WEBVTT 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:14.039 Creeping across the pasture land. Got dirt on 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:18.719 the boots and a working hand. From the milk house 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:24.000 home to the auction call. These are the folks 00:00:24.000 --> 00:01:00.240 standing strong and tall. Yeah, this is... Welcome 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:02.100 back to the Bullvine Podcast. It's good to be 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:04.640 back. You know, today we are sharing a story 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:07.840 that, and I'm being honest here, it really stopped 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.519 us in our tracks. It did. We look at a lot of 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:12.760 industry news, right? We see the press releases, 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.280 the announcements. But every once in a while, 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:17.319 you stumble across a narrative that just forces 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.939 you to, you know, pull the car over. Or in my 00:01:20.939 --> 00:01:22.760 case, maybe stop the tractor. Right, exactly. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:25.560 And just listen. Because it feels different. 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:27.859 It feels important. It really is. It's kind of 00:01:27.859 --> 00:01:30.540 a story about looking at a menu, a really, really 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:32.920 big menu, and realizing you don't want to eat 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:35.579 a single thing on it. Huh. That's a great way 00:01:35.579 --> 00:01:38.439 to put it. And then deciding that the only solution, 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:42.280 the only way forward is to, well, build your 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:44.000 own restaurant from the ground up. But it's not 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.780 just because you're a picky eater. That's the 00:01:45.780 --> 00:01:48.859 key here. It's because you realize the food that's 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:52.670 being served is actually slowly. making everyone 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:55.290 a little bit sick. That is the scary part. That's 00:01:55.290 --> 00:01:57.650 the twist. This is the kind of conversation that 00:01:57.650 --> 00:02:00.370 reminds you why you got into dairy in the first 00:02:00.370 --> 00:02:02.989 place. You know, the passion for the cows, for 00:02:02.989 --> 00:02:06.590 breeding, but it also scares the hell out of 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:08.250 you when you look at where we're going as an 00:02:08.250 --> 00:02:10.509 industry. Yeah, it's a story about taking control 00:02:10.509 --> 00:02:12.629 back. That's the theme that kept coming up for 00:02:12.629 --> 00:02:16.370 me. Taking control back. Yes. So today we are... 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:19.520 Digging deep. We're getting into the story of 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.020 a breeder who looked at the global catalog, which 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:24.159 is, you know, it's essentially the Bible of our 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:27.860 industry. He saw nothing he wanted and he decided 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:31.939 to build his own stud. But what's so fascinating 00:02:31.939 --> 00:02:36.159 to me is that this one decision, this one sort 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:41.139 of moment of frustration. It exposes this massive 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:43.719 crack in the foundation of modern Holstein breeding. 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:46.259 It really does. And I want to be really clear 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:48.060 right off the top here. This is not just some 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:49.840 business story about a guy in a boardroom making 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:52.240 a deal. No. This is about the cows that are in 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:55.780 your barn right now. Today, it's about what I've 00:02:55.780 --> 00:02:58.500 started calling the invisible invoices. Invisible 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:01.599 invoices. I love that phrase and I hate it at 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:03.379 the same time. Yeah, me too. Because it implies 00:03:03.379 --> 00:03:05.580 we're losing money that we don't even know we're 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:08.460 losing. We are. We absolutely are. And we're 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:10.159 going to run the math on that later in this deep 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.199 dive. And I promise you, it's going to make you 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:14.759 sweat a little bit. It's a bit of a shock to 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:17.000 the system. Okay, well, let's not keep everyone 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.319 waiting. Let's jump right in. Start with the 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:22.580 hook. Introduce us to the man at the center of 00:03:22.580 --> 00:03:25.219 this storm. Who are we talking about? We were 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:27.729 talking about Dan Brady. He's the general manager 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:30.509 and co -founder of a company called Blondin Sires. 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:32.849 Okay, Blondin. That's a name that a lot of our 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:34.810 listeners will recognize, especially if they're 00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:37.490 into the show side of things. Absolutely. For 00:03:37.490 --> 00:03:40.090 anyone in the show world or, you know, the deep 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:43.050 pedigree world, for me, Blondin is a legendary 00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:45.610 name. They're based out of Quebec, and they are 00:03:45.610 --> 00:03:48.439 known for just... Beautiful, functional cows. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.060 Right. The kind of cows that win the big ribbons, 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:52.740 but they also look like they can go home and 00:03:52.740 --> 00:03:54.500 work for a living. They're not just pretty faces. 00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:57.719 Exactly. They have that balance. But Dan, he 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.819 had a very specific problem of professional frustration. 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:04.360 He was looking through the major AI catalog. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.819 The big one. The biggest ones. The global giants 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:10.500 that supply, and this is probably a conservative 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:13.479 estimate, 90 % of the genetics to the entire 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:17.319 world. So basically everyone. Everyone. And he 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:19.220 was looking for something very, very specific. 00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:21.519 He had a shopping list. And what was on that 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:23.000 list? What was he looking for that he couldn't 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:26.060 find? He wanted bulls that were backed by deep, 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:29.079 documented cow families. He wanted to see maternal 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:31.500 longevity right there in the pedigree. So not 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:33.759 just a good mom, but a good grandmom, a good 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.899 great -grandmom. Generations of them. He wanted 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:39.779 to see real milk records on the bottom side of 00:04:39.779 --> 00:04:42.259 the pedigree. He basically wanted to know that 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:44.379 the bull's mother and his grandmother and his 00:04:44.379 --> 00:04:46.620 great -grandmother didn't just exist on some 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:48.759 spreadsheet somewhere. Right. He wanted proof 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:51.220 that they actually lasted in a herd, paid the 00:04:51.220 --> 00:04:53.560 bills, and stayed healthy. He wanted the art 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.980 of breeding. He wanted history. He wanted a story, 00:04:56.060 --> 00:04:58.459 not just a number. He wanted proof of life is 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:00.939 really what it boils down to. But he hit a, well, 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.180 a shocking realization. Which was? He found nothing. 