Semen supply keeps dairy cows in business

JEROME, Idaho — Behind the scenes of Idaho’s thriving dairy industry, specialized workers like Whitney Sandberg provide essential services that consumers rarely consider.

Sandberg, a sales manager for Genex, travels rural Idaho delivering a crucial resource for dairy operations: bull semen for artificial insemination.

“I cover anywhere from the Mountain Home area, all the way down the freeway to Raft River, American Falls, and then all the way down to the Utah-Nevada border,” Sandberg said.

This service is essential to the success of the dairy industry. From delivering semen and breeding supplies to bringing producers nitrogen to keep everything cold, Sandberg brings the product to the dairies.

“Each one of the dairies has different types of semen they like to use, so out here, these guys get stocked every couple of weeks,” she said. “I come out and check on them to make sure they have everything they need.”

With an increasing demand for dairy products, and Idaho among the top three in the United States for producing cheese and milk, improving production efficiency is important.

A study by the University of Cambridge shows that incorporating sexed semen into breeding at dairy can accelerate herd expansion because dairies can predetermine the calf’s gender.

“It is really important to have as many females as we can coming into the herd,” she said. 

It also lowers the health risks that can come from bringing in animals from different herds to breed.

Sandberg said overall, it’s better for the cow’s health. 

“My job is to make sure that they have the strongest and healthiest herd that they possibly can and make sure that all their needs are met,” she said. “Especially with the young ones coming up, making sure all the baby calves are strong and healthy as they can be and can stick around the herd as long as they can.”

Her job keeps dairies operating. 

Sandberg hopes people see how many jobs can go into creating a product and understand that these workers are making sure it’s the best product for consumers and what’s best for the animals too.

“You don’t think about every little tiny aspect,” she said. “I’m one person who goes to the dairy, and they have, you know, hundreds of different people who stop by each week or each day to make sure that they are stocked up and they have proper equipment. Everyone just goes to the store and picks up their milk, and they normally think about how people might go into making that one thing.”