May is ‘Kansas Beef Month,’ proclaimed by Gov. Kelly

Honoring the Kansas beef industry and the farmers and ranchers who strive daily to raise higher-quality and lower cost beef worldwide, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly proclaimed the month of May as “Kansas Beef Month, while touring Cross Country Genetics in Westmoreland, Kan., Wednesday, May 10.  As she visited a genetics vet clinic located just northeast of Manhattan, Kan., the governor was joined by members of the Kansas Department of Agriculture and others from the agriculture community.

“As we celebrate Beef Month, I want to thank all of the farmers and ranchers for the dedication they show to the Kansas beef industry. They are driving Kansas agriculture into the future,” Gov. Kelly said.

Beef cattle contribute nearly $13 billion annually to the Kansas economy, and the beef industry is the largest agricultural sector in Kansas. Gov. Kelly visited the genetics clinic to highlight the increasingly important role of cattle genetics in the Kansas $1.8 billion international beef export market.

Cross Country Genetics has been doing the collection and transfer of conventional embryos and IVF (In Vitro fertilization) for 40 years. They also work with specialists at Kansas State University’s purebred beef barn, and they do all their collections and embryo transfers. Anybody can also work with their services.

Having the governor visit was invaluable.

“I thought it was a really good opportunity to showcase what we do and what our clients do at Cross Country Genetics. What we do here, we’ll take a cow considered donor cow that has superior genetics to pass along. And instead of the cow having one calf a year, she’s able to have multiple calves using this technology,” said Kaitlin Houck, embryologist with Cross Country Genetics.

With their clinic in Westmoreland and another satellite clinic in Crescent, Okla., they’re able to conduct much of their work on their clients’ farms. They cover Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and the Texas Panhandle. 

FAMILY BUSINESS

Most of their work is on-farm. Cross Country Genetics is a family owned and operated company. 

“Everyone here has a very close relationship; we spend a lot of time together and it’s a close-knit group. We have three full-time vets, and another doctor who does all the IVF, with a staff of 13 including a donor manager who takes care of in-house donors, and nine embryologists who travel around with the vets and do microscope work for collection and processing of embryos,” Houck said.

The technologies used at Cross Country Genetics enable beef producers to maximize the genetic potential of their herd while increasing beef production and quality.

“Cross Country Genetics is proof that right here in Kansas, we are advancing technology that results in higher-quality and lower-cost beef for people around the world,” Kelly said. 

The Kansas Agriculture Secretary also spoke.

“Kansas beef leads the nation and the world in raising high-quality beef cattle and continues to expand the industry with innovative beef genetic advancements,” said Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam, in a statement. “I’m proud of the tremendous impact that the beef industry has in local communities across the state, and we all appreciate the contribution it makes to the state’s economy every year.”

For information about Cross Country Genetics, call (785) 457-3336.