Select Sires

Select Sires' Evaluators
Met With Customer In Mind

PLAIN CITY, Ohio, July 6, 2005 — Since 1973, Select Sires' Select Mating Service™ (SMS™) program has operated with the customer in mind. It provides dairy producers with a labor-saving, user-friendly approach to mating programs. Professional SMS evaluators work with herd managers to understand breeding objectives, evaluate each animal individually, and use research and computerized analysis to develop matings. Each year SMS evaluators meet to discuss new technologies, recent trends, and view current and potential Select sires all with the customer in mind. This year's conference was coordinated by Select Sire Power, Rocky Mount, Va., and held in New York state.

The first day of the conference included educational seminars presented by Select's sire department, marketing staff and Dr. Kent Weigel from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Helping customers understand and use new technologies like DNA testing and sexed semen, new SMS program updates, and Select's genetic arsenal were discussed. Type traits and their relationship to longevity also were talked about. In addition, SMS evaluators gather yearly to discuss what they are seeing on today's dairies. Evaluators discussed daughters of Select Sires' potential graduates and shared information on second-crop bulls.

The following three days involved sessions focused on discussing specific linear traits as well as unity within traits. During the farm tour, over 70 SMS evaluators from five different countries viewed Select-sired daughters on 19 different New York farms, which included Ransom-Rail Farms Inc., Perry; Dutch Road Dairy, Findley Lake; Nickerson Farms, Sherman; Rolling Meadows Farm, Lawtons; Richmond Farm, North Collins; Oakfield Corners Dairy, Oakfield; Den-Kel Farm, Byron; Coyne Farms, East Avon; Black Brook Farm, Shortsville; Spring-Hope Dairy, Clifton Springs; El-Vi Farms, Newark; Lawnhurst Dairy, Stanley; Hathorn Farms, Stanley; Lightland Farms, Stanley; Aurora Ridge Dairy LLC, Aurora; Elkendale Farms, Locke; Ridgecrest Dairy, Genoa; ZiemBarbWay, Scipio Center and Ziems Farms, Weedsport.

Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc., is North America's largest A.I. organization and is comprised of 10 farmer-owned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America's best genetics at a reasonable price.

™Select Mating Service and SMS are trademarks of Select Sires Inc.

Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751