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Bringing the industry together at the 2025 Semex International Dairy Conference

It’s “As One Together” at the 2025 Semex International Dairy Conference, which will be held between the 12th and 14th January 2025, at its usual home of The Radisson Blu hotel in Glasgow., Scotland

Chairperson for the event is Minette Batters, Baroness Batters, British farmer, former NFU President and Member of The House of Lords. Minette will manage the proceedings and keep the impressive line-up of speakers on their toes, ensuring they come together to inspire, inform, challenge and entertain.

The speakers, from end to end of the food supply chain, will share their experience, views, plans and outlook for the future of UK dairying.

Speakers include:

From the farm and parlour ‘coal face’ of practical production:
JEREMY BERGEN, US dairy farmer from New York State;
KEITH GUE, UK dairy farmer, West Sussex;
ED TOWERS, UK dairy farmer from Lancaster.
On the market and trade
MICHAEL MASTERS, Barbers Cheesemakers;
CHRIS WALKLAND, Journalist, Commentator and Market Analyst
Tackling the challenges:
SARAH TOMLINSON, Lead Veterinary Science Expert, AHDB;
HELEN DENT, Kite Consulting
STUART ROBERTS, UK Farmer and lead adviser to the Liberal Democrats Party
Providing a UK & Global perspective;
MATT MCREADY, CEO, Semex Alliance;
GRAHAM WILKINSON, CEO AHDB;
HAYLEY CAMPBELL-GIBBONS, CEO, RABDF

Reaching the end consumer:
GEMMA NICHOLAS, Coca Cola Company
DAVID READ, Chairman, Prestige Purchasing

“The Semex Conference is always a fantastic and positive way to start the New Year,” says Michael Dennison, Semex UK’s National Sales Manager. “Once again, we are looking forward to welcoming our strong line up of speakers, and to having the opportunity to catch-up with friends and colleagues. The Semex conference has the best mix of business, socialising, networking and entertainment in the industry.”

Minette Batters comments, “I’m ... Read More...