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:06.980 Nothing? Come on. In all the global catalogs, 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:09.569 that seems impossible. Nothing that fit his criteria. 00:05:09.829 --> 00:05:12.709 I mean, sure, he found rank leaders. He found 00:05:12.709 --> 00:05:15.730 bulls with these massive, massive index numbers. 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:19.449 TPI, LPI, whatever you want to look at. The superstars. 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:22.170 The cover boys. But they were all from the exact 00:05:22.170 --> 00:05:26.269 same tight circle of bloodlines. It was like 00:05:26.269 --> 00:05:30.269 walking into a massive library, you know, with 00:05:30.269 --> 00:05:32.689 thousands of books on the shelves. Oh, okay. 00:05:32.910 --> 00:05:34.069 But then you start pulling them off the shelf 00:05:34.069 --> 00:05:36.459 and you find out... Every single book is just 00:05:36.459 --> 00:05:38.959 a different translation of the exact same novel. 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:42.259 That is a terrifying thought for a breeder. Isn't 00:05:42.259 --> 00:05:44.000 it? You think you have all this choice because 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:45.959 the book is thick, right? You flip the pages, 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:47.860 you see different photos, different bull names, 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.720 different codes. But you're saying that under 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.439 the hood, it's all the same engine. It's worse 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.160 than that. It's the illusion of choice. And look, 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.860 this isn't just Dan's feeling or, you know, some 00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:00.819 nostalgic longing for the good old days. Right. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:04.060 It's not just an opinion. No. There is a staggering 00:06:04.060 --> 00:06:06.360 statistic in the research we pulled for this 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.720 deep dive that really, it defines this crisis. 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:12.129 It puts a hard number on it. I know the one you're 00:06:12.129 --> 00:06:13.790 thinking of. This is the one that made me just 00:06:13.790 --> 00:06:16.209 stop and reread it a few times. The Y chromosome 00:06:16.209 --> 00:06:19.089 analysis. That's the one. Researchers at Penn 00:06:19.089 --> 00:06:22.250 State, a geneticist named Chad Decho was involved, 00:06:22.449 --> 00:06:25.410 and they did a Y chromosome analysis on North 00:06:25.410 --> 00:06:28.009 American Holstein A .I. sires. So for people 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:30.089 listening, the Y chromosome is passed down from 00:06:30.089 --> 00:06:32.089 father to son, right? So this is tracing the 00:06:32.089 --> 00:06:34.829 male only line. Exactly. Father to son, to son, 00:06:34.850 --> 00:06:36.889 to son, all the way back. They wanted to see 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:39.589 where the paternal lineage of today's bulls actually 00:06:39.589 --> 00:06:42.220 came from. Okay, lay it on us. How bad is it? 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:45.620 It's pretty bad. More than 99 % of them trace 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:48.720 their paternal lineage to just two bulls. Two. 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.160 From the 1960s. Hold on, let me just process 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:53.500 that for a second. 99 % of the bulls available 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:56.579 to farmers today, right now, are essentially 00:06:56.579 --> 00:07:00.360 direct descendants on the male line of two single 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:03.160 animals from 60 years ago. Pawnee Farm, our Linda 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:06.759 Chief, and Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation. Chief 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:08.959 and Elevation, the two kings. That's it. They 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.000 own the breed. I mean, bottleneck feels like 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.759 too polite a word for that. It really does. A 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:16.300 bottleneck implies something can still get through. 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:19.300 This is different. It's a funnel, a very, very 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.319 narrow funnel. Sheaf accounts for roughly 49 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:24.899 % of the modern lineage. Okay. And elevation 00:07:24.899 --> 00:07:27.319 accounts for the other 51%. So what about everyone 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:29.600 else? What about all the other great bull families 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:32.579 that existed in the 1950s or the 60s? Commercially 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:35.819 extinct. Wow. Gone. Wiped off the map. If you're 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:39.579 buying a Holstein bull today, there is a 99 plus 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:41.540 percent chance his great, great, great, great 00:07:41.540 --> 00:07:44.240 grandfather on the sire's side is one of those 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:46.339 two. That's incredible. It's essentially a genetic 00:07:46.339 --> 00:07:48.939 monoculture, like planting only one variety of 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:51.540 corn across the entire Midwest. It is. And that 00:07:51.540 --> 00:07:54.000 is exactly what Dan Brady was staring at. He 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.220 looked at the catalogs and he realized, I can't 00:07:57.220 --> 00:07:59.600 buy what I need because it's not being sold anymore. 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:02.519 The art has been replaced by the algorithm. So, 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.480 okay. Most people in that situation, and I think 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:07.620 we've all been there in some way in our businesses, 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.639 you just shrug, right? Yeah, you give up. You'd 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:12.180 say, well, the market is the market. I guess 00:08:12.180 --> 00:08:15.579 I'll just pick the best of a bad bunch. You compromise. 00:08:16.139 --> 00:08:18.740 You do. You settle. But that's not what happened 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:21.300 here. No, not at all. Brady and his partners, 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.620 and we have to give a huge credit to Simon O 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.220 'London, the whole team at Fairmade London, they 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:29.480 got together and decided that if the market wouldn't 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:31.620 sell them the bulls they wanted, they'd make 00:08:31.620 --> 00:08:33.480 their own. They would build the stud themselves. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.379 And so they launched Blonde and Sires. Their 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:39.779 code is 799. That is the cliffhanger we are starting 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:42.179 with because you know the business side of this. 00:08:42.259 --> 00:08:45.139 You know how this industry works. How does a 00:08:45.139 --> 00:08:48.519 small independent operation in Quebec, I mean, 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:50.840 there's literally a startup in a very mature 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:54.179 industry. Right. How do they compete with these 00:08:54.179 --> 00:08:57.840 massive multinational corporations and somehow 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:01.600 manage to grow 75 % in a single year? That's 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:04.720 the question. 