The CDCB CowCast

Ep. 5: What Semen Sales Tell Us About Dairy's Future

In this episode of The CDCB CowCast, National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) President Jay Weiker discusses 2025 semen sales, international demand for U.S. genetics, and what could lie ahead. Learn more and sign up for the monthly email newsletter, the CDCB Connection, at uscdcb.com To get notified of new episodes, subscribe here or follow the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Ep. 4: Reproductive Tools for Today's Dairies

In this episode of The CDCB CowCast, CDCB Geneticist Taylor McWhorter, Ph.D., discusses updates coming to the four female reproductive performance traits (Daughter Pregnancy Rate, Cow Conception Rate, Heifer Conception Rate, and Early First Calving) in the August 2026 genetic evaluations as well as a new trait that will be introduced, First Service to Conception.   To view the slides shared in this discussion, watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vxjfDTTauT0 [https://youtu.be/vxjfDTTauT0]    View the summary document of all reproductive performance changes: https://uscdcb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Reproductive-Performance-Traits-Summary-Final-1.pdf [https://uscdcb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Reproductive-Performance-Traits-Summary-Final-1.pdf]   Find statistics, descriptions, and more of all the August changes: https://uscdcb.com/august-2026-evaluations/ [https://uscdcb.com/august-2026-evaluations/]    Learn more and sign up for the monthly email newsletter, the CDCB Connection, at uscdcb.com   To get notified of new episodes, subscribe here or follow the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Ep. 3: How Dairy Crossbred Animals Receive a Genetic Evaluation

In this episode of The CDCB CowCast, CDCB Technical Advisor George Wiggans, Ph.D., discusses the development of crossbred evaluations, the use of Breed Base Representation, and what we see in this system today.   To view the slides shared in this discussion, watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eroKCiUVikg   Learn more and sign up for the monthly email newsletter, the CDCB Connection, at uscdcb.com   To get notified of new episodes, subscribe here or follow the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Episode 2: The National Herd Behind the National Evaluations

In this episode of The CDCB CowCast, CDCB Livestock Data Analytics Expert Fiona Guinan, Ph.D., explains what U.S. dairy cattle statistics are aggregated in the National Performance Metrics available through CDCB and demonstrates how to use the website.   Go to the National Performance Metrics: https://webconnect.uscdcb.com/#/national-performance-metrics [https://webconnect.uscdcb.com/#/national-performance-metrics]   Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bohe0MoZ3-c   Learn more and sign up for the monthly email newsletter, the CDCB Connection, at uscdcb.com   To get notified of new episodes, subscribe here or follow the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Episode 1: Healthier Calves From the First Breath

In this episode of The CDCB CowCast, CDCB Geneticist Kristen Parker Gaddis, Ph.D., discusses the research and application of two new genetic selection traits for dairy calves, resistance to diarrhea and resistance to respiratory disease. To view the slides shared in this discussion, watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4Sd0mDKfYT8 [https://youtu.be/4Sd0mDKfYT8] Find summary statistics and trends for any trait at https://webconnect.uscdcb.com/#/summary-stats/genetic-trend [https://webconnect.uscdcb.com/#/summary-stats/genetic-trend] Learn more and sign up for the monthly email newsletter, the CDCB Connection, at uscdcb.com To get notified of new episodes, subscribe here or follow the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding on Facebook or LinkedIn.