COMPANY INFORMATION
Animal Breeding Services (ABS) has been operating from it’s Hamilton base since 1996
ABS offers a comprehensive range of reproductive technologies applicable to the livestock breeding industry. The company employs around 35 staff in laboratory and field functions. ABS has a head office located near Matangi which also houses the IVP laboratory and acts as the base for our vet teams. The IVP lab produces approximately 6,500 cattle embryos per year. The AB centre and farm facilities are located in Tamahere which is our export accredited semen collection centre as well as our donor centre for Trans-Vaginal Recovery (TVR) this is the non-surgical, ultrasound guided method of collecting eggs (oocytes) from the ovaries or donor heifers and cows.
ABS operates five key areas:
- Semen collection centre for bulls, rams and bucks
- Pig Genetics collection services
- Cattle TVR and IVP embryo production and transfer, Beef cattle AI and fetal sex scanning
- Small Ruminant Embryo production and Transfer, A.I for Sheep and Goats
- Export and import facilitation of semen and embryos
AB in Australia
Animal Breeding Australia Pty Ltd (ABA) is our Australian subsidiary.
ABA provides technical expertise in TVR and embryo transfer service for bovine and small ruminants.
AB Europe
ABS has a 50% stake in this company which has a head office in Edinburgh and branches in England, and Ireland.
There is a very strong focus on sheep artificial breeding with up to 9 teams carrying out AI and ET in the peak of the season (July-Oct). 3 ram collection centres operate concurrently.
IVP is also carried out in cattle with 2 labs, one in Edinburgh and the other in Cork though its subsidiary AB Ireland. Up to 3 teams operate in the field. Sheep and goat IVP is also undertaken.
The company works closely with ABS in NZ particularly exporting genetics from UK and Europe as well as staff sharing in seasonal breeding times which has been successful for many years.
Elite Goat Genetics Ltd
ABS holds a share in Elite Goat Genetics Ltd. This company is a JV with Yorkshire Dairy Goats (the largest Goat Milk supplier in UK) EGM one of the largest suppliers in NZ and ABS.
The company markets the Yorkshire Dairy Goat genetics which is one of the most advanced genetic improvement programs in the world and the largest genomic selection program. These outstanding genetics have widespread appeal especially with the growing corporate style dairy goat farming enterprises particularly in China where the health value of goats milk is well understood and the lower environmental footprint is recognised.
ABS contributes with services of semen collection, AI and ET and is approved for export to China.