75 % growth. It's a staggering 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.299 number. And maybe the bigger question is, what 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:09.419 does their success tell us about what's wrong 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:11.659 with the rest of the industry? Because logically, 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.659 if everything was fine, they shouldn't have succeeded. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:16.440 Exactly. You hit the nail on the head. If the 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:19.000 market was serving the customer properly, Blondin 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:20.720 would have failed. It would have been a niche 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:23.470 vanity project. But it wasn't. The fact that 00:09:23.470 --> 00:09:25.970 they skyrocketed tells you there's a massive 00:09:25.970 --> 00:09:28.450 pent -up hunger out there for something different. 00:09:28.690 --> 00:09:31.450 So let's rewind a bit. I want to understand the 00:09:31.450 --> 00:09:34.789 why. We need to get into the origin story of 00:09:34.789 --> 00:09:38.090 this bottleneck. Yeah. How did we get to a place 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:41.990 where two bulls from the 1960s own the entire 00:09:41.990 --> 00:09:45.120 Holstein breed? Because it doesn't happen by 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.039 accident. No, it's not an accident. It's a mix 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:50.299 of corporate consolidation and scientific acceleration. 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:52.940 It's basically efficiency gone wild. Okay, let's 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:54.340 unpack that. Let's talk about the consolidation 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:56.539 first. Who are the major players here? Who's 00:09:56.539 --> 00:09:58.679 running the show? We often talk about them as 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:01.860 the big three in North America. These are the 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:03.779 entities that control the vast majority of the 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:06.379 market. And they are. You have your U .S. which 00:10:06.379 --> 00:10:09.159 is a massive holding company. It was formed from 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:11.759 the mergers of well -known names like Alta Genetics, 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:16.299 Genex, and Transova. So a huge powerhouse. You 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:19.299 have Select Sires, another giant, which is currently 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:21.220 in the process of merging its production arm 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:24.679 with ST Genetics, the sexed semen company. So 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:26.559 they're getting even bigger. And then you have 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:29.779 Genus PLC, which is a British company, but they're 00:10:29.779 --> 00:10:33.620 the parent of ABS Global. And they sell genetics 00:10:33.620 --> 00:10:35.940 into something like 80 countries around the world. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:37.600 So these aren't just companies. We're talking 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:41.259 about empires, global empires. They are. And 00:10:41.259 --> 00:10:44.039 when you have that level of consolidation, when 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:45.980 you have just a few players controlling the market, 00:10:46.340 --> 00:10:48.879 efficiency becomes the number one driver. Yeah. 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:51.779 Everything is about scale. You need a product 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:54.740 that is scalable, predictable, and easy to sell. 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:57.440 And variety. Variety is the enemy of efficiency, 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:00.000 isn't it? It absolutely is. Think about it. If 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.120 you're a sales rep trying to ship... millions 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.340 of units of semen globally. It's much, much easier 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:08.419 to sell 10 bulls that all look very similar on 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:10.919 paper than it is to try and explain the nuance 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:13.820 of 50 different distinct bloodlines. It's just 00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:15.519 easier to market. Here's our number one bull. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.200 Here's our number two bull. They're almost the 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:19.559 same. Exactly. So they streamline the catalog. 00:11:20.810 --> 00:11:22.929 Aggressively. How aggressively? The number of 00:11:22.929 --> 00:11:25.129 Holstein bulls that are actively sampled through 00:11:25.129 --> 00:11:29.129 AI programs dropped by roughly 61%, just between 00:11:29.129 --> 00:11:33.690 2010 and 2020. 61 % in a decade. Yeah. They are 00:11:33.690 --> 00:11:36.210 sampling far fewer bulls because in their minds, 00:11:36.289 --> 00:11:38.889 they think they know exactly what works. based 00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:41.049 on the numbers. They don't feel the need to explore 00:11:41.049 --> 00:11:43.889 anymore. And that idea of knowing what works 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:46.289 brings us to the second part of your equation, 00:11:46.389 --> 00:11:49.009 the science part. You said scientific acceleration. 00:11:49.169 --> 00:11:52.289 You're talking about genomics. I am. Now, we 00:11:52.289 --> 00:11:54.129 have to be fair here. We can't sit here and pretend 00:11:54.129 --> 00:11:56.570 to be Luddites and say genomics is all bad. No, 00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:59.509 of course not. Genomic selection has driven incredible 00:11:59.509 --> 00:12:02.169 progress in certain areas. The research is pretty 00:12:02.169 --> 00:12:04.549 clear that the gains we've seen for yield traits, 00:12:04.750 --> 00:12:07.929 so... how much milk a cow gives, have increased 00:12:07.929 --> 00:12:10.330 by 50 to 100 percent since genomics came in. 00:12:10.429 --> 00:12:12.509 So the cows are milking more. That's a good thing, 00:12:12.610 --> 00:12:14.470 right? I mean, if you're a farmer, you want more 00:12:14.470 --> 00:12:16.450 milk in the tank. That's how you pay the bills. 00:12:16.610 --> 00:12:19.149 In a vacuum. Yes, absolutely. If you're just 00:12:19.149 --> 00:12:20.909 looking at next month's milk check, it's great. 00:12:21.110 --> 00:12:25.230 The problem is genomics also massively compressed 00:12:25.230 --> 00:12:28.450 what we call the generation interval. OK, can 00:12:28.450 --> 00:12:30.389 you explain that for the listeners who might 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:32.909 not be deep in the genetics world? What exactly 00:12:32.909 --> 00:12:35.720 is the generation interval? It's the average 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:37.899 age of the parents when their offspring are born. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:41.299 Basically, the time it takes to go from one generation 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:44.139 to the next. It used to be that to prove a bull 00:12:44.139 --> 00:12:46.750 was good, you had to wait. You know, you'd breed 00:12:46.750 --> 00:12:48.889 a cow, she'd have a calf. You had to wait two 00:12:48.889 --> 00:12:51.649 years for that heifer calf to grow up. Then she 00:12:51.649 --> 00:12:53.929 had to have her own calf and start milking. Then 00:12:53.929 --> 00:12:55.490 you had to wait and see if she was any good, 00:12:55.669 --> 00:12:58.929 if she lasted, if she got sick. It took five, 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:02.110 sometimes seven years to prove a sire through 00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:04.450 his daughters. So there was a natural speed limit 00:13:04.450 --> 00:13:06.690 built into the system. You couldn't go any faster 00:13:06.690 --> 00:13:09.850 than biology would allow. Precisely. Now, with 00:13:09.850 --> 00:13:12.870 genomic testing, we can pull a DNA sample from 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:15.940 a calf that's only a week old. The computer runs 00:13:15.940 --> 00:13:18.460 the numbers and spits out a prediction of how 00:13:18.460 --> 00:13:20.379 good its future daughters will be. So you're 00:13:20.379 --> 00:13:22.639 not waiting for daughters anymore. You're trusting 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:25.200 the prediction. You are. And we can take that 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:29.259 young bull calf or a young heifer and use IVF 00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:31.299 to create embryos before they're even old enough 00:13:31.299 --> 00:13:34.139 to breed naturally. So we're essentially breeding 00:13:34.139 --> 00:13:37.700 babies to babies based entirely on a computer 00:13:37.700 --> 00:13:39.559 prediction. That's a pretty good summary. Yeah, 00:13:39.559 --> 00:13:42.799 we are. The generation interval has been slashed 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:45.940 down to about two years. We are moving at a blindingly 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:48.340 fast pace. And I'm guessing that has consequences. 