The two companies announced the deal March 2.

Zoetis will pay $160 million, subject to customary closing adjustments. Neogen had previously announced it planned to divest of this side of its business.

Zoetis said in a news release the acquisition “aligns directly with Zoetis’ strategy to drive future livestock innovation through genomics.”

Neogen serves customers in about 120 countries from five laboratories in the United States, Brazil, Australia, China and the United Kingdom. It also has an office in Canada.

The news release said it is a leader in U.S. beef and dairy genomics and uses cutting-edge technology for highly accurate scalable genetic testing.

WHY IT MATTERS: Genomics has transformed breeding, particularly in the dairy sector, by accelerating genetic gains through trait selection.

Neogen intends to use the sale proceeds for debt reduction and said the genomics business generated about $90 million in sales in fiscal 2025.

“This transaction is part of the company’s strategic portfolio review and allows the company to accelerate de-leveraging and improve profitability going forward,” said chief executive officer Mike Nassif.

“Furthermore, this deal allows us to focus in areas where the company has the most significant competitive advantage and further leverage our core capabilities in food and animal safety. We are committed to a smooth transition for customers, employees and other stakeholders, and believe the business is well positioned to thrive under Zoetis’ ownership.”

Zoetis chief commercial officer Jamie Brannan said the acquisition allows the company to expand its Precision Animal Health business and adds “complementary capabilities that expand predictive insights and individualized care.”

The post Zoetis to acquire Neogen Corp. genomics business appeared first on Country Guide.

Canadian beef producers will no longer have to send samples to other countries to have genotyping done.

Read: More Agribition coverage.

GIFS and the Canadian Beef Improvement Network announced a new strategic partnership at Canadian Western Agribition. Funding for the state-of-the-art equipment came from Farm Credit Canada’s accelerated breeding program at GIFS, announced last year, and Prairies Economic Development Canada.

WHY IT MATTERS: Genotyping is expected to play a larger role in breeding improvements as the industry advances. Being able to do the work in Canada will eliminate shipment delays and extended turnaround times for testing.

CBIN’s Sandy Russell said the beef industry has been working on this for years, but in the last seven months everything came together. Until now, the tests and storage of the information have been done in the United States and Australia.

“It’s important we work with our partners around the world, but we need our data and our resources here within Canada to be able to help support Canadian beef producers to keep supporting those world class genetics, world class beef that we’re all used to,” she said.

Russell said producers have been genotyping for a long time and it’s a cost they are used to paying. A Canadian system will create efficiencies and value, she said, but not higher prices.

Genotyping isn’t likely to replace visual appraisal.

“This is one more tool to help us do a better job of predicting the production we’re going to make in the future,” she said.

GIFS chief executive officer Steven Webb agreed.

“When you look at the FCC breeding acceleration program at GIFS, it actually links the genotype or the letters and the DNA with what is actually looked at in the field — how does it perform, whether it’s a plant, a cow, a pig. It complements and augments what the phenotypes are and helps us understand what the genotypes are.”

Understanding both visual appearance and genetic makeup can help make prediction models to drive genetic gain.

GIFS’ role is to bring the technical expertise and turn the data into information producers can actually use to make decisions faster.

“Our role is kind of the trusted honest data broker and data security,” he said.

“The data that we generate can add additional value to the industry participants by being able to have it all in one place, to be able to scale it up and leverage it for new traits and technologies for the industry,” Webb said.

Sarah Van Schothorst, CEO of the Canadian Gelbvieh Association, said the partnership represents innovation that supports producers.

“Our support of CBIN reflects the shared belief that genetic progress is strongest when we work together,” she said.

“Through the strategic partnership with GIFS, CGA has access to high throughput genotyping, sovereign data storage and management and innovative advancements in data analytics.”

This will resonate throughout the sector as breeders, commercial producers and others are able to use accurate credible genetic information, she said.

Van Schothorst said having the information in Canada will eliminate risks and delays associated with cross-border shipments, ensure secure storage and management, improve decision making to align seedstock and commercial customer needs and support long-term breed management goals.

Canadian Simmental Association president Randy Noble said producers are excited about the opportunity.

“We’ve heard all the reasons why it makes sense for Canadian seed stock producers to get involved, and the value that brings us in security of data and not having to experience some of the challenges working with companies outside of Canada,” he said.

“It’s all about helping us make the decisions so that we’re confident the seed stock that we’re producing is the right product for the industry.”

There is increasing emphasis on data and how to manage and use it, and Noble said this is another step in a continuous improvement journey.

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The field is called epigenetics, and Antler Bio is one of the first companies to create a testing program to prove management-genetic interactions.

See all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

Andy Lessey, chief operating officer of Antler Bio, was at Ag in Motion 2025 as part of the Cultivator by Conexus display. Cultivator is a Saskatchewan-based technology accelerator that has a partnership with InnovateUK to have some British tech companies as part of its cohorts.

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Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison announced $3.4 million over four years to the IntegrOmes project on Tuesday.

IntegrOmes (short for Integrated Omics for Sustainable Animal Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship) is a large-scale project to advance genomics research on the University of Saskatchewan campus, including expanding capacity at the university’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, the school wrote in a November article.

