Are you leaving calf money on the table?



Not long ago, a Holstein bull calf might have earned you 50 bucks, if that. Today, thanks to high beef prices and better breeding tools, that same cow might deliver a $1,000 calf instead.



Beef-on-dairy isn’t just a trend; it’s changing how progressive dairies manage their herds and drive revenue.



In this episode of The Milk Check, host Ted Jacoby III talks with CoBank’s Corey Geiger and Abbigail Prins about how dairy farmers are rethinking breeding strategies and how those decisions are reshaping herd structure, replacement numbers, and profitability.




Why some farms are holding onto cows longer



How sexed semen and genomics are guiding breeding calls



And how beef calves are becoming a serious income stream




Whether you're breeding for replacements, premiums or profit, this episode unpacks how to make herd decisions that pay.



Listen now to hear why the value of a cow’s uterus might be higher than ever.



Got questions?



Got questions for The Milk Check team? We’ve got answers. Submit your questions below and we’d be happy to get back to you or answer your question on the podcast.




Ask The Milk Check












Intro (with music):



Welcome to the Milk Check, a podcast from T.C. Jacoby & Co., where we share market insights and analysis with dairy farmers in mind.



Ted Jacoby III:



Welcome everybody to this month's version of the Milk Check, a T.C. Jacoby & Co. podcast. Really excited today to have two special guests from CoBank, Corey Geiger and Abbi Prins. We are going to talk about breeding to beef and the profitability of the dairy farm, and how that dairy farm profitability has changed over the years as this trend has come about, and what it means for the future of dairy. Excited to have this conversation, Corey, Abbi, thank you so much for joining us today. So Corey, what do you do?



Corey Geiger:



CoBank is actually short for cooperative banks, so we're the bank of cooperatives. We're part of the Farm Credit System. Abbi and I are part of the knowledge exchange division, so we have a group of 10 economists who work in dairy and animal protein, consumer package goods, digital infrastructure, and farm inputs and crops. I've been at CoBank for two years now. I have just started my third year with CoBank, and Abbi joined our team about a year ago. She can tell you a little bit about herself.



Abbigail Prins:



Thanks, Corey. I also joined CoBank about a year and a half ago. I helped cover the dairy and animal protein sectors, come from a very heavy dairy and agriculture background, originally from Tulare, California, based out of Minnesota now. We're excited to be on the podcast with you today, so thank you for the invitation.



Ted Jacoby III:



Abbi, Corey, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. So our topic today is going to be about breeding to beef and the dairy farm profitability, and how the whole breeding to beef trend has been affecting dairy farm profitability. Give us a little background on this trend of how more and more dairy farmers are breeding dairy cows in order to get cows to enter the dairy herd. More and more dairy farmers are breeding to beef and how is that affecting the dairy breed right now?



Corey Geiger:



I have a broad background, having been in the editorial team of Hoard's Dair...