The August proof run sees Semex UK take the No.2 position on both the UK Available Proven and Genomic PLI rankings, with Cookiecutter HOLYSMOKES, £797 PLI and his son T-Spruce HARMONY, £934 PLI respectively. A new entrant, HARMONY has 1,083 KGS Milk, 77.8kg CFP together with a daughter fertility score of +11.7. His credentials get even stronger with an Immunity score of 105 and Methane Efficiency Score of 109. “It is gratifying to see both HOLYSMOKES and HARMONY’s results in this proof run. Semex is committed to delivering genetics that offer tangible benefits to our customers, and the performance of our bulls in this proof run is testament to the consistency of our breeding programme”, says Owain Harries, General Manager, Semex UK. 3 Star OH RANGER RED is the No.1 PLI available proven Red sire with a PLI £661 and 725 KGS Milk. With an initial International daughter proof, he currently has an 82% GP or better score in Canada. He continues to excel on Immunity, a trait he is consistently passing on to his offspring, with many of his sons also boasting impressive Immunity scores. Another HOLYSMOKES son, Progenesis PINEAPPLE continues to rank well on the UK Available Genomic list as he comes in the top 25 for PLI at £843 and is No.6 for Protein Kg at 41kg. New to the stud is, an exciting Ladys-Manor OVERDO son, Adaway FAYETTE who has debuted with an impressive production proof with 922Kgs Milk, 77 Kgs CFP, positive F% & P%. deviation. Owain continues, “We are excited about this outcross bull who is sure to blend into any UK farm breeding programme”. On the Type rankings. AOT HAMPSHIRE tops the Available Holstein Genomic list at 3.1 TM closely followed by Ranger-Red son Mystique ANIMATION at 2.73TM. Owain concludes, “The August proofs have returned a huge choice of Semex bulls for UK farmers, many with daughters delivering on UK farms".
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The date is set for the 2025 Semex International Dairy Conference. Held once again in its usual home of The Radisson Blu hotel in Glasgow, the Conference will take place between the 12th and 14th January 2025. “It may seem like a long way off, but the planning is well underway for the 2025 Semex Conference which is always a fantastic and positive way to start the New Year,” says Michael Dennison, Semex UK’s National Sales Manager. “Save the date and join us in Glasgow when our fabulous industry comes together, As One to inform, challenge and inspire one another”, concludes Michael.
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A UK proof means UK daughters in UK conditions and is proof that a bull is delivering in the UK. Seven Semex sires contribute to the top ten UK Proven PLI rankings, with 3,833 UK milking daughters between them averaging 92% reliability, proving yet again that under UK conditions Semex sires thrive.
Westcoast ALCOVE, Silverridge V EINSTEIN, Westcoast RIVER, Wisselview WAVELENTGH, Westcoast GUARANTEE, Westcoast YAMASKA and Pine-Tree-I PURSUIT make up this seven.
“At Semex we select sires to breed healthy robust cattle suitable for any system irrespective of size, and it’s how they perform in the parlour that matters, so naturally we are delighted to see daughters of these great sires doing so well in farms throughout the UK”, said Owain Harries, General Manager, Semex UK.
Standout sires are:
Westcoast ALCOVE – This bull is all about production with 1,158 Kg’s Milk, 91.7 Kgs CFP, 0.06% Fat and 0.02% Protein. He is an A2A2 Sire and scores 101 for Methane Efficiency.
Five of the top six sires for UK Proven Lifespan are from the Semex stud with the No.1 slot going to the global superstar, Pine-Tree-I PURSUIT, at 232 days and excels for health with a Healthy cows score of 275.
On daughter Fertility, Semex is home to seven out of the top 10 on the Holstein UK active sire list with Coyne-Farms JABIR taking the top spot at 23.7 and a further 19 sires that score over +10.
New to the stud is Mystique ANIMATION, an exciting Immunity+ son of 3 Star Oh- RANGER RED who also boasts a Methane Efficiency score of 104. Owain continues, “We are confident that with these breed leading traits, Animation will deliver similar value to our UK customers as our current proven superstars have”.
When it comes to Immunity, Semex now have over 92 bulls in the UK that have returned an Immunity score of 100+, 86 have a Methane Efficiency score over 100 and 87 have a Feed Efficiency score over 100.
“Selecting for sustainability has never been more achievable with the ... Read More...

SEMEX UK LAUNCHES NEW ACTIVITY HERD MONITORING SYSTEM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DATAMARS LIVESTOCK

Semex UK is excited to announce a new partnership with Datamars Livestock™ in the UK. Datamars has developed award-winning farming technologies for over 50 years, with the core belief of providing a measurable difference to the lives of their customers.

Semex’s renowned ai24® program will now be powered by Datamars Livestock in the UK giving UK dairy farms the industry’s most accurate and reliable option in heat and health monitoring.

"Datamars Livestock’s activity monitoring offers a fully-automated, plug and play system that is easy to install and maintain,” says Owain Harries, General Manager, Semex UK. “We have the most experience of any genetic company in this realm, and we know that dairies need solutions that helps focus their time and resources on the cows that truly need attention. The Datamars Livestock product does all the things expected in this kind of system, monitoring rumination, feeding, resting, standing, lying and other activities automatically. Most importantly though, Datamars Livestock shares Semex’s philosophy of offering unparalleled service and support to our customers. Providing best in class service is our number one priority and Datamars Livestock delivers.”

“Partnering with Semex and playing an integral role within their ai24 program, is an excellent opportunity to further deliver and generate on-farm value for our producers. Datamars Livestock’s cloud-based platform and connected ecosystem, is a market-leading solution designed to work with, and for, farmers to improve animal and farm business outcomes. We are fully committed to ensuring our solutions include unparalleled service and support so the full value of the technology on farm can be realized; Datamars Livestock powering ai24 further strengthens that value for everyone,” says Ben Hogg, Commercial General Manager, Datamars UK.

An industry leader in ... Read More...

