26 May 2011

Livestock breeding company merger complete

7:53 am on 26 May 2011

The merger of the genetic operations of country's biggest farmer Landcorp and Hawke's Bay-based livestock breeding company Rissington Breedline is complete.

From 1 July a new company, Syrex Genetics, will combine their breeding programmes creating one of the red meat industry's largest single commercial databases in sheep, beef and deer genetics.

Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly says the new company will be based in Napier, and its size will allow greater investment in research and development.

The newly appointed chief executive of Syrex Genetics, Graham Leech, says it hopes to achieve the same scale of breeding gains for sheep, beef cattle and deer that has been seen in the dairy industry.

He says it will build on the existing work that has already produced new composite sheep breeds as well as cattle and deer breeds.

Mr Leech says there will be no job losses as a result of the merger.