June 25, 1999

Contact:
Dr. Mervyn Jacobson, XY Inc.
0171 629 7755
Tim Heywood, Cogent
01244 622000

FIRST-EVER BIRTHS SIGNAL SUCCESS; MAJOR BENEFITS TO CATTLE WELFARE AND THE UK DAIRY INDUSTRY

CHESTER - The UK's first-ever birth of female calves whose sex was determined before conception using artificial insemination signals the success of a new breeding method expected to completely change the dairy industry and dramatically reduce the number of unwanted male dairy calves.
      This new method will result in two major welfare advantages as well as significant benefits in the management and breeding of dairy cattle. Using this new breeding method every calf born will be wanted. Secondly, because female calves are smaller than male calves at birth, first-time calving is easier and difficult calvings are much reduced.
      A 1997 study titled, "Report on the Welfare of Dairy Cattle" by the Farm Animal Welfare Council recommended "Éthe sexing of semen should be used to reduce the number of unwanted male dairy calvesÉ"
      The historic late-May born calves, announced by the UK breeding company Cogent and American firm XY Inc., are the first in the world, outside of the USA, to be born using sorted semen in conjunction with the cost-effective artificial insemination technique.
      Sorted semen is semen that has been sorted to carry either female-producing X chromosomes or male-producing Y chromosomes.
      Dairy farmer Paul Moore commented, "Sorted semen available through artificial insemination is something farmers have wanted for many years. It will reduce the number of unwanted bull calves and difficult calvings."
      The breakthrough births of Charity, Clover and Cloe, is timely. On July 31, government subsidies of more than £28 million ($42 million-U.S.) that compensate dairy farmers for unwanted male calves each year are scheduled to permanently end.
     " The loss of these significant subsidies will be difficult for dairy farmers," said Tim Heywood, managing director of Cogent.
      Cogent and XY Inc. expect to commercialize sex-selection combined with artificial insemination in the next two to three years. "It's much closer than farmers think," Heywood added. "When this happens, it will significantly reduce the number of unwanted calves."
      Heywood also noted, "Using this method to select for female calves makes the calving process much easier for cows, especially those calving for the first time as female calves are usually smaller and easier to deliver."
     " The success of Cogent's field trials certainly is a first for the UK, and we fully expect commercialization of XY Inc.'s procedure will revolutionize herd management by improving breeding efficiency and herd quality in addition to animal-welfare benefits," said Mervyn Jacobson, chief executive officer and president of XY Inc., headquartered in Colorado.
      XY Inc., is the only company in the world licensed to pursue sperm sorting in non-human mammals using U.S. Department of Agriculture methods.
      Using a high-speed cell-sorting machine called a MoFlo, XY Inc. and Cogent researchers separate sperm that carry the X chromosome and produce females from sperm that carry the Y chromosome and produce males. High concentrations of sperm with the selected chromosome are then used to fertilize female animals. The sorting technique has a 90 percent accuracy rate.
     " Breeders in the dairy industry want three outcomes: female calves for herd replacements, female calves for milk production, and trouble-free heifer calvings" Jacobson said. "Today, if farmers need to replace 30 percent of the herd each year, then 60 percent of the cows must be pregnant for the sole purpose of replacing and updating the herd quality. It's a very inefficient system."
     " Using artificial insemination and sorted semen together, every pregnancy can be a valued pregnancy," Jacobson added.
      XY Inc. already as had great success combining artificial insemination and sorted semen in the United States, where XY Inc. has produced hundreds of pregnancies and healthy calves.
     " Because of our strong track record in this field, XY Inc. and Cogent will be able to bring the artificial-insemination technique using sorted semen to market - much sooner than originally projected by industry experts," Jacobson said.
     " Artificial insemination with sorted semen is what farmers want. Being frozen will make it as versatile as the semen presently used with artificial insemination", he concluded.