Flying the Flag in the west
[27 Sep 07]

Find Us in Asia
[27 Sep 07]

Global threat to pork industr
[27 Sep 07]

Certification updates
[03 Aug 07]

JSR brings the pig world to Yorkshire
[07 Jul 07]

Harper Adams College and JSR team up for new research
[07 Jul 07]

EBLEX beefs up eating quality
[07 Jul 07]

Meat Industry Figures
[02 Jul 07]

Into Africa
[27 Mar 07]

One million pounds we didn't have a year ago!
[27 Mar 07]

What's happening to British calf numbers and price
[25 Mar 07]

Sauvignon Reigns in France
[24 Mar 07]

Nine Hereford bulls go to France
[24 Mar 07]

Herefords return to Germany and France
[27 Feb 07]

"British Livestock" a new magazine
[23 Feb 07]

Export boost for Aberdeen-Angus
[11 Feb 07]

Sexed Limousin Semen - a world first!
[11 Feb 07]

Animal welfare in transport: new EU rules enter into force
[5 Jan 07]

Opportunities in the genetics of cattle health and beef production
[4 Jan 07]

Charolais genetics exported down under
[11 Dec 06]

British Charolais makes breed debut in Romania
[17 Oct 06]

Counting sheep - UK/USA
[08 Oct 06]

Boom Time for British Breeding Pig Exports
[06 Oct 06]

New Pig Centre Links Farm to Lab
[06 Oct 06]

Encouraging signs from UK Pig Census
[09 Sept 06]

New semen sexing technology
[06 Sept 06]

WeideFestival - First steps back into Europe
[21 August 06]

Expointer And 100 Years of Devons in Brazil
[10 August 06]

First British Charolais & Limousin semen exported to Mexico
[10 August 06]

JSR plays a major role in Polish pig expansion
[7 August 06]

Limousins are first British cattle into Poland
[7 August 06]

Aberdeen-Angus export breakthroughs
[29 June 06]

Gene markers boost performance
[21 June 06]

Tiger economy in sheep's clothing
[20 June 06]

Strong Start for English Beef Exports
[6 June 06]

Facts at your fingertips!
[22 May 06]

Beefing up exports to Switzerland
[3 May 06]

Tally-ho! Sensible eco-friendly tallow decision
[27 Apr 06]

Danish breeding pig exports up 15% in 2004/05
[24 Apr 06]

There's animal welfare UK style or other styles
[21 Mar 06]

BSE: UK beef embargo to be lifted.
[08 Mar 06]

UK venture targets pigs in the east
[27 Feb 06]

Cogent Sexed Semen - A globally proven product
[21 Feb 06]

Meat imports drop in UK as production soars
[09 Feb 06]

Nice, if you can get it!
[17 Jan 06]

Newdawn for the British pig industry
[13 Jan 06]

SWALEX Success as Cumbrian sheep arrive in Estonia
[22 Dec 05]

British Global Genetic Giants to merge
[29 Oct 05]

Cattle exports going well for European countries
[29 Oct 05]

Birth Data Highlight Beef Herd Changes
[8 July 05]

Semen Exports’ £7 million boom
[3 July 05]

Britbreed joins forces with CBS Technologies under the umbrella of Innovis™
[14 June 05]

Sympa and Goldies Terence arrive in Oz, and more Opera [6 June 05]

Firsts for British rare breeds pigs
[27 May 05]

Genus reopens Brazil’s door to cattle semen exports
[25 Apr 05]

National UK Dairy database launched for performance & welfare improvement
[21 Apr 05]

Red faces? No, yet more sheep breeding developments in Britain!
[18 Apr 05]

British Pig Association Active in Asia [15 Apr 05]

UK now a moderate risk BSE area [22 Mar 05]

British Ambience draws international crowds at SIA
[22 Mar 05]

Onwards in Black and White
[21 Mar 05]

Livestock Links Forged with distant Nagaland
[11 Mar 05]

New UK dairy genetics testing programme for "Grazing Kings"
[13 Jan 05]

Beef and lamb sales in Britain soar
[21 Jan 05]

Nice Limousin calves Downunder!
[14 Dec 04]

Fourth proven Montbeliarde joins Genus stud
[13 Dec 04]

Dream team for Charollais sires
[24 Nov 04]


Bull prices follow performance, yet again!
[2 Nov 04]

Click on any of the news stories above for further information

Welsh start-up company Ovasort Limited has signed a global deal with the owners of Danish Bacon for a new genetic technology which could allow pig breeders to pre-select the sex of new-born animals.

The Oversort team aims to develop the world’s first low-cost, high-volume sperm separation technology acting at the cell surface, allowing production of male-enriched or female- enriched pig semen.

The technology could dramatically improve the commercial efficiency of supplying breeding gilts (young female pigs) to the pig industry. It would also result in fewer male piglets being born, reducing the requirements for castration or unnecessary slaughter.

Ovasort has now signed an exclusive global licensing agreement for the use of the technology in pigs with Dansk Svineproduktion (Danish Pig Production).The major Norwegian pig-breeding co-operative, Norsvin, will also work with Dansk Svineproduktion on the collaboration.

The present research programme is directed by Ovasort’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Ian Brewis, Lecturer in Proteomics and Bioinformatics at Cardiff University and expert on the study of the sperm cell surface. Ovasort has also just won a prestigious
SMART Cymru Award from the Welsh Assembly Government for the commercial development of this potentially very valuable new technology.

The technology will produce specific molecules which bind together X-chromosome bearing (female) sperm cells, leaving unbound Y-chromosome bearing (male) cells free to be filtered from the sample. The bound or ‘agglutinated’ female cells can then be de-agglutinated leaving two separate populations of cells for immediate incorporation into a conventional
Artificial Insemination dose of sexed semen. The technology also has potential for exploitation in cattle and other livestock.

Dansk Svineproduktion is part of the newly re-organised Danish pig industry. Head of the Department for Nutrition and Reproduction,Neils Kjeldsen, said: “This patented technology offers enormous potential to livestock farmers, and we are pleased to be collaborating with Ovasort in the pig sector, and to be their licensee worldwide.”

Welsh Assembly Government Bioscience Sector Manager, Dr Bob Wallis, said:“ the Ovasort approach to the discovery of new proteins at the cell surface could be decisive in confirming the existence of sex-linked surface proteins in sperm for the
first time and may provide a means of selecting for male or female offspring. It is no surprise that they have
attracted such a major collaborator as Dansk Svineproduktion.”

Ovasort CEO Dr Ian Cumming said: “The advances made in the fields of genomics and proteomics, along with the development of ever-more sensitive instrumentation means that we can address the problem of semen sexing in a way which was not possible even two years ago. Levels of protein detection are now a million times more sensitive, which means that the
Ovasort technology can be exploited successfully not only in pigs, but also in cattle and some other farm species on a low-cost, high-volume basis which will deliver a product that the farmer can afford, and we will shortly be seeking a partner for the
cattle sector”.

More details from:- icumming@ukf.net

[6 Sept 06]