As social and political pressure continues focusing on agriculture, Semex is increasing the positive contribution breeding can make with a genetic solution to one of the world's largest environmental problems - methane. From April 2023 every dairy producer in the world will now have the chance to assess, monitor and ultimately reduce cow methane emissions, exclusively by using Elevate - Semex’s genomic test.

Semex scientists have been working with Lactanet (Canada’s milk recording and genetic evaluation company) to find a genetic solution to methane emissions, explains Dr Michael Lohuis, Semex Vice President Research and Innovation. “For over five years Canada's milk recording organizations, now under Lactanet, collected over 13 million milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy records. Over seven hundred thousand first lactation MIR records were analyzed by Lactanet geneticists in order to predict methane emissions for milk-recorded cows across Canada. The results showed that you can substantially reduce methane emissions with genetic selection.”

The scientists found that there was an 85% correlation between collected methane and predicted methane, with the conclusion being that there is a genetic way to lower methane. This is because the genetics of the cow also has an impact on methane production in the rumen, as well as the microbes.

The trait is 23% heritable, which is comparable to production and immune response with 70% reliability. Overall Semex estimate a 20-30% reduction in methane production by 2050 depending on the selection intensity.

“This is really significant,” says Dr Lohuis. “We know that genetics has a major role to play in reducing emissions because it is the main way dairy farmers can produce ‘more outputs from fewer inputs with less emissions’. But this new technology takes the contribution from genetics to the next level.”

Semex and Lactanet are now bringing the technology to market on a global front, with ... Read More...

A decade after the introduction of Immunity+, based on the ground-breaking high immune response technology, Semex is taking the brand’s health-boosting capability to the next generation by rating every sire in the stud with its own Immunity index, and by also introducing a Calf Immunity Index to better facilitate sire choices to improve disease resistance in calves.
The net result will be greater clarity on which bulls are the best at siring daughters with the greatest resistance to disease. Previously only the elite sires for Immunity were badged as being Immunity+. Now, giving full transparency through the stud, every bull will get their own score. This will introduce more intra-bull competition into the programme by effectively ensuring every Immunity+ sire has to requalify for the status at each proof run. This means some sires may lose their Immunity+ rankings as a result, and new ones will qualify, but that is the nature of genetic selection, says Drew Sloan, Vice President, Corporate Development.
“Years of research, based on over 300,000 animals, has culminated in the Immunity Index. For the last decade dairy farmers have - uniquely with Semex - been able to build immunity into their breeding goals by using Immunity+ sires, but now with an easily interpretable index they can take it to the next level, and the true impact of immunity can be better understood”.
The new Immunity Index is generated by a new specially developed machine learning algorithm, developed by Dr Steven Larmer, Semex. The objective of the development has been to take the best available global data on health traits and alongside Immunity+ technology enabling the firm’s geneticists to better predict bulls that will sire daughters with the lowest risk of disease, and the lowest disease cost. The new Calf Immunity Index is calculated with a higher proportion of CMIR [cell-mediated immune response] as opposed to AMIR [antibody-mediated immune response], because CIMR is better for ... Read More...

Save the date for the Semex International Dairy Conference 2023

Planning for the 2023 Semex Conference is well underway, as the company announces the dates for their annual conference. Held in its usual home in Glasgow, the event will take place from Sunday 15th to Tuesday 17th January 2023, and as usual will help set the tone for the dairy sector for the coming year.

After two years of having to cancel the event due to Covid-19, Semex is looking forward to welcoming delegates to Glasgow once again for the unrivalled mix of business and pleasure, which is the Semex International Dairy Conference.

“We are excited about the 2023 Conference as we look forward to welcoming new and familiar faces to Glasgow to what we hope will be a fantastic event. With the title ‘Think Outside The Bottle” the Conference promises to present, debate and discuss the many issues facing our industry today”, says Michael Dennison, Semex UK’s National Sales Manager.