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:51.919 Huge consequences. Because when you move that 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.179 fast and you select only for a few specific index 00:13:55.179 --> 00:13:58.899 numbers like TPI or LPI, you narrow the gene 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:01.899 pool with terrifying speed. You leave behind 00:14:01.899 --> 00:14:05.000 anything, any family, any trait that doesn't 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:07.210 fit the algorithm right now. It feels like the 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:09.990 difference between speed dating and a long courtship. 00:14:10.009 --> 00:14:11.730 That's a perfect analogy. You're making these 00:14:11.730 --> 00:14:13.809 snap judgments based on a very short checklist, 00:14:13.950 --> 00:14:16.950 and you completely miss the character, the depth, 00:14:17.070 --> 00:14:18.870 the stuff that really matters for a long -term 00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:21.049 relationship. Exactly. And this is where the 00:14:21.049 --> 00:14:22.909 emotional toll comes in. You mentioned it earlier, 00:14:22.970 --> 00:14:25.870 the loss of that cow family connection. Yeah. 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:28.450 Reading through the source material, this part 00:14:28.450 --> 00:14:30.950 really stood out to me. Breeders used to talk 00:14:30.950 --> 00:14:33.070 about the Grandam. They knew her. They'd say, 00:14:33.370 --> 00:14:35.950 Oh yeah, she lived to be 12 years old, had fantastic 00:14:35.950 --> 00:14:38.750 feet, never had a case of mastitis in her life. 00:14:39.370 --> 00:14:42.129 That maternal line, it meant something. It was 00:14:42.129 --> 00:14:44.570 your insurance policy. You knew the family had 00:14:44.570 --> 00:14:48.009 longevity baked in. It was trust. It was a known 00:14:48.009 --> 00:14:50.529 commodity. You weren't just buying a bull and 00:14:50.529 --> 00:14:53.370 his numbers. You were buying a lineage that you 00:14:53.370 --> 00:14:56.070 knew worked in the real world. And now, what's 00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:58.789 it like now? Now, for the most part, mainstream 00:14:58.789 --> 00:15:02.450 AI marketing has erased that. It's all about 00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:05.509 the raw index number of the bull himself, the 00:15:05.509 --> 00:15:07.850 functional depth of his mother's line, his grandmother's 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:11.549 line. It's secondary if it gets marketed at all. 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:13.570 So you're buying a number, not a family. You 00:15:13.570 --> 00:15:15.909 are. And it leads to that quote that I think 00:15:15.909 --> 00:15:18.529 sums it all up. We think we have choices because 00:15:18.529 --> 00:15:21.049 the catalog is thick, but we're really just buying 00:15:21.049 --> 00:15:23.610 the same bull with a different name. That's the 00:15:23.610 --> 00:15:26.269 reality breeders are facing. Okay, so Dan Brady 00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:28.809 looks at this reality, at this illusion of choice, 00:15:28.950 --> 00:15:31.860 and he says, no, not for me. Let's talk about 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.759 that turning point. They decide to launch Blonde 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:39.580 and Sires. But, I mean, you can't just open up 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:41.639 a shop and expect people to show up, especially 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:43.740 when you're competing against giants. What was 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:45.779 their strategy? How did they plan to be different? 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:49.440 They decided to do essentially the exact opposite 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:51.799 of what the big guys were doing. Their strategy 00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:55.000 was built on two pillars, speed and access. Okay, 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.820 let's start with speed. They started releasing 00:15:56.820 --> 00:15:59.340 their young sires as early as 11 months of age. 00:15:59.539 --> 00:16:02.330 11 months. And the industry standard is what? 00:16:02.490 --> 00:16:05.470 The industry standard is more like 15 to 18 months. 00:16:05.789 --> 00:16:07.909 So they're getting their genetics out there four 00:16:07.909 --> 00:16:10.809 to six months faster. Is that really a big deal? 00:16:10.870 --> 00:16:13.129 A few months. In the genomic era, yes, it's a 00:16:13.129 --> 00:16:15.409 huge deal. It means you get the very newest genetics 00:16:15.409 --> 00:16:17.950 into the tanks of farmers that much faster. It 00:16:17.950 --> 00:16:19.970 keeps the lineup incredibly fresh. Yeah. But 00:16:19.970 --> 00:16:22.169 the bigger differentiator, the real rebel move, 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:26.389 was the second pillar, access. Access. What do 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:29.059 you mean by that? The major studs. Well, they 00:16:29.059 --> 00:16:31.340 often hold back their very best young bulls, 00:16:31.340 --> 00:16:34.820 the ones with the absolute highest genomic numbers. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:36.940 Why would they do that? They call them mating 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:40.539 sires, or sires of sons. They use them exclusively 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:43.860 for their own internal nucleus herds to breed 00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:47.879 the next generation of top -tier bulls. Or they 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:50.159 restrict the semen to maintain a competitive 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.639 advantage in the market. That seems... I mean, 00:16:52.659 --> 00:16:54.440 that would be incredibly frustrating as a customer. 00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:56.080 Hey, I see that bull. He's number one. I want 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.899 to buy him. And they say, sorry, he's only for 00:16:57.899 --> 00:17:00.419 us. It is. It's arrogant, frankly. So Blondin 00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:02.580 came out with a promise. They said, no restrictions. 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:05.759 Every single bull we have is available to every 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.380 single customer from day one. That's a bold promise. 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:10.819 It's very democratic. It is. It's a statement. 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:12.720 It's saying we aren't hiding the good stuff in 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.200 the back room. If you want it, you can buy it. 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:17.059 And they weren't the only ones who were starting 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:19.240 to rebel in this way. Right. We have to talk 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:21.000 about the Stanton brothers in Ontario. This is 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.079 like a parallel rebellion happening at the same 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:25.740 time. It is. It's fascinating. So at the same 00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:28.119 time, Blondin is focusing on Deed Cow families. 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:30.779 The Stanton brothers were running a similar play, 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:34.349 but with a different niche focus. They went all 00:17:34.349 --> 00:17:37.109 in on polled bulls. Okay, so for anyone listening 00:17:37.109 --> 00:17:39.130 who might not be a farmer, polled just means 00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:41.549 the animal is naturally born without horns, right? 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:43.890 Correct. Most dairy cattle naturally grow horns. 