Historic bulls get a second ‘life’

SALEM, Ohio – Two hundred thousand semen units, 6,000 bulls, 43 breeds, 45 years old.
That’s what one artificial insemination company handed to the Agricultural Research Service earlier this year and what has kept animal geneticist Harvey Blackburn busy every since.
That donation, given by ABS Global, almost doubled the total amount of semen in the service’s National Animal Germplasm Program.
In addition, the new samples include semen from breeds previously not in the collection.
These include several tropically adapted breeds, such as the hump-backed Gyr, South American Tabapu