, we can do a better job.
Joel Penhorwood
Chris and Brandon, what the heck do I do with this beef x beef calf, this full bred beef calf after it hits the ground?
Brandon Thesing
So, I'm going to go back to more and more of our dairies are thinking bigger picture about being a price creator, are thinking about the full supply chain. And so, to me, it's all about creating partnerships, and really understanding how
many do I need to make? Where do they need to go? What weight do I need to take them to? Who are the other players in the market? Those are the type of questions that I'd really, really start with. And so, those are things that Select
Sires has been involved with our partnerships, again, through TD Beef, through Friona, of really understanding, boy, if I don't have a plan, and I don't have anywhere to go after that calf is born, I've really sucked out so much of
the value. So, you know, hopefully working with your Select Sires representative of understanding, where do I go from here, and how do I connect that to the bigger story of what's happening and, and more and more of our producers are
doing that.
Chris Sigurdson
What do I do with the calf? Well, you take care of that calf like you would any other calf on the dairy. We're really focusing on utilizing the Angus breed so they're going to come out with black coloration. But dairies are so good at
taking care of calves, and quite frankly, I think they have a leg up in a lot of calves that are being born this time of year and really challenging conditions. These calves are being born and we're processing them just like we would
any other dairy calf on our dairy. We've got to dip some navels and we got to get some colostrum into them. And then, you know, the calves that we've watched HerdFlex calves and move into a hutch and just go on to the standard milk
program of that dairy - those rascals grow like crazy. So, there are some other added potentials that I think will reveal themselves that we have these calves being born in a high-quality level of management and care and nutrition,
that they're going to have some early life advantage quite possibly over the native beef calves that are born sometimes into some really challenging conditions. Like we don't know for sure if a calf being born outside today is going
to get colostrum. Many times they do of course, but that's sometimes mother dependent. In this case, we're really dialed in that these calves are getting what they need to do. So yeah, treat them like any other calf being born on the
dairy. Get them started right, and it's pretty cool to watch those rascals grow.
Brandon Thesing
And I don't think that's a crazy question, Joel. What I think is really interesting, and obviously this is a podcast about HerdFlex, but I think there's still quite a few number of our producers that even ask that question on just their
beef x dairy calves. So, I think it's really again, we're going to hone in and keep hammering on that word strategic. We've hopefully gotten past the point of just using cheap beef semen to create a black animal. Boy, we've really
progressed and matured over the years of thinking through, what is it that the markets going to find most valuable that I can pull that value out of? So, what is it that your regional area, because that's something we've learned along
this process is that it's still very local, it's still very regional. Can you tap into that? Then from there, really understanding, what is the base of cows that I have? And how can I maximize what will be the most valuable offspring
out of that. And then lastly, I can guarantee you that what we tell you today on this podcast is going to be different than six months or a year from now. We need to stay nimble on our feet and really be adaptive because there's going
to be so much data and information coming in on what's important, and what we need to do to make that most valuable offspring, that we're just going to keep changing. And so that's the other piece is, luckily, in the dairy industry,
we can do that. And by making animals year-round, that's really stinking important.
Joel Penhorwood
Man, I think that's a great point to maybe wrap it up here today, what do you think, Leslie?
Leslie Maurice
I was thinking the same thing as he was saying that. I kind of was in my head coming up with the conclusion and just talking about how I think at Select Sires we try to obviously bring so much value to our member-owners and our customers
around the world and offer them as many tools as we can. And this program here, we talked about it today, really could be a tool for a lot of different pieces to fit into a dairy strategy, you know, whether it's increasing that bottom
line and creating some more profit avenues, like Brandon was talking about or, Chris, you know, you talked about the fertility advantage, I guess, you could say, the conception advantage that embryos have, especially in the summer
and summer heat stress, and we're getting ready to come into that and so, you know, I think there are a lot of different boxes that this program can really check off for our customers and our member-owners as they're going through
and making plans for the future and how they can continue with their dairy and making sure that it's profitable down the road.
Brandon Thesing
Yeah, and Leslie to me how Select Sires plays into this is our role, we always talk about Your Success, Our Passion, and I don't think there's hopefully, any other competitor anybody else in the field that knows their customers better
than our Select Sires staff and field personnel do. And so, it's truly, when you combine the resources, the talent, the knowledge on reproductive tools, and how to get cows pregnant, and advanced technologies like HerdFlex embryos,
it's that complete program. It's not just about where can I get the embryo from, where can I sell the calf, it's about a fully encompassing program that combines, like you said, we love that toolbox analogy, and I think this fits so
perfectly inside to truly make the next generation their very best. And so, that's what's exciting to me.
Chris Sigurdson
I would just add that, you know, historically, embryo technologies, and the use of them has been reserved to a pretty thin slice of dairy and beef production in the world. And something that I'm just very passionate about and very excited
about, the chance to bring the Simplot company in as a partner. And this is one of the tenants of what we set out on this journey of where do embryos fit into our portfolio for our members? It had to work for people that sell milk
for a living. And with that comes the necessity to be scalable, like not just make 100 or 1,000 embryos, but hundreds of thousands of embryos, and that's what our partner can do for us when we're ready. It also has to come at a value
proposition that works, which means the embryos - forget about what many of us know historically about how embryos are used and what they cost. We're blowing all that out of the water, approaching this in such a way that makes embryo
technologies available for everybody. And from a Select Sires perspective, I think this is just the very beginning of something that's going to have a big impact on all of our careers in the future of where embryos fit into the overall
value proposition going forward. So, it's an exciting time to be part of the genetics and reproductive space and HerdFlex is getting us started.
Joel Penhorwood
It's the very beginning of some very exciting opportunities. But it's the end of today's podcast for us. So hey, Chris, and Brandon, thank you so much for joining us.
Chris Sigurdson
Thank you.
Brandon Thesing
Thanks for having us.
Joel Penhorwood
Chris Sigurdson and Brandon Thesing joining us on the Select Sires Podcast. On behalf of Leslie Maurice, co-host here, I'm Joel Penhorwood for Select Sires. Thanks everybody for tuning in.