Neogen Corp. has announced the availability of new genomic tests that offer commercial dairy producers essential information on the genetic potential of replacement dairy heifers – at a lower cost. Merck Animal Health will market these new testing options as part of the strategic agreement between Merck and Neogen.

Neogen’s revised Igenity-Select and new Igenity-Essential testing options are the latest additions to the Igenity Dairy Heifer Program, which reveals an animal’s genetic potential well before breeding. The new tests use an improved low-density chip with new custom content, and are available at costs that will allow dairy producers to gain a greater return on investment from wider use of heifer genomic profiling.

The new tests can be performed soon after a calf is born, and represent another tool in the decision-making process for breeding and heifer selection. The new options include:

  • Igenity-Select
    • This test is powered by the company’s low-density chip, with new custom content validated and tested by the USDA-AGIL, and provides USDA-CDCB results consisting of an evaluation of a heifer on over 45 select traits.
  • Igenity-Essential
    • This test uses the same low-density chip, but doesn’t require a dairyman to provide the information necessary to nominate an animal for the USDA program. This test’s results are ideal for simple heifer sorting and includes an evaluation on 15 essential traits.

Results from genomic tests can deliver reliable genomic projections on several different variables. This includes health traits such as net merit, pregnancy rate, productive life in months and somatic cell score.

For more information, visit the Neogen website. PD

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—From Neogen Corp. news release