I guess it depends on what you mean by "widely used", but all I'm claiming is that sexed semen has had a big economic impact on the industry and helped convince more farmers to adopt artificial insemination.
It's not easy to find and correctly interpret solid numbers on this topic, but the USDA's National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) survey appears to support a substantial increase in both artificial insemination (for both cows and heifers) and sexed semen (for heifers) between 2007 and 2014.
> Although it has been possible to sex and sort semen since the 1980s, the use of sexed semen is still not a common practice. The sorting process is extremely slow, can damage the semen, and greatly reduces the overall semen counts. Consequently, compared with unsexed semen, sexed semen costs more and contains fewer viable sperm per straw, leading to a lower conception rate. Because heifers are generally more fertile, it is recommended that sexed semen be used only in virgin heifers.
> Artificial insemination (AI) to natural estrus was used for first-service breeding for the majority of heifers on 57.1 percent of operations and the majority of cows on 54.7 percent of operations during the previous 12 months. Natural service (use of bulls for breeding) was the second most common practice used at first service for the majority of heifers and cows (33.2 and 21.7 percent of operations, respectively).
> For operations with pregnancies conceived via AI during the previous 12
months, sexed semen was used to inseminate 11.4 percent of heifers and 3.5
percent of cows. Because sexed semen costs more and contains fewer viable sperm
per straw than unsexed semen, it is recommended that sexed semen be used only
in heifers, which generally are more fertile than cows.
> The highest percentage of operations (89.3 percent) used AI for breeding. AI was used exclusively on 43.7 percent of operations. Timed AI programs were used to manage heifer and cow reproduction on 34.9 and 55.5 percent of operations, respectively. For operations that used a timed AI program, more than two-thirds (68.6 percent) had used the program for 9 years or more.
> A higher percentage of operations used sexed semen in heifers than in cows (41.1 and 18.6 percent, respectively).
> About one-third of heifers (32.5 percent) were bred using sexed semen compared
with only 3.4 percent of cows.
