The Royal Trip - Day 1 - Part 3
Our final stop on Wednesday was at the new state-of-the-art A.I. bull facility at Foundation Genetics in Listowel, Ontario.
The facility was built in 2005 and is quite impressive. The 600”””””””””””””””” main barn features natural ventilation, vinyl ceilings and lots of light. The south wing of the barn can house 21 bulls with each having his own 12”””””””””””””””” X 36”””””””””””””””” sand-bedded pen.
In front of, but separate from, the bull pens is a long window-laden hallway that allows visitors to view the bulls without endangering any health status requirements.
This picture of EK-Oseeana Absolute Lee was taken from the viewing area, which shows how close you are to the bulls.
The bulls were in wonderful condition and were very comfortable on their feet and legs.
Windy-Knoll-View Primetime
In addition to the main barn, Foundation also has an IBR building, an isolation building and a domestic building which offers custom semen collection for all beef and dairy breeds.
There were many, many visitors through the doors during Royal week, including a large group of Italian dairymen while we were there. Everyone was greeted in the large, attractive front office space.
Brian Coghlin - President of Foundation Genetics.
Foundation Sires was started with a philosophy of sampling bulls from dams with deep pedigrees that exhibit longevity and durability. They heavily sample the bulls and noted members of their lineup include Dupasquier Carisma, Stanhope Sovereign and Wedgwood Laramie (who had two class winners at the Royal heifer show on Thursday).