Let's Talk about sexed babies!

NW Lilac-P and her calf, NW Liberty Belle-P, from a heifer-sorted NW Vanguard-PP straw

In 2023 NW Lilac was bred to a heifer-sorted, sexed-semen straw from NW Vanguard. Liberty Belle was born on July 16, 2024. We're very excited about Libby's birth because she's Lilac's first heifer. Lilac has previously had two bulls. Sorted straws cost a lot more but the added expense of using a heifer-sorted straw was well worth the investment. Libby is being retained to grow our A2/A2 offerings in the future.

A Conventional straw from a Mini Jersey runs $50-$100 each and has a statistical 50/50 chance of a heifer calf. For comparison, a Conventional straw from a standard Jersey is $15-$25, and a heifer-sorted standard Jersey straw is $40-$50. ​There are several ways that a straw can be "sorted" to produce a heifer. With semen that's sorted by a centrifuge to increase the chance of female offspring, there's about a 90%-97% chance of a heifer calf. A heifer-sorted straw contains about 4 million female sperm. These straws are $240-$300 each. The reason for the higher cost is the lower number of straws produced, spreading the expense of production over fewer straws.

Our perfect little Libby

Not all collection facilities have the ability to sort the male sperm out of the semen sample. The additional man-hours to sort and test quality are some reasons for the dramatic increase in price from Conventional to Heifer-sorted straws.

Some heifer straws aren't sorted at all and the male sperm remain in the straw. Those straws contain 50% male sperm but their motility is retarded with a chemical. The chance of a heifer from these straws is not as good as a straw that has actually been sorted and had the male sperm removed.

Ruby, this is not a heifer!

Sorting isn't perfect. When considering 4,000,000 tiny sperm are being sorted you can expect about a 3% chance for a bull calf. We had this happen a few years ago when Ruby had a bull calf from a Heifer-sorted TDH Dino-PP straw. That was very disappointing!

Since we've had this experience we offer a "HEIFER GUARANTEE". If you get a bull calf from one of our sorted straws we'll give you a FREE Heifer-sorted straw to try again. (Shipping, storage, and breeding costs are not included.)

To breed with AI straws a specially trained and licensed Artificial Insemination Technician performs the service for a fee.  We pay $65 for the breeding service but I've heard some charge as much as $200. There are additional expenses for your AI Tech to store the frozen straws in biohazard liquid nitrogen tanks, typically $10-$20 a year. ​Or, you can purchase a tank for around $1,500 and have the liquid nitrogen refilled about every 90 days. Straws frozen in nitrogen will last indefinitely if they remain frozen. Once thawed, the straws must be used and cannot be refrozen.

It's dramatically helped our program to get heifers from the cows we feel are the most ideal in conformation, temperament, mothering ability, and production. Utilizing sorted straws and genomic testing has rapidly helped us reach the goals set for our Purebred mini Jersey herd.

Warmly,
​Milkmaid Lorinda

Lilac was from a Heifer-sorted TDH Dino-PP straw used on NW Fern-P.