Select Sires

IGENITY™ Testing Service (Part Two)
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio Which Aired July 21, 2005
With Chuck Sattler,
Vice President of Progeny Testing,
Select Sires Inc.

Chuck, we continue our discussion from last week on IGENITY testing service giving dairy and beef producers the ability to know. Now.

As an emerging technology, the really exciting part is what lies ahead: emerging results from the sequencing effort of the cattle genome. Developments that are going to happen on the lab equipment side are going to bring down the cost of the testing process. We sort of think as DNA testing tools as high tech, but I believe they are going to become a lot more common in a year or two.

Talk more about DNA.

Using DNA as a diagnostic test gives you black-and-white answers as to what the genetics are for this animal in a particular site. That’s very useful at an identification standpoint, and we can build a series of tests that can uniquely identify every animal around the world, just like we do forensics studies on humans and in crime labs. I think that will be a very useful tool as we go forward with more intensive programs for identifying cattle and tracking cattle as they go through our commercial enterprises. With these DNA tests, when you have traits like foot color or some of these genetic disease traits that are inherited with a simple inheritance pattern, we can look at one spot of the DNA and get a clear picture of what those animals will transmit. Quantitative traits like production, and conformation traits like fertility and health traits are influenced by many genes, and right now we only have the tools to look at a couple. So we won’t get a definitive answer of what these animals are, in these couple genetic areas, but we haven’t answered the whole picture as to the animal’s total genetic capability -- producing milk, for instance. We will get a black-and-white answer for that one stop, but it won’t tell the story of whether that cow is a good or bad milk producer.

How many producers are getting involved in these test applications?

The tests have been available in the marketplace for several months and, like all products, there are early adopters who have ventured out and started using it. Our plan here is to learn more about these tests, offer additional education and learn best how the tests can be used. I think we will see the use of these tests increase as we go forward, especially as we add additional tools. I think they do have a role in the marketplace currently with breeders for selecting among similar pedigree females, whether those are replacement heifers, or whether those are cows where they are looking to do some embryo transfer work, or things like that. So there are some applications currently that can be helpful for farmers in selecting the right animals.

It's getting pretty high-tech, isn’t it?

Well, it is, but I think the key will be focusing in on the right tools so that we can combine their advantages and make a real difference. I think that’s one of the real keys to the partnership here between Merial and Select Sires: it provides us with companies with a good, long-standing reputation of providing quality products to producers and combing both our resources coming up with tools and making our products work for the producers.

™IGENITY is a trademark of Merial, Duluth, GA.

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