Mel DeJarnette, former director of technical research, has been promoted to vice president of processing and research for Select Sires Inc. In this position, DeJarnette will be responsible for managing semen processing and packaging techniques, including research to develop methods to enhance processing, quality control, delivery and on-farm use of high-quality semen.
"Mel's dedicated work on improving the quality of Select Sires' semen, his leadership in male and female fertility and his development of fertility analysis programs for both Select Sires and the industry, demonstrates his technical expertise," explained David Thorbahn, Select Sires president and CEO. "His experience in developing the industry-leading field fertility initiative, Program for Fertility Advancement (PFA), his research work, journal articles and his work towards making Select Sires the leader in fertility has earned him the respect of his co-workers, member organizations and reproductive physiologist peers across the country. All of these accomplishments make him an exciting selection to lead Select Sires' fertility programs into the future."
During his more than 20 years of tenure at Select Sires, DeJarnette has developed innovative semen extenders, cryopreservation procedures and has implemented numerous state-of-the-art technologies into Select Sires' semen evaluation and quality control programs. DeJarnette was closely involved in research that led to the validation and commercial implementation of gender SELECTed semen. DeJarnette was key in the development of Select Reproductive Solutions (SRS) and the PFA. PFA was the first and only program of its kind and currently conducts fertility research on over 180,000 cows in 150 herds. DeJarnette has authored or co-authored 36 peer-reviewed publications, 42 abstracts and has presented numerous papers at both scientific and producer-oriented symposia on the regional, national and international level.
Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc. is North America's largest A.I. organization and is comprised of nine farmer-owned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America's best genetics at a reasonable price.
01.22.2013