Ex-pig farmer Stephen Mills set up the stud for JSR Genetics at Garboldisham, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, as a diversification scheme after he found he could not expand his herd sufficiently to remain viable.

Following depopulation, cleaning and disinfection, the unit was converted to hold 40 high-genetic merit boars but demand has grown to such an extent that boar numbers have already been increased by a further 75 per cent and this will continue in line with sales expansion.

Stephen runs a local courier service - part of JSR Genetics' 'Cool Link' system, serving Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex - delivering on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays to dovetail with farmers breeding schedules. Semen collected in the early morning is delivered on the same day - work starts at 2 am on Sundays!

"AI gives even outdoor producers access to genes from leaner, faster-growing boars and this is reflected in the grading sheets," he says. "We've seen records showing finishing pigs averaging P2 fat depths of only 10.4 mm at slaughter weights of up to 80 kg deadweight."

"Producers like a reliable service and AI enables them to batch-farrow large numbers of sows which makes management easier. We take great care with quality control ensuring, particularly, that we despatch and maintain semen at the correct temperature."

A well-isolated location, in the heart of East Anglia's pig industry, is helpful and the fact that the stud houses a "library" of sires, representing the country's top blood-lines, is also an attraction since it enables customer's finished pigs to be tailored to the particular outlets served by processors.

Source: JSR Genetics - 17th November 2003