Ten days after the announcement of a merger between two of the top dairy cattle genetics companies, representatives say that some things will be changing, while others will stay the same, at least for now.
“Until a long-term strategy is in place, our brand is going to continue,” Angie Lindloff, Accelerated Genetics’ vice president of marketing communications, told Progressive Dairyman. Select Sires Inc. announced plans to acquire the assets of the Baraboo, Wisconsin-based bull stud on June 13.
This means that the Accelerated Genetics name and brand will carry forward, as will the 014 NAAB stud code number, both of which are highly recognized throughout the U.S., but also in international markets such as Latin America. The animal health products line will continue to be available under its original brand name and distributed through Select Sires.
According to Select Sires’ director of communications, Shirley Kaltenbach, dairy farmers can expect sales representatives to offer semen from both cooperatives. “We will continue operating as we are with one sire directory for each organization, at least until a long-term plan is established,” she said.
Though details are yet to be determined, Lindloff foresees Select Sires maintaining producer programs, scholarships, internships and support for dairy judging and dairy challenge events. She added that the 24th annual Accelerated Genetics intercollegiate dairy cattle judging contest is still set to take place on Sept. 17 in Viroqua, Wisconsin.
Both Lindloff and Kaltenbach assured that merging resources means more offerings for dairy farmers. “Our genetic strength together is valuable to our customers and members,” Lindloff said. “The exciting part of all of this is the sky is the limit on what we can offer.”
While the transition may be less noticeable to dairy customers, some cooperative employees will be affected. “This decision was to help the majority of employees and individual sales reps,” Lindloff said. “There may be people who decide they don’t want to be part of it, but we are trying to do the best for most people.”
Both companies assure that the goal is to work with each employee, individually, to help offer a sense of security while making sound business decisions through the merger. Details about which employees would remain with the company are still forthcoming.
While the news of this merger may have taken some by surprise, Lindloff said the conversation has been on the table for a while as the cooperative faced the challenges brought on by rising costs, sexed semen and genomics. “Our board of directors has been looking for quite some time for a partner to make sure our employees and customers and members have a good solid future,” Lindloff said.
“While some look at mergers as a bad thing, we are coming together with common entities, and we are becoming stronger,” she added. In fact, the two cooperatives had entered a joint venture in 2001 with World Wide Sires Ltd., the international marketing arm for both brands in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania.
Lindloff explained that the boards of directors for both cooperatives have already voted in favor of the acquisition, but “per bylaws, delegates have the final say.” Accelerated Genetics will hold a delegate meeting on June 22, and based off of their vote, the acquisition will happen on June 30.
“That will be the ‘close of sale,’” Lindloff added. “At that time, Select Sires Inc. will purchase the assets of Accelerated Genetics and all of the sales reps will be migrated into the geographic location of the nine different Select Sires cooperatives across the U.S.” 
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Peggy Coffeen
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- Progressive Dairyman
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PHOTO: Photo courtesy of Select Sires/Accelerated Genetics.
