Select Sires

SELECTIONS - Winter 2004
Consistent Results In Fertility

Man Looking Through Microscope; Semen Tank

For years you’ve known Select Sires as the industry leader for balanced genetics that perform in the show ring and the parlor. You know Select Mating Service™ (SMS™) as the world’s largest mating program and the Program for Genetic Advancement™ (PGA™) as the premier young-sire program. You’ve also heard about Select’s influence over past and present genetics, with nearly half of the genes in common in the Holstein and Jersey breeds represented by Select bulls.

At Select Sires, our No. 1 goal is to meet your needs, and that begins with getting your cows pregnant. To ensure that, Select first goes above and beyond the stringent semen-production standards set by Certified Semen Services (CSS). Each year Select veterinarians conduct 55,000 health tests on 1,750 sires, and screen for 12 different diseases.

Within the lab, experienced personnel, who have over 300 years of combined experience, monitor every ejaculate for post-thaw motility, percent incubated motility and percent intact acrosomes. If a sample fails any of these tests, it goes no further than the microscope.

Select is also committed to funding and conducting research. In addition to Select’s investment in National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB)-funded research, in-house research through the Program for Fertility Advancement™ (PFA™) and a 30-year contribution of more than $1 million to university research programs targeted improved insemination procedures, increased post-thaw semen quality, improved ovulation control and increased semen harvest, to name a few.

Harold D. Hafs, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., comments, "Perhaps most importantly for their customers, Select Sires has generously welcomed researchers for projects with Select Sires bulls or with semen. The vast majority of these projects could not have been conducted at any university, nor at any government laboratory. These projects have supplemented the very considerable in-house research conducted by Select Sires’ staff, and thereby improved bull well being, sperm output and fertility."

Each year a one-of-its-kind Select Sires Female Reproductive Symposium brings together experts to discuss cutting -edge reproductive-management reseach.

"The Select Sires ‘think tank’ workshops have crystallized opinion among the leading reproduction researchers in North America.

These workshops have accelerated research on topics of vital interest to Select Sires’ customers. At the same time, they have conserved university research resources by minimizing redundant research. The workshops also have re-energized the participant researchers, and focused their creative energies on the innumerable opportunities to further improve cattle reproduction and thereby improve Select Sires customer services.

Without these workshops, some of these researchers would have retreated to other research projects with less value for Select Sires’ customers," comments Hafs.

What does this mean for producers? By turning to Select Sires for high-quality semen and reproductive expertise, you can trust that the semen you’re buying will give you an edge when creating valuable pregnancies for your herd. Contact your Select representative today for consistent results and top genetics backed by sound science.

™Select Mating Service, SMS, Program for Genetic Advancement, PGA, Program for Fertility Advancement and PFA are trademarks of Select Sires Inc.

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