As their January 1, 2019 Select Sire Power/Southeast Select Sires merger approaches, the future Premier Select Sires team prepares to better serve member-owners.
When the merger takes effect, more than 200 employees and nearly 100 independent distributers will comprise the new organization. The scope of resources available after the merger, coupled with each team member’s knowledge, expertise and passion for the industry, will allow the cooperative to strengthen its service to customers in the 23-state territory.
As a true agricultural cooperative, Premier Select Sires will be owned and controlled by the producers it serves.
“This oversight keeps our focus exactly where it belongs—on the producer,” said Mark Carpenter, future CEO of Premier Select Sires. “The larger territory will allow us to provide enhanced levels of service to our customer-owners while improving access and timely delivery of products to meet producers’ needs. Shared efficiencies across the organization will also result in added economic stability of leading genetics for our member owners.”
Premier Select Sires will offer a wide range of services, products and genetics, which customers may take advantage of individually or as part of a customizable package unique to their operation.
“We are looking forward to further strengthening relationships with our member-customers and finding ways to be even easier to do business with,” said Carpenter.
Value-Added Services
For both new and old customers, producers may elect to undergo a genetic audit.This is an in-house Premier service used to determine where a herd stands in terms of production, reproduction, health and fitness—all factors that translate to dollars earned or lost. Following the genetic audit, a Premier representative can help determine the steps necessary to reach herd goals and will offer many resources to attain those goals.
A genetic consultant will be accessible in each region of Premier Select Sires to administer Select Mating Service® (SMS®), the world’s leading corrective mating program. It includes cow-based linear evaluation, pedigree mating and walk-through genetic evaluation. It helps dairy producers control genetic recessives, haplotypes and inbreeding levels. The program also provides a means to create custom selection indexes based on customer goals to help producers develop a successful and profitable herd.
Premier will also feature a strong team of Select Reproductive Solutions® (SRS®)specialists. These individuals will provide the portfolio of reproductive services, products, programs and consultation that constitute the SRS® program. SRS specialists will also administer artificial insemination trainings for those who wish to breed their own animals.
For operations seeking a breeding service, highly trained and specialized technicians called Reproductive Service Specialists will visit. They can breed cattle on an on-call cow-by-cow basis, or they can manage the entire reproductive program of a farm on a whole-herd basis.
Premier Select Sires will extend a multitude of other services depending on the specialized needs of each operation. Specialists can introduce programs like ProfitMAX® to help customers maximize potential of herd replacements and extra calves to be sold to the beef market, StrataGEN® to minimize the impact of inbreeding, SelectCROSS® to promote successful crossbreeding, and more.
Herd Management Products
Nearly 100 herd management products will allow customers to take a well-rounded approach to raising a healthy herd. Calf and cow care, microbial and nutritional supplements, heat detection aids, udder health products, fly and parasite control, nitrogen tanks and breeding supplies are among the many products that will be available via salespeople and an online store. The Premier distribution team will analyze strategies to provide those products in a convenient, efficient and cost-effective manner.
Premier will also sell, install and service CowManager® herd monitoring systems, providing producers with the ability to continuously monitor heat, health, rumination and animal location.
Superior Genetics
As a member-cooperative of Select Sires Inc., Premier Select Sires will market industry-leading genetics with a “sire for every desire.” Premier Select Sires offers bulls from three branded lineups including Select Sires, Accelerated Genetics and GenerVations. All semen for beef and dairy breeds is produced according to rigorous quality and fertility standards. Your local sales representative can keep you informed with recent company and industry developments, while providing you with the products and genetics you need.
“Our farmer-owners give us strong direction on how we can be successful in helping them on their farms,” said Kirk Sattazahn, Director of Marketing. “I see lots of competitors offering substandard products for genetics and fertility in the marketplace right now just to say they can offer the product at a cheap price. As a true farmer-owned cooperative, Premier Select Sires has leadership directly tied to the farm that knows that cutting costs simply for the sake of cutting costs can do more harm than good. Our focus remains on delivering the best value for the customer, and any profit that we do earn gets reinvested in their business.”
