Igenity???

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Santas and Duhram Reds

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www.missourimeadows.com
I got a call this morning from a guy who represents Igentity ( a competitor of Bovigen). He is supposed to come out and talk about the services he provides. My question is, has anyone heard of this group? He said he is based out of Mid-Missouri and they focus on Bos Indicus cattle.
 
it may be igenity. I just assumed they were playing off the word identity over the phone. My concern is if they compete with Bovigen/Genestar, then why use them instead of Genestar since most people know them but may not know igenity.
 
Santas and Duhram Reds":2ry878pk said:
I wonder why he told me they are focusing on Bos Indicus cattle?
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Perhaps a good salesman knows the type of cattle you run?

I have no input or information but I am interested in this. Please let us know the results.
 
I used them for the DNA work on one of my calves recently. Nice folks, responded really quickly to my email questions/called back promptly, very willing to help, not everyone actually was knowledgable enough to help (they couldn't decide what type of sample I needed to send them, and I was about ready to ship the calf and let them take whatever part(s) they needed for the test! :lol2:), it did take awhile before I got results but they were very clear and easy to understand when they came.

Apparently they have DNA profiles on record for most all the Select Sires bulls, so if you need to verify the sire of a possible-SS calf they're the (only?) company to go to.
 
We've done two shows with Igenity, they are now owned by schering-plough(Clariton the consumer allergy medication, Tough acting Tinacton althlete's foot medication.) My experience in dealing with them has been great. Anyway here's the two shows we've done with Igenity about deworming.

Internal Parasites(this is a year or two old)
http://www.24-7agtv.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=0&id=69

Safeguard and the Cattle Industry(brand new)
http://www.24-7agtv.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=0&id=65
 
GeneStar only gives you Feed Efficiency, Tenderness and Marbling.. they show you in "stars" how the animal rates. More stars the better.

Igenity has much more information in their DNA profiles... Calving ease, Stayability, %choice, etc. etc. etc. When we bought our bull, the bull test had Igenity tested most of the bulls and it was a great "tool" for comparing (not to be used as the sole purpose of selection). Also, Igenity will do parentage verification which we also had to have to get our bull listed as an approved AI sire.

Both GeneStar and Igenity test the same way. They send you test "kits" for free. Then it costs you for each animal you test. The kit consists of a sticker-type deal where you place tail hairs that you've pulled from the animal. Both are well-known DNA tests and can be a great tool for planning matings..
 
I actually would go to igenity first and considered testing all my replacements this year but did not.

Igenity will also do a BVD PI test as part of their service.

At some point in the near future we are going to begin DNA testing of our breeding stock. If I started today it would be igenity but I am under the impression that big changes are coming in what will be avialble in DNA testing.

The dairy industry is light years ahead of the beef industry in DNA testing and some of that technology may spill over to us before too long.

the testing is not cheap and I am waiting to try to get the most bang for my limited bucks.
 
Dun,

below is a section of a message from an e-mail exchange I had with them several months ago when i was making inquiries.

It is dated information so not portryed as current or accurate.

We do BVD PI testing on our calves and my question was two fold. What is the cost of the complete workup on project 8 keeper calves and what would it cost just to do the BVD PI on the feeder calves.

The only problem with your request is that I do not offer BVD PI as a stand-alone service, but only as an add-on for animals that are getting the IGENITY Profile. I do not want to be in competition with the local vets or state diagnostic labs for the basic service of BVD PI testing – so you would need to send the samples that do not get the IGENITY Profile to your state lab, and the 8 that you do want Profiled to IGENITY. You will get the complete profile with BVD PI on those 8. The cost for those 8 is $37.50ea, plus the cost of the collection tag. I do not know if your state lab will accept samples in the collection device. Most do not, as they have no way to remove them from the device (we have designed and patented a machine/method for automated sample extraction, though they could do it manually if they wanted to).



Sorry that I can’t do just the BVD PI on those animals, but my business is not set-up that way. I would be happy to do the IGENITY Profile, plus BVD PI on any animals that you are considering as replacement stock.
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I got presented with a ton of info. to read yesterday. I will post again later once I have read it. They are owned by Merial (makers of Ivomec). The animals are rated on a scale 1-10. The categories include Residual Feed Intake, Dry Matter Intake, Tenderness, Marbling Score, Quality Grade, Yield Grade, HCW, BF, Ribeye area, Heifer Pregnancy Rate, Stayability, Maternal Calving Ease, and Docility. It seems they have several more markers identified than Genestar.

They also can test animals using an ear tag system that collects a sample of blood. He said it was easier and more accurate than the tail hair sample.

$38 will get the results for all of the tests except the Efficiency results. To get them you have to fork over an additional $30.

Overall, I like what I heard and am seriously considering using them, but fear that Genestar has made such an impact in the biz. that if I were to present Igenity numbers people wouldn't understand them or would still go with a genestar animal b/c it was what they are used to or trust.

One more thing, he said that the reason why he said they are "focusing" on eared cattle is b/c they have identified more markers for Bos Indicus cattle but Bos Taurus cattle will soon be available at the same level. He recommended that I wait on testing any animal with less than 3/8 Brahman blood if I wanted the same results that I would get on my fullbloods.
 
that is only a tiny bit higher than I was priced several months ago.

the ear sample is actually a tissue punch and not a blood sample.

An option is to tag with and RFID tag and take the sample all in one operation. then your animal is RFID tagged and the sample is coded with that ID.
 

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