00:17:44.049 --> 00:17:46.750 Yeah. And for safety reasons, we have to dehorn 00:17:46.750 --> 00:17:49.710 them as calves. It's a labor -intensive job, 00:17:49.769 --> 00:17:51.950 and it's not particularly pleasant for the calves 00:17:51.950 --> 00:17:54.990 or for the farmer. A polled bull solves that 00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:57.470 problem genetically. So it seems like a no -brainer. 00:17:57.549 --> 00:17:59.769 Why wasn't everyone already doing this? Why was 00:17:59.769 --> 00:18:03.119 this a niche? Because historically... There was 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.599 something called the pulled drag. The bulls that 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.039 carried the pulled gene, the ones without horns, 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:11.079 they usually lagged behind in performance. So 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:13.240 you were trading milk production for the convenience 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.259 of no horns. Ah, okay. It was a trade -off. It 00:18:16.259 --> 00:18:18.960 was. But the Stantons, they produced a bull, 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:22.000 a homozygous pulled bull named Stanton's Remover 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.000 PP. And he just, he changed the game. What did 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.079 he do? He reclaimed the number one spot on Canada's 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:32.250 official LPI list in August of 2025. Wait, a 00:18:32.250 --> 00:18:35.950 homozygous pulled bull, meaning 100 % of his 00:18:35.950 --> 00:18:38.029 calves will be born without horns, was the number 00:18:38.029 --> 00:18:40.569 one performance bull in the entire country? Yes, 00:18:40.609 --> 00:18:46.359 a plus 3897 LPI. And this wasn't just a genomic 00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:49.160 prediction. This was based on the actual performance 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:53.759 of 234 of his daughters, milking in 32 different 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:57.079 herds. This was real -world proof. So they proved 00:18:57.079 --> 00:18:59.240 you didn't have to sacrifice milk to get those 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:01.279 other valuable traits. The tradeoff was gone. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:05.660 Exactly. And here's the kicker. No major stud 00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:08.619 had bothered to build a whole, dedicated program 00:19:08.619 --> 00:19:11.299 around that niche. They treated pole genetics 00:19:11.299 --> 00:19:14.589 like a side hobby, an afterthought. The Stantons 00:19:14.589 --> 00:19:17.069 made it the main event. So both the Stantons 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:18.990 and Blondin, they basically proved that there 00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:20.730 were these massive gaps in the market, these 00:19:20.730 --> 00:19:23.210 huge areas of customer demand that the big three 00:19:23.210 --> 00:19:25.990 were just completely flying over. 100%. They 00:19:25.990 --> 00:19:27.849 were initially dismissed, you know, as vanity 00:19:27.849 --> 00:19:29.930 projects. The industry insiders were saying, 00:19:30.029 --> 00:19:31.269 well, that's cute. You want to sell your own 00:19:31.269 --> 00:19:33.190 bowls. Good luck with that. Yeah. But when you 00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:36.650 see a 75 % growth rate, that's not vanity. That 00:19:36.650 --> 00:19:38.970 is a market correction. That's the market screaming 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:41.609 that it's been underserved. But there is a darker 00:19:41.609 --> 00:19:43.490 side to this story, and I want to shift gears 00:19:43.490 --> 00:19:45.869 a little bit. It's not just about market share 00:19:45.869 --> 00:19:48.950 or a clever business strategy. It's about biology 00:19:48.950 --> 00:19:51.529 hitting a wall. We talked about the invisible 00:19:51.529 --> 00:19:53.809 invoice at the top of the show. Let's get into 00:19:53.809 --> 00:19:57.630 the silent enemy. Inbreeding. It is the dirty 00:19:57.630 --> 00:19:59.589 word. It's the one that nobody really wants to 00:19:59.589 --> 00:20:01.789 talk about at the coffee shop. But the numbers. 00:20:01.990 --> 00:20:04.109 Yeah. The numbers are screaming at us. Okay, 00:20:04.170 --> 00:20:06.490 so give us the data. Because I think a lot of 00:20:06.490 --> 00:20:08.230 people hear the word inbreeding and they think, 00:20:08.309 --> 00:20:10.750 oh, well, surely the scientists and the big companies, 00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:13.529 they have this under control. They don't. The 00:20:13.529 --> 00:20:16.470 official data from Lactenit from August 2025 00:20:16.470 --> 00:20:19.690 shows that the average pedigree inbreeding for 00:20:19.690 --> 00:20:24.329 Holstein calves born in 2024 is 9 .99%. Is that 00:20:24.329 --> 00:20:26.829 high? Give me some context for that number. It's... 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:28.920 Essentially 10%. And to answer your question, 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.480 yes, it is very high. It's nearly double what 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:33.920 it was just 15 years ago. Doubled in 15 years. 00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:37.400 Doubled. And that's just the pedigree inbreeding, 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.859 which is based on the paper records. If you look 00:20:39.859 --> 00:20:41.980 at the genomic inbreeding, which is the actual 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:45.680 DNA homozygosity, where the genes on the chromosomes 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:49.079 are literally identical, some Italian data puts 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:51.710 that number as high as 16%. Okay, so the cows 00:20:51.710 --> 00:20:53.529 are more and more related to each other. But 00:20:53.529 --> 00:20:55.789 why should a farmer on the ground really care? 00:20:56.150 --> 00:20:58.089 If the calves are still milking, does it really 00:20:58.089 --> 00:21:00.809 matter? This is where we have to put on the farmer 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:03.170 translator hat. Because nobody ever sends you 00:21:03.170 --> 00:21:05.809 a bill that says invoice for inbreeding. Right. 00:21:05.849 --> 00:21:09.130 It shows up in your herd as bad luck. Break that 00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:11.130 down for me. What does bad luck look like in 00:21:11.130 --> 00:21:14.609 a real barn day to day? It looks like a cow that 00:21:14.609 --> 00:21:17.589 just will not get pregnant. You breed her three 00:21:17.589 --> 00:21:19.690 times, four times, she keeps coming back open. 00:21:19.950 --> 00:21:23.089 It looks like those extra nagging cases of mastitis 00:21:23.089 --> 00:21:25.630 you can't seem to get rid of. It looks like heifers 00:21:25.630 --> 00:21:28.170 that die for no good reason, or they get sick 00:21:28.170 --> 00:21:30.109 and have to be culled before they even finish 00:21:30.109 --> 00:21:32.210 their first lactation. It's the cow that just 00:21:32.210 --> 00:21:34.029 doesn't thrive, the one that's always on the 00:21:34.029 --> 00:21:36.990 vet checklist. Exactly. It's the failure to launch. 00:21:37.509 --> 00:21:39.789 It's the constant drag on your herd's health 00:21:39.789 --> 00:21:42.309 and your bottom line. And there is a real dollar 00:21:42.309 --> 00:21:45.539 figure that we can attach to this. I know we 00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:47.480 found some really compelling research from Virginia 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:50.980 Tech on this. Yes. They did the math. They found 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:54.839 that every 1 % increase in inbreeding costs a 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:59.920 farmer about $40 to $43 per cow in lifetime profit 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:03.619 when adjusted for inflation. $40 per percent. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.019 $40 per percent. So let's do the math right now 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:08.059 for someone listening. Let's say you have a 200 00:22:08.059 --> 00:22:11.160 cow herd and you have 10 % inbreeding, which 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:13.240 we just said is the current average for new calves. 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:17.640 Okay. That is a $400 to $430 drag on the lifetime 00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:20.599 profit of every single cow. So in a 200 -cow 00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:22.960 herd, let me do the math, that's over $80 ,000. 