Owl Farm case study - Breeding programme

This page covers Owl Farm's sexed semen and dairy beef mating programme, launched in 2019 to cut the number of bobby calves born while producing a saleable beef animal. Mating starts in late September, using sexed semen on high breeding-worth cows for the first 25 days, a Charolais marker bull on the rest, then a run of Charolais, Angus and Profit Maker sires before finishing with short gestation length semen.

The programme has cut bobby calf numbers from around 275 in 2018 to around 90 in 2024 and added more than $4,000 in profit in its first season. By breeding replacements from only the top 75% of the herd, Owl Farm has lifted its herd's breeding worth to 327 as of November 2024, placing it in the top 3% of herds nationally against a farm goal of the top 5%.