Building the Next Generation of Dairy Genetics

At Cogent, dairy creation sits at the heart of everything we do. It’s where tomorrow’s genetics begin — and where long-term investment, careful planning, and global collaboration come together to deliver real progress for dairy farmers.

We operate one of Europe’s largest dairy breeding programmes, spanning Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and into continental Europe. Working alongside a trusted network of leading breeders and partner farms, our programme is designed to identify, develop, and deliver the next generation of elite dairy genetics for the UK and international markets.

Scale That Drives Progress

Each year, approximately 2,000 embryos are implanted across our dedicated embryo farm network throughout the UK. This scale allows us to make consistent genetic progress while maintaining the selection pressure required to produce bulls capable of delivering real-world performance.

Every mating decision is made with purpose — balancing production, health, fertility, and longevity to create genetics that work in modern commercial dairy systems. The result is a pipeline of young sires developed not for short-term trends, but for sustainable improvement in dairy herds.

Investing Across Dairy Breeds

While Holsteins remain a major part of modern dairy farming, our breeding programme is not built around a single breed. At Cogent, we are actively investing in the future of Jersey, British Friesian, Guernsey, and Ayrshire genetics through dedicated nucleus breeding programmes and structured breed development plans.

Working closely with established breeders across the UK and internationally, as well as UK breed societies, we are supporting long-term breed improvement through carefully planned genetic strategies. These programmes focus on strengthening the qualities that make each breed valuable within different dairy systems — whether that’s efficiency, component production, fertility, longevity, or adaptability.

Our approach ensures that breeders and farmers who choose alternative or complementary breeds have access to progressive, commercially relevant genetics, backed by the same level of investment and programme structure as our wider dairy creation work.

By maintaining strong relationships with leading breeders around the world and collaborating with breed societies, we are helping safeguard breed diversity while continuing to move genetic progress forward. It’s part of our wider commitment to investing in the future of dairy farming as a whole — recognising that no single breed fits every system, and that long-term progress comes from supporting strength across the entire industry.

A Global Programme with Local Impact

Our creation programme is strengthened through our global partnerships, particularly with our parent company, STgenetics. In 2025, this collaboration delivered a UK first, as US-born bulls were live-exported via Canada and imported into the UK — the first time this had ever been achieved.

This milestone reflects both the scale of our programme and our commitment to bringing world-leading genetics to UK farmers. Through ongoing collaboration, this is now a process we continue each year, ensuring UK customers benefit from the very best global genetics alongside those developed within our own programme.

While the industry continues to evolve, our focus remains unchanged: investing in genetics that will support profitable, efficient, and sustainable dairy farming for years to come.

Our dairy creation programme isn’t just about breeding bulls — it’s about building the future of dairy genetics, today.