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.299 $80 ,000 to $86 ,000 in lifetime profit. It's 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:29.160 just lost, vanished into thin air. That is a 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:31.500 staggering number. I mean, that's the price of 00:22:31.500 --> 00:22:34.000 a brand new tractor. That's the salary for a 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.480 full -time hired hand. Yeah. And it's just silently 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:39.019 leaking out of the herd every single day. Exactly. 00:22:39.019 --> 00:22:41.960 And it's not just profit. Other studies show 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:44.920 that every 1 % increase in inbreeding cuts the 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.220 305 -day milk yield by somewhere between 44 and 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:52.059 61 kilograms. This is a slow bleed. And for years, 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:54.220 farmers have just been told to accept it as the 00:22:54.220 --> 00:22:57.000 cost of doing business. You know, well, fertility 00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.500 is just tougher these days. But what you're saying 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:01.660 is it might not be. It might be a direct result 00:23:01.660 --> 00:23:03.819 of our breeding decisions. That's what the science 00:23:03.819 --> 00:23:06.799 is telling us. But guys like Brady and the Stantons, 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:09.970 they're showing there is another way. But practically, 00:23:10.109 --> 00:23:12.029 how did they even do it? You can't just keep 00:23:12.029 --> 00:23:13.769 a bunch of bulls in your backyard and expect 00:23:13.769 --> 00:23:16.450 to ship semen globally. The logistics of that 00:23:16.450 --> 00:23:18.230 must be a complete nightmare. Yeah, how do you 00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:20.589 go from a farm to a global distribution business? 00:23:20.869 --> 00:23:22.509 You know, and this is the really fascinating 00:23:22.509 --> 00:23:24.829 logistical shift that's enabling this rebellion. 00:23:25.269 --> 00:23:28.529 It's the rise of independent custom service centers 00:23:28.529 --> 00:23:31.289 like DMV Geneticu Services. What is that? What 00:23:31.289 --> 00:23:33.069 do they do? Think of it as a five -star hotel 00:23:33.069 --> 00:23:36.210 and a global distribution center for bulls. But 00:23:36.210 --> 00:23:38.240 the breeder, the owner of the bull, Keeps the 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:40.759 keys to the room. Okay. I like that analogy. 00:23:41.019 --> 00:23:44.299 In the old model, right, a breeder would find 00:23:44.299 --> 00:23:47.140 a great young bull. They'd sell him to a major 00:23:47.140 --> 00:23:50.880 AI stud for, let's say, $150 ,000. Right. They 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.420 get a nice check to say goodbye to the bull. 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:54.700 And then the stud goes on to make millions if 00:23:54.700 --> 00:23:56.720 that bull turns out to be a hit. You sell the 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:59.119 golden goose for a one -time payment. Exactly. 00:23:59.420 --> 00:24:04.079 In the DMV model, the breeder pays. DMV for boarding 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:05.960 the bull, for collecting the semen, for freezing 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:08.940 it, for storing it. But the breeder keeps 100 00:24:08.940 --> 00:24:12.640 % of the semen and 100 % of the decision -making 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.940 power. So they own the asset. They don't sell 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:18.099 it. They own the upside. If that bull is a massive 00:24:18.099 --> 00:24:20.960 hit, they are the ones who make the profit. It 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.180 completely shifts the power dynamic from the 00:24:23.180 --> 00:24:25.440 corporation back to the breeder. And a place 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:27.880 like DMV. They're in Drummondville, Quebec. They 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:30.700 house over 130 bulls. They can store half a million 00:24:30.700 --> 00:24:33.720 doses of semen. They have vets on staff. It allows 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:36.259 an independent breeder to operate with the logistical 00:24:36.259 --> 00:24:39.599 firepower of a major corporation. That is a complete 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:41.740 game changer. It lowers the barrier to entry 00:24:41.740 --> 00:24:45.339 so, so much. Completely. And the success of these 00:24:45.339 --> 00:24:48.240 independents, it validates that farmers want 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.660 this product. I mean, look at Blondin's market 00:24:50.660 --> 00:24:54.250 share in Canada. It jumped from 2 .8 % in 2022 00:24:54.250 --> 00:24:59.329 to 4 .9 % in 2023. That's a 75 % increase. In 00:24:59.329 --> 00:25:02.890 one year. In one year. That proves that farmers 00:25:02.890 --> 00:25:05.730 are hungry, they're starving for deep pedigrees 00:25:05.730 --> 00:25:08.210 and the art of breeding. But here's the thing 00:25:08.210 --> 00:25:09.769 that really struck me when we were digging into 00:25:09.769 --> 00:25:12.430 the research for this. We are sitting here in 00:25:12.430 --> 00:25:14.349 North America acting like this is a brand new 00:25:14.349 --> 00:25:17.190 problem or that the solution had to be invented 00:25:17.190 --> 00:25:20.529 from scratch in a barn in Quebec. But the Europeans. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:22.839 They figured this out decades ago, didn't they? 00:25:22.900 --> 00:25:24.779 They did. And it's almost embarrassing when you 00:25:24.779 --> 00:25:27.740 look at it. While North America was chasing peak 00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:30.960 milk yield at any cost, the Europeans, specifically 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.279 the big co -ops like Viking Genetics and CRV, 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:35.740 were playing a completely different game. Okay, 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:37.539 tell us about the European model. What makes 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:39.079 it so different? Why didn't they fall into the 00:25:39.079 --> 00:25:41.529 same trap? It's the contrast that really proves 00:25:41.529 --> 00:25:44.009 the point. Let's take Viking genetics, which 00:25:44.009 --> 00:25:46.170 covers the Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden, 00:25:46.470 --> 00:25:49.089 Finland. They introduced something called the 00:25:49.089 --> 00:25:52.950 Nordic Total Merit Index, or NTM. Okay. They 00:25:52.950 --> 00:25:55.529 started including specific health traits in that 00:25:55.529 --> 00:25:58.910 index all the way back in the 1980s. The 80s? 00:25:58.910 --> 00:26:00.930 In the 80s, you were barely thinking about that. 00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:02.910 We were just focused on more milk, more protein, 00:26:03.009 --> 00:26:05.750 bigger cows. Right. And today... In their index, 00:26:05.950 --> 00:26:08.369 traits for health, reproduction, and longevity 00:26:08.369 --> 00:26:12.670 make up 45 % of the total weight. 45%, almost 00:26:12.670 --> 00:26:15.069 half. Almost half the score is based on simple 00:26:15.069 --> 00:26:18.549 questions. Will this cow live a long time? Will 00:26:18.549 --> 00:26:21.049 she breed back easily? Will she stay healthy? 00:26:21.410 --> 00:26:23.529 It's not just how much milk is in the bucket 00:26:23.529 --> 00:26:26.000 on her peak test day. That's a profound difference 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.079 in philosophy. And what about CRV in the Netherlands? 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:31.240 They took it a step further. They actually engineered 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:33.539 diversity into their program. They have a rule 00:26:33.539 --> 00:26:36.779 that they deliberately select 40 different black 00:26:36.779 --> 00:26:39.220 and white sires to be the fathers of the next 00:26:39.220 --> 00:26:42.339 generation of bulls. 40. They don't just take 00:26:42.339 --> 00:26:44.980 the top five genomic young sires and flush the 00:26:44.980 --> 00:26:47.359 hell out of them. They force the genetic funnel 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:50.920 to stay wide. They mandate diversity. Why? Why 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:53.000 would they do that if it means they might be 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:56.160 slightly lowering the peak index number they 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.640 can advertise? Because they are cooperatives. 