20/03/2005, Global semen companies join forces
Samen NZ has been established in New Zealand since 1997 and has through the years put together an impressive portfolio of world-class genetics.
Samen (the Dutch word for together, German for semen) initially started off marketing Dutch bulls from parent company K.I. Samen b.v.
In the year 2001 the company took over the agency for Cooperative Resources International, the USA’s largest farmer Co-op, giving New Zealand farmers access to some of the world’s best ranking dairy and beef sires.
A positive attitude towards the industry and customer satisfaction, has earned the company a lot of respect from other large International breeding companies.
The recent take –over of Ambreed by Holland Genetics, prompted ABS Global to join with CRI and Samen to market their products.
Combined these three companies sell over 15 million doses of semen world-wide per annum.
Originally a USA based company, ABS Global was purchased in 1999 by U.K. based Genus Plc (previously British Milk Marketing Board). This development expanded their genetic resources considerably.
ABS has been very influential in NZ cattle breeding through their involvement with Hamilton based company Ambreed NZ. Over the years hundreds of thousands doses of semen were imported mainly from the USA, Netherlands and Australia and now form the genetic basis of most every successful New Zealand bred A.I. Sire.
A serious decline in import numbers in recent years could narrow the bloodlines and genetic diversity in New Zealand and have serious implications of the future success of the New Zealand breeding industry, says Cees van Baar Managing Director of Samen NZ.
Today we can source genetics from all major companies in the world and past imports have resulted in reliable conversion formulas. With the data we have on hand, we can source overseas bulls much more accurately and NZ farmers can have full confidence in the suitability for their farming system.
As more farmers in New Zealand move towards TMR (total mixed rations) the current grass feed based index (BW) becomes less applicable and farmers will be better off using other selection criteria.
Samen NZ provides genetics to suit many different farming systems and continuously search the world for out-cross (fresh bloodlines) genetics.
This year we also introduce, or rather re-introduce, the traditional British Friesian genetics. Originally the foundation of New Zealand Holstein Friesians, they were introduced in the U.K. in the 1800’s and have remained distinct and separate from Holstein bloodline.
In the U.K. and other parts of the world British Friesians have a reputation for good fertility, high components, longevity and beef production. In the Netherlands for example these bloodline score 109 for fertility, whereas the Holstein Friesian scores 100 (with 100 being base)
Other breeds in Samen’s heterosis package include Montbeliarde, Dutch Friesian, MRI and Brown Swiss.
The 2005 Sire Directory will be out in April and to ensure you receive a free copy, please provide Samen NZ with you contact details.
For this and any other inquiries you may have, you can contact them on
Free Phone 0800- 220 232
