Semen from top sires kept safe and sound

Priests Sierra has 151,937 daughters. (Image: LIC)

Mon, 01 Aug 2022

A significant foot-and-mouth disease outbreak could decimate New Zealand’s herd, but Livestock Improvement Corp has a system to safeguard decades of genetic gain. “For every bull that we purchase, and we buy 200 elite bulls per annum at the moment, the first straws of semen that we collect from that bull, we put away in an area which we call genetic insurance,” said Livestock Improvement Corp's (LIC) chief scientist, Richard Spelman. Biosecurity NZ deputy director general Stuart Anderson has warned any response...

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