00:26:58.819 --> 00:27:01.759 Ah. The shareholders of the company are the farmers 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.839 who are mulking the daughters. They realized... 00:27:05.019 --> 00:27:08.240 decades ago that a super high index bull is completely 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:10.559 worthless if all his daughters are dead after 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:14.200 one lactation. So they prioritized long -term 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:17.440 cow health and herd profitability over a short 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:20.140 -term spike in the index rankings. That is such 00:27:20.140 --> 00:27:22.440 a fundamental shift. It's the difference between 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:25.140 managing for a short -term stock price and managing 00:27:25.140 --> 00:27:27.640 for long -term asset value. Precisely. Yeah. 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.599 And we have the hard data to prove that this 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:32.359 philosophy works. We have to talk about the ProCross 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:34.519 study. This was the big one from the University 00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:36.319 of Minnesota, right? Yes. And this wasn't some 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.960 weekend project. This was a 10 -year study, a 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:41.720 decade of data. They looked at three breed rotational 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.339 crosses. They used Holsteins, but crossed them 00:27:44.339 --> 00:27:46.400 with Viking Red and Montpelier. And what did 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:48.839 they find after 10 years? The results are just 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:52.680 stunning. The crossbred cows had, on average, 00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:57.440 147 days longer herd life. 147 days? That's almost 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.779 five months. It's five more months of milk checks. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:02.140 It's five more months of not having to raise 00:28:02.140 --> 00:28:04.960 or buy an expensive replacement heifer to take 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:07.450 her spot in the barn. What about profit? Their 00:28:07.450 --> 00:28:10.750 daily profits were 9 to 13 % higher than the 00:28:10.750 --> 00:28:13.710 purebred Holsteins in the same study. So I have 00:28:13.710 --> 00:28:16.329 to ask the obvious blunt question then. If the 00:28:16.329 --> 00:28:18.650 profit is higher and the cows live longer and 00:28:18.650 --> 00:28:21.910 they are healthier, why are we so afraid to step 00:28:21.910 --> 00:28:24.970 outside the main Holstein lineage? Why is everyone 00:28:24.970 --> 00:28:26.990 still buying descendants of chief and elevation? 00:28:27.309 --> 00:28:29.349 That is the million dollar question, isn't it? 00:28:29.349 --> 00:28:31.839 And I think the answer is... It's complicated. 00:28:32.059 --> 00:28:34.099 It's partly fear of the unknown. It's the comfort 00:28:34.099 --> 00:28:36.380 of the big names on the pedigree. And it's the 00:28:36.380 --> 00:28:38.200 power of the marketing machine that has been 00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:40.440 telling you for 20 years, if you aren't using 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:42.799 the number one TPI bull, you're losing ground 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:45.140 to your neighbor. But the data says the opposite. 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:47.599 The data says if you are using that number one 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:50.200 bull and he's closely related to everyone else 00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:52.900 in your herd, you're the one who's losing $80 00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:55.599 ,000 over the lifetime of your herd. Exactly. 00:28:56.099 --> 00:28:59.119 Fear is expensive. And that brings us to the 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:01.299 ripple effect of all this. What does this all 00:29:01.299 --> 00:29:03.740 mean for the future of breeding? Well, first, 00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:06.440 it means the power is shifting. Yeah. The incredible 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:09.059 success of independent studs like Blondin and 00:29:09.059 --> 00:29:11.880 Stanton proves that bigger isn't always better. 00:29:12.099 --> 00:29:14.759 It proves that the most efficient corporate supply 00:29:14.759 --> 00:29:17.539 chains aren't always the most effective for the 00:29:17.539 --> 00:29:20.009 end user, for the farmer. It also requires a 00:29:20.009 --> 00:29:22.069 bit of a reality check for farmers, though. You 00:29:22.069 --> 00:29:24.309 can't just order European semen and assume you're 00:29:24.309 --> 00:29:26.450 safe, can you? No, and that is a critical point. 00:29:26.490 --> 00:29:28.910 We have to have the outcross reality check. Just 00:29:28.910 --> 00:29:31.730 because a bull has a Dutch or Danish postal code 00:29:31.730 --> 00:29:34.029 doesn't automatically mean he is an outcross 00:29:34.029 --> 00:29:37.390 to your herd. The genetic world is small. Those 00:29:37.390 --> 00:29:39.049 genetics have been moving back and forth for 00:29:39.049 --> 00:29:41.490 years. You have to read the pedigree. So if you 00:29:41.490 --> 00:29:43.789 look at the three -generation stack on a European 00:29:43.789 --> 00:29:47.190 bull and you recognize every single name in there, 00:29:47.579 --> 00:29:50.700 then it's not diversity. It's just a cousin from 00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:53.400 overseas. You have to actively look for names 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:55.559 you don't know. I love that piece of advice. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:59.319 Look for names you don't know. It feels so counterintuitive 00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:02.740 to how we're usually taught to buy things. Normally, 00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:05.180 we want to buy the brand names we know and trust. 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:08.420 But in modern dairy genetics, familiarity can 00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:12.240 be the enemy. Familiarity is inbreeding. That 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:15.890 is a powerful statement. Familiarity is inbreeding. 00:30:16.210 --> 00:30:17.970 And think about the storytelling moment here. 00:30:18.089 --> 00:30:20.069 I want you to just picture the farmer listening 00:30:20.069 --> 00:30:22.250 to this. They're looking at their herd management 00:30:22.250 --> 00:30:25.230 software at their bad luck list. The cows with 00:30:25.230 --> 00:30:27.789 chronic mastitis. The repeat breeder heifers. 00:30:27.910 --> 00:30:30.069 The ones that just don't seem to thrive. It's 00:30:30.069 --> 00:30:32.029 heartbreaking. As a farmer, you blame yourself. 00:30:32.109 --> 00:30:33.690 You think, what am I doing wrong? You blame your 00:30:33.690 --> 00:30:35.450 feed guy. You blame the weather. You blame your 00:30:35.450 --> 00:30:38.750 employees. Right. But what if you realize it's 00:30:38.750 --> 00:30:40.650 not your management? What if you realize it's 00:30:40.650 --> 00:30:43.569 the genetics you've been sold? That's actually... 00:30:43.950 --> 00:30:46.109 It's a liberating thought. It is because it's 00:30:46.109 --> 00:30:47.730 something you can fix. You can't fix the weather, 00:30:47.789 --> 00:30:50.269 but you can fix this. You can fix it with one 00:30:50.269 --> 00:30:53.450 decision in the breeding tank. And that's the 00:30:53.450 --> 00:30:56.190 real hope in this story. The traits that are 00:30:56.190 --> 00:30:58.789 most damaged by inbreeding, fertility, health, 00:30:58.950 --> 00:31:02.509 survival, they are the exact same traits that 00:31:02.509 --> 00:31:05.589 show the fastest recovery when you reintroduce 00:31:05.589 --> 00:31:08.670 diversity. This is a problem with a readily available 00:31:08.670 --> 00:31:11.240 solution. Okay, so let's get really practical 00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:13.500 here. I want to pivot now to the listener takeaway. 00:31:13.660 --> 00:31:15.059 Let's do it. This is the most important part. 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:17.660 I'm picturing the guy or the gal on the tractor 00:31:17.660 --> 00:31:19.140 right now. They've been listening to this. They're 00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:20.599 nodding along. Maybe they're getting a little 00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:23.420 bit sweaty thinking about that $80 ,000 invisible 00:31:23.420 --> 00:31:27.180 invoice in their own herd. What does that person 00:31:27.180 --> 00:31:29.480 do tomorrow morning? What's the first step? Action 00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:32.400 plan. Step one is what I call the 30 -day audit. 