North West
Livestock, Breeding stock and genetics

Cogent Breeding Ltd

Cogent are the leading exponent of bovine sexed semen technology, exporting products to more than 40 countries around the world.

Offering a selection of world class Dairy and Beef sires to suit all requirements, genomic testing, mating programmes and the leading sexed semen product on the market, SexedULTRA 4M. Cogent offers the complete range of solutions to deliver improvement on farm and strive to bring innovation to breeding.

The World-renowned livestock reproduction and bovine technology giants ST Genetics became majority stakeholder of Cogent Breeding in October 2017. Since, Cogent have not only increased its global network of bulls by gaining a new line-up, but also obtained skills, expertise and technology, to expand the sorting laboratory in Cheshire to become the largest in Europe. Not only do they offer world class products but also specialise in delivering an excellent service to each customer to suit individual needs.

Through breeding programmes, the application of pioneering sexed semen technology and a complete fertility management service, Cogent specialise in improving the efficiency of dairy and beef production systems across the globe.

Cogent remains driven to offering genetic based solutions to farmers that help to drive on-farm profitability. Thanks to ground-breaking Research and Development, Cogent are proud to offer the largest range of sexed Holstein genetics on the market, with 100% of the Holstein catalogue bulls available in SexedULTRA 4M and an expanding proportion available in High Purity. Not only this, but with nine dairy breeds on offer from Ayrshire to Jersey, as well as specialist sires selected for the grazing market, Cogent offer a wide range of top-quality proven sires, and an impressive selection of elite genomic sires.

Our proven beef breeding programme, The Cogent Beef Impact index gives financial values to two key traits in beef cross calves: ease of management and market value. Combining both financial indices gives an overall value which represents the monetary benefit that using that sire could add to each calf born. Cogent continues to provide high volumes of beef semen for use in dairy herds. With data collected through our in-house Beef Visions Programme, our customers have the confidence to select proven beef genetics to save money with reduced calving difficulties and by adding value to beef calves.

Cogent uses more quality control in the semen sexing process than any other stud in the world. In total we use seven tests on the semen; all bar one is post thaw to take into account the effects of freezing and thawing on the semen. These tests include, looking at morphological defects, proportion of dead sperm in the sample, sperm membrane integrity and fertilisation ability. Our QC process ensures the purity of our proven sexed semen product SexedULTRA 4M and High Purity, confirming that the maximum number of female cells make it into our products!

Offering over 90% gender accuracy SexedULTRA 4M is the management tool modern dairy farmers have been searching for across generations, offering over 90% gender accuracy and conception rates achievable on a par with conventional semen, proven by over 42,000 UK cows and heifers. The quality of the product is down to the new Gen3 sorting machines installed in the Beachin lab and the rigorous Quality Control checking that takes place before a product is deemed fit for consumers.