Thursday, 10 December 2020

Sexed Semen to the Rescue?

I have never really understood people's general ignorance about dairy production. You only get cow's milk, when a cow becomes pregnant. Until recently, 50% of those pregancies would be male calves. These would be taking milk and yet be of no commercial value (rose veal is a specialist item in this country and live export of calves is banned). In 2018, circa 95,000 male calves were killed straight after birth on UK farms (the female calves can be used to generate more milk when they mature). 95% of UK-produced milk is covered by the 'Red Tractor' scheme. The scheme have ruled that dairy farmers, in this country, will have until the end of 2021 to 'prove they are no longer killing male calves straight after birth' on their farms (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/10/the-end-of-dairys-dirty-secret-farms-have-a-year-to-stop-killing-male-calves). This will be difficult to police (it's hard to prove a negative) and farmers producing dairy products (e.g. butter and cheese) in other countries will presumably carry on as before. One help to the UK dairy farmers is the introduction of sexed semen (in which most sperm carry the 'X' chromosome). This greatly reduces the number of pregnancies with male calves. Currently, sexed semen is used in 50% of artificial inseminations and there is obvious scope for further increases in its employment. Of course, it would be of more utility to the planet, to actually reduce our dependence on dairy products. Cows burp copious qualities of methane (a potent 'greenhouse gas') and excess dairy consumption is linked to human diseases (like arteriosclerosis).

3 comments:

Paul Brain said...

I wonder if they would be punished for killing female calves if they wanted to produce more milk and didn't need all the female cows for later farming?

Anonymous said...

Could sexed semen be used for human reproduction? That would raise a few questions.
Richard

Paul Brain said...

It certainly could, Richard. Amazing what you can do with a centrifuge!

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