The Wulf Cattle and Riverview BeefBuilder™ Story
Riverview, LLP, based in Morris, MN faced similar challenges to every U.S. dairy farm in 2009. Economic realities of Holstein bull calves were extremely varied, with market highs and difficult lows. For the Jersey calves, finding an outlet for them was even more difficult. Riverview saw the need to do something different.
"For my 22 years in the dairy business, I've seen the dairy bull calf market hit significant highs and
crippling lows - what we were looking for was added value and consistency."
- Gary Fehr, Riverview
crippling lows - what we were looking for was added value and consistency."
- Gary Fehr, Riverview
In early 2009, we added beef to our dairy breeding program, along with sexed semen. The idea was to add value through cross-breeding. The process took some trial and error and several combinations were tried. In 2010, Riverview found a solution using Wulf Limousin genetics. By 2011, conception rates were very competitive and the resulting calves had little-to-no calving issues. By 2012, these harvested calves had a higher red meat yield than the other breed combinations previously tried. The results on both Holsteins and Jerseys were impressive.
"We tried many breeds; Gelbvieh, Angus, among others. Eventually, we went with what worked - and that was Limousin."
- Gary Fehr, Riverview
- Gary Fehr, Riverview
Almost 10 years later, Wulf Cattle and the Riverview dairies have refined Breeding to Feeding™ genetics through strategic matings to build proven sires that work on dairy cows to produce the ideal BeefBuilder™ calf.
"Never in my 40-year career have we been able add so much value, with just one step."
- Jerry Wulf, Wulf Cattle
- Jerry Wulf, Wulf Cattle
Today, on all of the Riverview dairy sites, our goal is to maximize the value of every pregnancy as a high-quality replacement female or a value-added BeefBuilder™ calf.
In our dairy herd, we take into account a variety of factors to determine which dairy females to use to generate new replacements. The rest are utilized as beef pregnancies. As calf vitality, reproductive performance, cow cooling, and cow comfort improve, the need for excess dairy replacement females decreases. Breeding to Feeding maximizes your sexed-semen strategy by providing a value-added breeding option.
In our dairy herd, we take into account a variety of factors to determine which dairy females to use to generate new replacements. The rest are utilized as beef pregnancies. As calf vitality, reproductive performance, cow cooling, and cow comfort improve, the need for excess dairy replacement females decreases. Breeding to Feeding maximizes your sexed-semen strategy by providing a value-added breeding option.
Sandy Ridge Ranch
Atkinson, NE
Atkinson, NE