Institute of Meat (IoM) members recently had the opportunity of visiting Genus ABS in Llanrhydd, which is renown as a world leading animal genetics company.
The business supplies high-quality breeding animals to farmers with desirable characteristics, with the aim of enabling them to produce better quality meat and milk more efficiently and sustainably.
The visiting IoM group were given a presentation by Hafina Cordiner, the company’s breeding programme coordinator, and it also heard from Mark Smith and Gemma Wark who explained how Genus analyzes the DNA of animals to select those with the strongest genetic profile, offering the potential to produce better offspring. The end product is then distributed to customers in the form of either semen, or embryos.
Members of the visiting group included ABP, Smithfield Murray, M.E.A.T Ipswich and an IoM Master Butcher, Jim Doherty.
The group was shown around the laboratory facilities by Meagan Ellis. She explained more about the technology that enables Genus to process semen for desirable traits, such as female sex for the dairy market, and licence-in technology to make precise gene edits to animals’ DNA. The business is then using this in its R&D programmes to produce livestock which is resistant to fatal disease.
“The visit was a really informative one and it was incredible to see how much progress had been made since a similar visit back in 2018."
Keith Fisher, the chief executive of the IoM said: “The visit was a really informative one and it was incredible to see how much progress had been made since a similar visit back in 2018. The Genus team made us very welcome and put on a great presentation.
“Members were also treated to a parade of elite bulls who were presented in magnificent condition.”
Genus ABS breeds genetically elite bulls in three continents. The best bulls come to one of the company’s six stud locations, where their semen is collected for distribution as a frozen ‘straw’ or used to create embryos for sale.
Ralph Early, an IoM ‘Fellow,’ commented that he found it very exciting to learn something of what Genus ABS is doing and the potentials in genomics and gene-editing from its perspective.
All members who visited agreed that the visit was most enjoyable and insightful into the world of genomics.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
