“By uniting two of the most forward-thinking businesses in the cattle industry, we will help ensure that meat and milk are viable and competitive food choices for generations to come,” Dr. Alan Barton, chairman of the board for Vytelle, stated in a press release.
Kerryann Kocher has been named Vytelle’s new chief executive officer, bringing decades of experience in animal health, feed ingredients and protein production to the company. Kocher started her career with Elanco Animal Health and went on to work with Bayer Animal Health before launching her own business, Rock Road Consulting.
“With the world literally hungry for protein, and the recognition that our industry must meet rising food demand while reducing resource intensity, there is a clear need to integrate precision livestock technologies and support our customers in their production of sustainably sourced meat and milk,” said Kocher.
The merger will combine GrowSafe’s proprietary efficiency database with the newest IVF technology, so cattle producers will have a quicker turnaround on converting individual animal performance data into genetic progress.
"Identifying resource-efficient animals is a key challenge for cattle producers, and breeding to perpetuate resource-efficient traits in a far shorter timespan than traditional methods improves producer profitability and sustainability,” Kocher continued. “Our goal at the new Vytelle is to close the feedback loop between genotype and phenotype, helping beef and dairy producers fast-forward generational advances by matching genetic traits to optimal outcomes for our customers and the environment; developing new capabilities to make this a reality is the major focus of our R&D program.”
Both Vytelle and GrowSafe are owned by UK-based Wheatsheaf Group.
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Carrie Veselka
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- Progressive Cattle
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