Early phases of the project included lab renovations. The third phase is construction of a new “Beef Reprotech” facility, which will allow researchers to collect phenotypic (observable trait) data and genetics samples — and to sequence the entire genome of a beef cow.

The announced funding, which comes through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, will support building of the reprotech facility and the Omics Resource Centre at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

Why beef genomics research?

Genetic testing of beef cattle is limited in Canada, said Lynn Weber, the veterinary school’s association dean of research and graduate studies, in the November article.

It also relies on analysis done in the U.S. by labs that keep genetic sequencing and associated trait information proprietary.

“So we can’t re-probe when new diseases pop up, or [if] we detect problems or just want more information,” Weber said.

With the new facilities, researchers plan to establish a national genomic testing resource for beef producers to give them more better insights into herd genetics. The database would also be an open resource for scientists.

This includes sequencing the beef cattle genome and matching genes to the traits they produce.

What does this mean for producers?

The university noted a gap between how the dairy, pork and chicken sectors have used genetic testing and how it’s been used in the beef sector.

“There is a deep lag in the beef industry in terms of utilizing these genetics and genomic tools,” said Scott Wright, director of the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, in the November article.

The cost of the technologies and complexity of analytical tools was prohibitive, he added.

“We are only now getting to the point where we can analyze these very, very large data sets,” Wright said. “The technology has advanced to the point where we’re within reach of a very practical utilization and application.”

This would mean opportunities to make better choices “based on the entire genetic environment surrounding each animal,” the university said.

This could also lead to animals that are more feed-efficient, thereby requiring less forage and producing less greenhouse gas emissions.

The post Government funding boosts beef cattle genetics research at University of Saskatchewan appeared first on Country Guide.

Instead, many went to a local Indiana slaughterhouse for less than $200 each after the Chinese buyer canceled the order within a week of China implementing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. in April.

China is one of the biggest importers of American breeding pigs and other livestock genetic material such as cattle semen. These lucrative niche export markets had been growing, but dried up since U.S. President Donald Trump started a trade war with Beijing.

U.S. farmers and exporters said the dispute has already cost them millions of dollars and jeopardized prized trade relationships that took years to develop.

Long-term brand damage

Though Washington and Beijing agreed to pause tariffs last week, exporters said Trump’s unpredictable trade policy has caused their companies long-term damage and could encourage China and other major buyers to turn to foreign rivals like Denmark.

“We’ve got brand damage now. There’s not a week that goes by without clients asking what’s happening with the U.S.,” said Tony Clayton, owner of Clayton Agri-Marketing, a Missouri-based livestock exporting company.

“I don’t know how we can put this back together. This is long-term damage,” he said.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the administration was “working around the clock to secure billions of dollars in even more opportunities with our other trading partners.”

Some farmers raise pigs specifically for breeding, a niche business within the $37 billion U.S. hog industry. Farmers pay top dollar for these specialty pigs, which have favorable genetics to produce lots of healthy piglets that can eventually be processed into tasty, high-quality pork.

Lemmon, an Indiana veterinarian and farm owner, has been selling pigs worldwide for over 30 years. He said he spent more than a year working on the $2.4 million sale of the pedigreed pigs to China. He noted they were carefully bred for good health, litter size and high fat content that leads to richly marbled, tender meat when cooked.

“It’s devastating when it happens,” Lemmon said, referencing the sale he lost.

He said he plans to stay in the breeding business, and is working to rekindle the deal with his Chinese buyer during the tariff pause.

Cattle, pig genetic shipments on pause

Roughly half of the world’s pigs live on Chinese farms. The country has purchased large quantities of breeding pigs from the U.S. since an outbreak of African swine fever, a virus with a near-total fatality rate, wiped out millions of the country’s hogs in 2018.

Shipping livestock is lucrative but time-consuming. Shippers must personally fly with the animals or hire an on-board attendant who can make the rounds to keep their pricey passengers well-hydrated and comfortable during a long flight. When not working, the attendants chat with the flight crew or sometimes lie in sleeping bags next to the animals in the chilly cargo bay, exporters and farmers said.

China has also been the biggest importer of semen from U.S. dairy cows, known for producing large amounts of protein-rich milk. But “Not one unit of semen is going to China right now,” Jay Weiker, president of the National Association of Animal Breeders, said, noting China had been importing one-quarter of all U.S. cattle semen, which they use to artificially inseminate their dairy cows.

The Chinese milk industry began importing large amounts of cattle semen to improve the genetics of domestic dairy cows after a deadly scandal over contaminated milk in 2008, Weiker said. At least six children in China died and nearly 300,000 fell ill after a Chinese manufacturer added melamine, a dangerous chemical, to milk powder to make the protein levels appear higher.

Brittany Scott, owner of SMART Reproduction Services, a sheep and goat genetics company, said several foreign customers had also pulled out of deals. This left many vials of semen sitting in her Arkansas facility, frozen in tanks of liquid nitrogen and waiting for buyers. “They are eager to do their jobs,” Scott said of her male goats and sheep. “They understand the assignment and they do really well.”

However, the work of selling their product has proven harder after Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, and China retaliated.

The lost sales have been “a punch in the gut,” Scott said.

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