The most expensive semen in an inventory probably should not be used exclusively on this group because heifers tend to be more fertile. Calving ease data are available in the Virginia Tech AI sire summary or from each AI organization. Fertile virgin heifers. Bulls without calving ease data should be used on cows which have freshened once. Expensive semen will produce more calves if used on heifers than on either of the other two groups.
Calves born to heifers represent one third of all births on the average dairy.
Keep semen from two or three special bulls in inventory for this group. These bulls should have two characteristics. They should have high PD Dollar values. Discount all other characteristics to achieve these two criteria. If enough sires have these characteristics, some selection could be practiced for type traits.