MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas Artificial Breeding Service Unit, based at Kansas State University, is celebrating 60 years since funds were first appropriated for it by the Kansas legislature in 1949.
On Sept. 5, K-State’s Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, will host an Open House and luncheon to celebrate KABSU’s new building and years of service to the state.
Over the years, some of the milestones for KABSU included:
Only bull stud in the United States to offer semen for all six dairy breeds from the beginning;
First bull study to use computer-calculated conception reports;
First to convert entirely to frozen semen stored in liquid nitrogen (1963);
First to offer AI training programs for beef and dairy producers (early 1960s);
First to offer “custom collection” of bulls for private breeders (1961);
First to initiate 100 percent “Young Sire Program” (1959);
One of the first to offer “exotic” beef semen (1961);
First to successfully breed heat-synchronized beef heifers using Repromix (1966);
First to offer on-farm delivery of semen, nitrogen and supplies (1970);
Inseminated almost 4 million dairy cows, 2 million beef cows, and custom-collected more than 6 million units of beef and dairy semen; and
Trained more than 4,000 beef and dairy producers to artificially inseminate their own cows.