MANAGING   "INBREEDING"

UNTIL YOU IDENTIFY THE REAL DISEASE, YOU MAY NOT BE SUCCESSFUL AT A CURE

At the beginning of the AI industry, when most dairymen used natural service, the selling points for the new technology of artificial (manual) insemination were:

(1)   Reduce or eliminate the risk of injury or death by bulls;   (2)  Have more control over infectious disease, eliminating veneral-based diseases;   (3)  Have some choice in genetics, avoid having all your replacements sired by one bull of unknown merit;   (4)  Put a productive cow in the bull's stall and add to dairy cashflow;   (5)   Obtain more precise breeding records, so as to better anticipate when to dry off cows and when to expect calvings.

Implicit in the above reasons-- related to genetics-- AI gradually opened up access to seed stock from around the world.     You were no longer limited to the breed and bloodline preferences of breeders in your locale, you could cross bloodlines (and breeds) at will-- especially when, after twenty years of "fresh" semen, the option of frozen semen (first sold in the 1960s) increased sire access exponentially, and inaugurated a higher level of genetic competition.

Linebreeding-- the major selection tool prior to indexing

"Linebreeding" and "Inbreeding" were popular among most purebred breeders in the 1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s, the period when AI stud services were organizing and expanding.   These mating approaches were based on the desire to replicate the better ancestors in a more consistent way, and evolved from the experiences of the more successful stockmen of the nineteenth century (prior to milk testing or type classification, let alone AI).  

With linebreeding, you mate related animals so as to maintain the percentage of descent to some individual superior animal at a constant level.   With inbreeding, you create much closer levels of relationship-- brother to sister, sire to daughter, mother to son-- ie, you limit ancestry within a family.     

In the case of linebreeding, you achieve some homozygous pairing of genes, which influences consistency in the trait focuson which the selection of ancestor was based; but you also could maintain a mostly heterozygous pairing of genes, due to having a multiple of ancestors in total (ie, sharing one grandsire or grandam within a mating still allows the other grandparents to be different, thus providing potentially different-- heterozygous-- genes into the conception).

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SERVICES AVAILABLE BY ROUTE DELIVERY

Service areas

DEAN WITTENBACH of Ionia MI (cell ph 989/277-6032) is a full-time route service representative for Mich Livestock Service Inc in the central counties of Michigan's lower peninsula. He gets as far NE as Gladwin, NW as Pentwater, SW as Allegan, SE as Jackson. This route service is provided on a scheduled eight-week interval (in some areas, a monthly call back can be arranged).   Dean is primarily responsible for maintaining our liquid nitrogen refill schedules.

Interested customers in Michigan outside this area are delivered by Gene Van Rhee of Freeport MI  (cell ph 616/318-0243) who schedules deliveries by appointment around cattle delivery activities.    His service area extends further into SW Michigan and NE Michigan than our nitrogen route.

Greg Palen of Ovid MI (cell ph 989/277-6031) is available by appointment.    His delivery schedules are based around his "aAa" commitments to Breeding Guide users in Michigan, Ohio, W Ontario, E Indiana and W Kentucky.

In the "Thumb", we are affiliated with Dan Rich, 911 W Forester Rd, Sandusky MI 48471 (ph 810-648-2373) who operates a similar service and distributes from the same sire lists.

Services available

LIQUID NITROGEN DELIVERY. Dairy customers are recharged every eight weeks. Beef customers are recharged every eight weeks (in breeding season) and then every twelve weeks (in storage season). We also service goat breeders and veterinary/medical clinics, as space is available on the routes. Most billings are done per annual contract rate, unless your situation (as in a clinic use or with seasonal graziers) suggests a per-fill or per-liter rate.

SEMEN INVENTORY ON ROUTE. We currently have inventory from Taurus Service, International Protein Sires, and Excalibur Sires, all of whom are independent USA-based sire sampling systems. Breeds in stock (Dairy) are: Holstein, Red & White, Jersey, Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn, Lineback, and Dutch Belted.   We specialize in sources of polled dairy sires, which is of increasing interest, and in breeding strategy to improve cow fertility, calf vigor, and productive life, which is clearly the major concern of today's dairymen.

MATING CONSULTATION. Greg Palen provides "aAa" (Weeks Analysis) Breeding Guide upon request. This service is very economical ($6 or less per cow lifetime). This provides a phenotypic inventory of your herd, from which sires can be directly selected from any AI organization on your own criteria. Dean Wittenbach has an adept recall of transmitting patterns of sires and will advise you on route from his 20+ year experience in the DHIA and AI services, at no charge.   Gene Van Rhee has a lifetime of experience in breeding purebred Holsteins and managing large dairy farms, and will provide a similar level of expertise.   We also provide updated charts for self-selection from our current lineup, based entirely upon aAa, official USDA and Breed Association data.

ANIMAL CARE PRODUCT LINE. We maintain a "Farm Store" display at our HQ, 110 N Main St, Ovid MI 48866 at which over 200 product items are in stock. We offer daily UPS shipment or route schedule delivery on these products. (Watch for the web file we will develop on this service) To seek an item, just call us TOLL FREE at 1(800)359-1693. We stock probiotics; vaccines; ID supplies: AI supplies: heat detection aids; group calf feeders; dairy sanitation chemicals; show and fair tack; semen/nitrogen tanks; protective clothing and boots; wormers; electrolytes; fly and pest controls.

AI/ REFRESHER TRAINING. Greg Palen is available by appointment. We teach mostly one on one at your farm, but will also do small schools upon request (limit 12 students at one time). New student fee is usually $75. Refresher fee is the same hourly rate as applies to Ov-Synch (below).

OV SYNCH BREEDING. Greg Palen is available by appointment. This works for both seasonal dairy graziers and beef cow-calf customers. We charge a simple hourly rate ($25), plus mileage one way.

CUSTOM SEMEN AND TANK STORAGE. We have capacity tanks at our office for thousands of straws of semen, which is used currently by many dairy, beef, goat and horse breeders to store custom collected semen on their prize bulls, billys or stallions (as well as embryos). We have a supply of UPS vapor phase shipping containers that can be rented to ship semen from this storage to your clients across the country. We also store semen tanks at the office as an economical alternative to off-season nitrogen delivery at your farm (saves you approx 33% on the yearly delivery rate).

SEED SOURCING FOR GRAZING AND HIGH ENERGY FEEDING. Our newest connection is courtesy of the Byron Seed Co, Byron IN, who are the Michigan-Indiana-Illinois-W Ohio Distributors for Barenbrug USA, Kingfisher and Masters Choice Seeds . The goal of the Byron Seed Company is to provide the latest in high energy forages, which includes not only grasses but also grazable legumes, brassicas, high digestible corn (for silage) and sudex varieties. While we have a lot yet to learn in this area, we see some of our most profitable customers using these forages and being very happy with the improvement in feed cost and herd health that high energy, high digestible fiber, full season forages bring.

In summary, we can provide every basic service you would ever need in your AI breeding program. As an independent company, we are more willing to work with you on special services no longer offered by large AI cooperatives, where the emphasis is increasingly on selling you something, rather than developing a relationship.