Working with dairymen around the world, Semex knows that today’s tight dairy economy has left dairymen searching for answers to reduce their expenditures and increase profitability. Looking at herd expenses one can quickly determine that health issues have a detrimental effect on a dairy’s ledgers.  Removal of animals from the herd, whether voluntary or involuntary, is an expense most dairymen are looking to reduce. Replacing that animal and filling her stall is a costly venture. In 2008 De Vries and Olson obtained DHIA lactation records from 38 states from Dairy Records Management Systems and estimated that the national average cull rate was approximately 33%. Meaning, roughly 1/3 of all cows on these farms studied left the herd each year. Increasing the herd’s survivability and decreasing the involuntary cull rate, therefore, is key to increasing profitability. “At Semex, we’re working to help the dairyman increase his profitability,â€� says Nicolas Caron, Semex Alliance Geneticist. “One of the quickest ways to reduce costs and drive up profits is by reducing cows leaving the herd.  In today’s economic market, losing heifers in their first lactation before they’ve returned on your investment is not an option.  We’re working to deliver the very best genetic solutions, and Health$mart sires are selected to give dairymen an excellent option to help reduce costs at the ground level.  Simply put, healthy cows cost less.â€� Semex has identified Health$martâ"� sires as those that sire the most valuable and profitable cows on the dairy. These sires excel for qualities that dairies can easily quantify in their ledgers.  Dairymen can trust that a Semex Health$martâ"� sire will have a positive financial impact, saving on vet bills, medications and staff time, as well as lost breedings and lost production. The selection criteria for a Health$martâ"� sire is based on:

� Health Traits: Herd Life, Somatic Cell Score, Daughter Calving Ability, Milking Speed, Daughter Fertility

� Production: Milk, Fat and Protein

â€� Durability Traits: Final Conformation, Mammary System and Feet & Legs Semex Health$martâ"� sires are easily identified with the Health$martâ"� brand in all Semex materials and are listed below.  These sires are included in ProMateâ"�, Semex’s global custom selection index.

0200HO03435 ARETHUSA SS MERLIN-ET 0200HO07321 MAGOR BAROQUE ALLEN-ET 0200HO00113 CEDARWAL SPIRTE 0200HO07317 MAGOR BOLIVIA ALLEN-ET 0200HO01885 CLAYNOOK ANTHONY 0200HO00402 MAINSTREAM MANIFOLD 0200HO05357 COMESTAR LECLYPSE 0200HO09010 MARYLINE EPIC-ET 0200HO05136 COMESTAR LITTLE ROCK 0200HO09448 MONUMENT KENETH-ET 0200HO05156 COMESTAR LITTORAL 0200HO05049 MORNINGVIEW ASHLAR-ET 0073HO09945 COMESTAR MANAGER 0200HO00379 MORSAN FRONTRUNNER 0200HO09804 CROCKETT-ACRES EIGHT-ET 0200HO05428 MY-JOHN KARIK-ET 0200HO09803 CROCKETT-ACRES ENVOY-ET 0200HO01888 PETHERTON ROXWELL 0200HO05348 DESLACS MALSTROM 0200HO04779 R-E-W BUCKEYE-ET 0200HO03402 DOMICOLE SIMMS 0200HO09457 REGAN-ENGLAND TEMPTOR-ET 0200HO01406 EMERALD-ACR-SA T-DEREK-ET 0200HO09468 REGANCREST-DL RAINFALL-ET 0200HO01946 FREUREHAVEN TALON 0200HO04608 REGANCREST-MR SAMUELO-ET 0200HO03218 GILLETTE BRILEA FBI 0200HO05127 REGANCREST-MWS MAGNA-ET 0200HO03280 GILLETTE FINAL CUT 0200HO00133 RIETBEN CHARGE 0200HO03421 GLEN-TOCTIN LITANY-ET 0200HO01993 SANDY-VALLEY APPLESEED-ET 0200HO03417 GLEN-VALLEY CONSUL-ET 0200HO09008 SANDY-VALLEY ED-ET 0200HO03407 GREENLANE SPACESHIP 0200HO09603 SANDY-VALLEY TOYOTA-ET 0200HO01196 HARTLINE TAYLOR-ET 0200HO03427 SPRINGWAY CLEVELAND-ET 0200HO01715 JEFFREY-WAY TOPLEVEL-ET 0200HO05217 VIEUXSAULE MALICIEUX 0200HO05378 KLOVER-HILL JAVA-ET 0200HO03404 WILLSONA SILAS 0200HO05398 LANGS-TWIN-B FINLEY

For more information on Health$martâ"� sires or any of Semex’s growing suite of programs designed to increase real dairy profitability, please visit www.semex.com