Stuart Roberts, Conference Chair says, “The Semex Conference is always a fantastic and positive way to start the New Year. After the turbulence of the last 2 years, I am really looking forward to being part of the 2023 Conference and the opportunity it will give us all to catch up with friends and colleagues.”

Michael Dennison concludes, “Be sure to save the dates and we look forward to being in Glasgow in January 2023.”


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The December UK proof run has positioned Semex on the number one spot across the spectrum of lists and once again demonstrating their ability to provide a stud of wide-ranging bulls, suitable for all UK dairy producers.

On the AHDB Holstein Proven PLI listings, Semex is once again home to the No.1 PLI bull, WESTCOAST YAMASKA who retains his position with a PLI of £748, closely followed by SANDY-VALLEY AFTERBURNER, WESTCOAST GUARANTEE and VIEW-HOME LITTLEROCK.

Moreover, according to HUKI’s UK top proven bulls, 8 out of the top 10 top-ranking bulls on daughter fertility are from the Semex stud positioning them as the go to stud for one of the most important traits in the breed.

Owain Harries, International Sales Manager comments, “YAMASKA is undoubtedly the star with his daughters proving to be strong and wide, with exceptional locomotion, and at 1.51 UKTM he is amongst the highest Type options within the Top 10 PLI bulls.

“With daughter fertility being such an important factor in bull choice today, it is encouraging to see that Semex meet this demand, with 8 out of the top 10 UK daughter proven bulls on daughter fertility rankings available from the Semex stud,” adds Owain.

Topping the International Proven (proof based on international daughters) is GEN-I-BEQ ATTICO RED with TM of +3.52. He is joined by four of his stable mates who rank in the top 10 for Type.

Newly proven OH-RIVER-SYC CRUSHABULL has made his debut on the proven lists with 266 type daughters. He comes in at No.6 on the International Proven rankings and No.4 for Mammary score.

Owain says, “Crushabull sires flashy, stylish daughters and is unique in the high type rankings in that they don’t have high pins or straight legs”.

Joining the Semex stud is Genomic sire JIMTOWN NASHVILLE who takes the No.1 position for TM with 3.21. Also debuting this month are full brothers WINSTAR GRAZIANO and WINSTAR GREYCUP reserving No.3 and No.5 position in the Genomic ... Read More...

Semex is deeply disappointed to announce the cancellation of the Semex International Dairy Conference in January 2022 but the safety of our speakers, delegates and staff and that of the hotel staff are our highest concern. Whilst disheartened, we are still looking forward to welcoming you to Glasgow in brighter times. We will be back. #TheTimeIsNotNow ---------------- Semex has announced the speaker line-up for The 2022 Semex Conference, to be held in its usual home in Glasgow from Sunday 9th to Tuesday 11th January 2022. As is now customary the conference will kick start the dairy sector calendar and look ahead to what might be in store for the year. Michael Dennison, National Sales Manager, Semex UK says, “We are looking forward to hosting the 2022 Conference and we are delighted that our speaker line up is so strong. There is a lot to cover in 2 days and we have secured the industry’s top experts to inform, inspire and challenge our delegates. ‘The Time Is Now” Conference will bring together the following: All about milk: • PETER GIORTZ-CARLSEN – EVP Europe & Member of Executive Board, Arla Foods will share his insights on the trends for healthy and sustainable fast-moving consumer goods and the development in e-commerce; • CHRIS WALKLAND - Journalist, Commentator and Market Analyst, who will reveal the milk market prospects for the year ahead: good or bad; • DOMINIC BROWN - Business Unit Director at Kantar Worldpanel, shares insights in understanding consumers and their buying behaviour in the dairy sector. Dairy Trade and Industry • NICK VON WESTENHOLZ – Director or Trade and Business Strategy, NFU and manages the NFU’s policy work on international trade and farm business competitiveness; • DR JUDITH BRYANS - Chief Executive of Dairy UK, who will take a look at the year ahead from a policy perspective; • TIM RYCROFT – Formerly at the Food & Drink Federation, Tim is the newly appointed CEO at AHDB. Our Planet - Our ... Read More...