Cogent Breeding has announced it has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for LIC genetics in England, Wales and Scotland. 

This new arrangement, which comes into effect on October 31, 2022, will enable Cogent to extend its reach across Great Britain with LIC premium genetics and herd improvement services, including pasture-based consultancy. Combined with Cogent’s existing portfolio of genetics and services, this will provide significant additional benefit to grass-based customers.

LIC have supplied world leading pasture-based genetics to farmers throughout Great Britain for decades, and in recent years have built a strong relationship with Cogent. 

Stuart Boothman, Cogent’s managing director, said: “Our agreement with LIC is just another step we have taken to ensure we are delivering further value and profit-based genetics and services for our ever-growing customer base.”

Together with LIC, Cogent will provide a complete breeding solution that combines the complementary offerings of both companies to deliver added value through greater efficiencies for LIC, Cogent and the customer.

Cogent will exclusively distribute LIC genetics in England, Wales and Scotland and, under this arrangement, the highly valued LIC in-market sales and Great Britain consultancy team will transfer to Cogent to continue to support customers across Great Britain. 

In November last year, LIC established a permanent sexing lab at their EU/UK processing facility in New Zealand, enabling an increased supply of sexed semen to meet growing demand. Additionally, this year, the Irish-bred LIC bulls took residence at Cogent’s stud and processing facility in Cheshire to increase sexed semen availability.

When combined with Ultraplus, Cogent’s recently launched industry-leading sexed semen, and the diversity of genetics on offer from both dairy and beef breeds, Cogent will be able to deliver a wider pool of genetics to livestock farmers in Great Britain for years to come.