00:31:32.779 --> 00:31:35.500 The 30 -day audit. What is that? Sometime in 00:31:35.500 --> 00:31:38.099 the next 30 days. Go to your herd recording service, 00:31:38.299 --> 00:31:40.779 whether it's Lactonet or CDCB or whatever you 00:31:40.779 --> 00:31:43.539 use. Pull your herd's official inbreeding report. 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:47.200 Don't guess. Don't assume. Look at the actual 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.400 numbers. And don't just look at the average for 00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:52.900 the whole herd. Look for the trend line. Specifically, 00:31:53.099 --> 00:31:55.680 look at the average inbreeding of your heifers, 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:58.400 the calves being born this year. If that number 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:01.380 is over 10%, you have a flashing red light on 00:32:01.380 --> 00:32:03.960 your dashboard. 10 % is the cutoff. That's the 00:32:03.960 --> 00:32:06.809 danger zone. If you are over 10%, and that trend 00:32:06.809 --> 00:32:09.289 line is still going up, you are actively losing 00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:12.450 money. Period. End of story. Okay, so that's 00:32:12.450 --> 00:32:14.650 step one. You know you have a problem. What's 00:32:14.650 --> 00:32:17.950 step two? The strategy. You call it the 65 -15 00:32:17.950 --> 00:32:20.779 -20 rule. Right. You don't have to panic and 00:32:20.779 --> 00:32:23.480 fire your current AI rep. That's too radical 00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:25.759 for most people, and it's probably not necessary. 00:32:26.099 --> 00:32:28.240 Keep the peace. Don't burn bridges. Exactly. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.980 Keep 65 % to 70 % of your business with your 00:32:30.980 --> 00:32:33.480 main supplier. You still need their high -end 00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:35.519 sexed semen availability. You need their support 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:37.960 staff. You need the volume they provide. But 00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:40.140 you stop accepting the default list they give 00:32:40.140 --> 00:32:42.700 you. You become an active manager. Okay. That 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:45.539 leaves about 30 % to 35 % of your breeding decisions 00:32:45.539 --> 00:32:49.190 to work with. Correct. You then allocate 15 to 00:32:49.190 --> 00:32:51.710 20 percent of your breedings to the European 00:32:51.710 --> 00:32:55.490 cooperatives. Go look at Viking Genetics or CRV 00:32:55.490 --> 00:32:58.930 and use these bulls specifically for their health 00:32:58.930 --> 00:33:02.009 traits. Use them on your problem cows, the ones 00:33:02.009 --> 00:33:03.650 that are struggling with fertility or health. 00:33:03.730 --> 00:33:05.849 And that last little chunk. You allocate 10 to 00:33:05.849 --> 00:33:07.910 15 percent to the independent North American 00:33:07.910 --> 00:33:11.019 studs. Go look at Blondin or the Stantons or 00:33:11.019 --> 00:33:13.279 others like them. Look for the pedigree depth. 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:16.500 Look for showing appeal, if that's your thing. 00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:18.980 Look for the art of breeding. So it's a portfolio 00:33:18.980 --> 00:33:21.640 approach. You're diversifying your genetic assets, 00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:24.160 just like a financial advisor would tell you 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:26.099 to do with your retirement fund. Exactly. You 00:33:26.099 --> 00:33:28.099 would never put 100 % of your retirement money 00:33:28.099 --> 00:33:31.579 into one single stock, right? So why are we putting 00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:35.220 100 % of our herd's future into one single bloodline? 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:38.589 It's crazy. Okay, and step three. The hard questions. 00:33:39.130 --> 00:33:41.309 If you are going to start buying from some of 00:33:41.309 --> 00:33:44.109 these smaller independent guys, you need to do 00:33:44.109 --> 00:33:46.910 your homework. You need to vet them. What do 00:33:46.910 --> 00:33:49.410 we ask? You need to ask four critical questions. 00:33:49.829 --> 00:33:52.910 Number one, who owns the semen and who owns the 00:33:52.910 --> 00:33:55.609 data? You want to be sure the breeder is in control. 00:33:55.849 --> 00:33:59.150 Number two, is the health testing CSS equivalent? 00:33:59.950 --> 00:34:02.569 CSS is the gold standard for disease control 00:34:02.569 --> 00:34:05.269 in the AI industry. If it's not, that's a red 00:34:05.269 --> 00:34:09.349 flag. Very important. Okay. Three. Are the proofs 00:34:09.349 --> 00:34:12.010 official? Do they have published reliabilities 00:34:12.010 --> 00:34:14.989 from a recognized source like Lactanet or CDCB? 00:34:15.170 --> 00:34:17.769 Don't just take a pretty marketing flyer as gospel. 00:34:17.969 --> 00:34:22.309 And number four. Can you ship sexed semen? reliably 00:34:22.309 --> 00:34:24.650 and efficiently. In today's market, that's a 00:34:24.650 --> 00:34:26.949 must -have. If they can't give you good, clear 00:34:26.949 --> 00:34:29.309 answer to those four questions, you should probably 00:34:29.309 --> 00:34:31.929 walk away. And finally, your last point, the 00:34:31.929 --> 00:34:34.170 diversity check. This is a question for your 00:34:34.170 --> 00:34:37.269 main AI rep. Ask them to show you their sire 00:34:37.269 --> 00:34:40.489 of sons diversity. Don't just ask about the individual 00:34:40.489 --> 00:34:42.570 bull you were thinking of buying. Ask about his 00:34:42.570 --> 00:34:44.789 father and his grandfather and the fathers of 00:34:44.789 --> 00:34:46.409 all the other bulls on the front page of the 00:34:46.409 --> 00:34:48.409 catalog. If the answer is always the same two 00:34:48.409 --> 00:34:50.429 or three names, you tell them, okay, that's great. 00:34:50.489 --> 00:34:52.130 Now show me the back of the book. The back of 00:34:52.130 --> 00:34:53.889 the book. I like that. That's where the gems 00:34:53.889 --> 00:34:55.489 are hiding. That's where the outcrosses are. 00:34:55.889 --> 00:34:58.250 You have to ask for them specifically. This has 00:34:58.250 --> 00:35:00.980 been... Honestly, it's a little overwhelming, 00:35:01.059 --> 00:35:04.099 but in a really good way. It feels like we are 00:35:04.099 --> 00:35:06.079 pulling back a curtain on something that has 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:08.119 been sitting right there in front of us the whole 00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:11.559 time. It is a wake up call. Yeah. And it changes 00:35:11.559 --> 00:35:13.960 how you look at problems. You know, we spend 00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:17.500 so much time and money fixing problems in the 00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:20.380 barn. We treat the sick cow. We give another 00:35:20.380 --> 00:35:23.039 shot of hormones to the open cow. We pay the 00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:25.559 hoof trimmer to fix the bad feet. But sometimes 00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:28.250 the fix isn't in the barn at all. Where is it 00:35:28.250 --> 00:35:30.590 then? The fix is making sure the problem is never 00:35:30.590 --> 00:35:32.989 born in the first place. That is a powerful thought 00:35:32.989 --> 00:35:35.989 to end on. Dan Brady didn't write an angry letter 00:35:35.989 --> 00:35:38.949 to the industry asking for better bulls. He didn't 00:35:38.949 --> 00:35:41.570 just complain on a Facebook forum. He went out 00:35:41.570 --> 00:35:43.650 and built the stud himself. He took the wheel. 00:35:43.849 --> 00:35:46.650 And that right there is the true spirit of this 00:35:46.650 --> 00:35:48.630 industry. If it's broken, you fix it. If it's 00:35:48.630 --> 00:35:50.889 not there, you build it yourself. That's another 00:35:50.889 --> 00:35:53.309 story from the Bullvine podcast. We're committed 00:35:53.309 --> 00:35:55.349 to covering the people who are building the future 00:35:55.349 --> 00:35:58.610 of dairy. And remember, Knowledge is only power 00:35:58.610 --> 00:36:01.269 if you actually use it. Go check that inbreeding 00:36:01.269 --> 00:36:03.389 report. Exactly. You can find more stories like 00:36:03.389 --> 00:36:07.170 this at www .thebullvine .com. Subscribe on your 00:36:07.170 --> 00:36:08.769 favorite platform so you don't miss the next 00:36:08.769 --> 00:36:10.269 one. We'll see you then. Take care.