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DAIRY COMMUNITY MOURNS LOSS OF STEVE SCHNELL
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teve Schnell, former Genex Vice President of Dairy Cattle Genetics, passed away March 29 after a valiant five year battle with brain cancer. Steve was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a master’s in dairy genetics. He joined Genex (then called 21st Century Genetics) on January 1, 1986. His research was an excellent fit for Genex as it dealt with linear conformation traits. Steve had also distinguished himself placing in the top 15 in three different national dairy judging competitions. Steve’s first position of Genex Dairy Programs Specialist contained a wide range of dairy genetic responsibilities. In two years, he was promoted to Acquisition Specialist. Four years later, Steve was promoted to Sire Sampling Manager. The task of progeny testing coordination and coordinating in-house research became his responsibilities. In this time, he quickly became a “go to” person in genetics. He was street smart, technically bright and very logical in his approach.
On June 1, 1999, Steve was named Vice President of Dairy Cattle Genetics. In this position, he became world renown for managing one of the largest dairy genetic programs in the world. It was during this time that Steve advanced the female genetic program, GENESIS, to global prominence. Steve contributed to many innovations at Genex. Well-known in the industry was the in-house development of two fertility rankings – GenCheck™ and SynchSmart™. Steve also developed in-house visionary genetic selection indexes that proved to be a key to Genex product leadership. When Steve was chairman of the industry’s NAAB sire evaluation committee, he played the leadership role of U.S. genomic programming, one of the greatest technologies in U.S. dairy genetic history. Steve was an author of numerous articles, but was especially popular as a U.S. and global speaker on dairy genetic issues. His style of communicating a difficult topic in a very understandable manner was appreciated by all.
CRI PURCHASES MEXICAN A.I. COMPANY
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RI has purchased Reproducción Animal S.A. de C.V. (RASA) of Tlalnepantla, Mexico. The new entity, CRI Reproducción Animal México, markets beef and dairy genetics throughout Mexico.
“For 40 years, RASA was a successful leading cattle genetics provider in Mexico. Year after year, the organization has also been among CRI’s top semen distributors,” shares Huub te Plate, CRI Vice President of International Marketing. “Building on that past success and strong relationship, I am proud to announce that CRI Mexico has become the fourth CRI-owned retail business abroad alongside CRI South Africa, CRI Brazil and Canada.” The expansion of CRI business ownership means new opportunities in a country where producers already understand the value of artificial insemination and superior genetics. “Over the years, RASA made valuable contribution to the Mexican cattle industry through the supply of high-quality genetics and education of decision makers on the CRI México farm,” notes te Plate. “This Reproducción Animal aligns well with CRI strategy, philosophy and history.” Humberto Sanchez, General Manager of CRI México, remarks further on the potential within the Mexican cattle industry. “Mexico is a milk importing country with a strong projected population growth calling for increased domestic milk production. Use of A.I. in beef breeds is also on the rise and will continue to increase along with demand for beef products worldwide.” ©2013 CRI
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Since September 2009, Steve has been a consultant to the Genex Dairy Genetics and Global Alliance Development staff. During a 28-year career, Steve left his footprint on dairy cattle breeding for Genex, the United States and around the globe. Dairy geneticists at most universities from around the world and his competitive peers recognized Steve as one of the giants in applying population genetics and then leading the innovation to genomic technology.
SORT, FIND AND COMPARE
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