Book a DNA test
Take the guesswork out of matching calves to parents.
To book contact your LIC rep or call 0800 GENEMARK (0800 436362).
Increase your herd’s genetic value by using DNA profiling to:
- reduce the risk of inbreeding
- identify calves with high breeding worth
- maintain up-to-date records with full parentage on young stock.
How GeneMark testing works
Watch how we process GeneMark DNA parentage testing.
GeneMark Customer Story
Chris Knight a farmer from the Waikato talks about GeneMark - read his story
We use these G3 DNA profiles, together with the G3 DNA profiles of the bulls you used for artificial breeding, to determine the parents of young stock.
Choose from two types of DNA parentage tests:
- Whole herd DNA parentage testing — get a G3 DNA profile for every animal on your farm so you can match your current season’s calves to their sire and dam each year.
- Individual animal DNA parentage testing — get a G3 DNA profile and parentage information for selected animals on your farm.
Whole herd DNA parentage testing also:
- reduces the stress at calving time
- reduces the risk of inbreeding
- provides up-to-date records that help increase Breeding Worth (BW) and ancestry information over time.
Whole herd DNA parentage testing can also increase your herd’s market value.
Prevent expensive mistakes caused by mis-mothering
Studies have found that about 25% of calves are mis-mothered, mis-tagged or mis-recorded. This means you may accidentally cull the offspring of your top-performing cows or those sired through our artificial breeding programme, while retaining calves of little genetic value. Stop this happening with whole herd DNA parentage testing, which provides accurate parentage information for each season’s calves.
Reduce inbreeding
Inbreeding can make your herd less productive. Whole herd DNA parentage testing correctly matches calves with their parents, reducing the risk of inbreeding.
Increase your herd’s market value
Buyers may pay more for animals that have been accurately matched to their parents, as it provides a true picture of their breeding worth.
Make a long-term commitment
The benefits of whole herd DNA parentage testing increase over time. Test annually to get the greatest benefits — the more years you test for the more animals you will have full parentage information about. That means you’ll have up-to-date records and accurate BW information, which adds value to your herd.
We compare the G3 DNA profiles of the calves with G3 DNA profiles of the bulls you used for mating and see whether there’s a match.
Knowing a calf’s sire means:
- you get more accurate records and a true Breeding Worth (BW) for the animal
- you can make informed breeding, selling and culling decisions
- you can confirm the parentage of calves born with uncertain sires
- you reduce the risk of inbreeding
- your animals may be worth more.
You can also get G3 DNA profiles for selected cows to confirm that you have correctly identified a calf’s mother.
The only equipment you need is a GeneMark Allflex applicator gun and some GeneMark Allflex punch kits. Each punch kit contains 10 tissue sampling units (TSUs).
Please ensure you order wet tissue sampling units (TSU). Wet TSU’s contain a liquid preservative that help stabilise the DNA from the time of sampling to the time of testing – giving us the best chance to get a DNA profile from your animal’s sample.
Using the applicator gun is as simple as using an ear tagger — no special skills required.
Store the samples in your fridge until you're ready to courier them to our laboratory. We even supply the courier bag.
See Collecting the tissue samples for DNA parentage testing for a step-by-step guide to how to collect, store and courier tissue samples.
Include a completed TSU Sample Submission Form. Use a new submission form for each group of animals you test and for each LIC participant code you want to be charged to.
For more information on how to sample your animals safely and effectively, see:
Guide to using the GeneMark Allflex applicator gun and the GeneMark Allflex tissue punches
For details on maintaining your applicator gun or fixing common issues, see:
Allflex applicator maintenance & troubleshooting guide
Order sampling equipment
You can order sampling equipment by:
- calling 0800 GENEMARK (0800436362)
- completing the Allflex applicator and punch order form
- contacting your local LIC rep.
GeneMark account for whole herd parentage testing
You must have a GeneMark account to carry out whole herd parentage testing. Complete, sign and send us the GeneMark Whole Herd Account Application Form to get you started on whole herd DNA parentage testing.
Animals to sample for the first whole herd DNA parentage test
For the first whole herd DNA parentage test collect tissue samples from:
- every calf you are considering keeping
- all previous season’s progeny
- all your dams (including those you plan to cull)
- natural mating bulls you used in the most recent mating season.
Animals to sample for subsequent whole herd DNA parentage tests
For whole herd DNA parentage tests in the following and subsequent years collect tissue samples from:
- every current season’s calf you’re considering keeping
- brought-in dams
- natural mating bulls you used in the most recent mating season.
Animals to sample for individual DNA parentage tests
For individual DNA parentage testing collect tissue samples from:
- the calves whose parentage you want to confirm
- natural mating bulls you used in the most recent season
- any dams you want to include in matching.
We already have G3 DNA profiles for all our artificial breeding sires. We also have G3 DNA profiles for many of the sires from other genetics companies, including CRV Ambreed, Semex and Samen.
We use these existing DNA profiles to match your calves to their sires.
If we don’t have a profile for a sire you’ve used from another genetics company you’ll need to send a straw of semen to our laboratory so we can create one.
Call us on 0800 436 362 to find out if we have a DNA profile for a non-LIC sire.
Whole Herd parentage testing
To DNA parentage test your whole herd you must:
- have a GeneMark account. Complete, sign and send us the GeneMark Whole Herd Account Application Form to get you started on whole herd DNA parentage testing. The form offers several payment options — select the option you prefer.
- have a booking with our GeneMark laboratory.
- contact your Agri Manager or call GeneMark on 0800 436 362 to book a testing date with our laboratory. You must send your tissue samples to the laboratory by this date.
- have all your cows recorded on MINDA, along with their calving dates.
- have all bulls used over your herd recorded on MINDA.
- have all calves recorded on MINDA - If you are opted in with MINDA as your NAIT information provider, calves must be recorded with a NAIT approved RFID within 7 days of tagging to be NAIT compliant. For more information on these requirements, go to our NAIT compliance page.
- For more information, refer to the GeneMark Whole Herd Requirements Checklist.
NAIT Requirements
If you are opted in with LIC as your NAIT information provider, you can register your calves through one of the two ways below.
- Complete the GeneMark create animals form and follow the instructions on the form to download the GeneMark Calf Registration template. Include all birth identification tags used, the birth month, year born & the location the animals were born on.
- Record your calves against dams on MINDA® LIVE or the MINDA App within 7 days of tagging.
Animals registered directly with NAIT which are later recorded in MINDA could cause the registration information from LIC to fail to update with NAIT, which will email you error notifications. To ensure your MINDA animal records are up to date and to avoid any confusion or discrepancies, we encourage you to choose number 2 from the list above and use MINDA LIVE and the MINDA App to record your animal information in the first instance.
For more information regarding your NAIT obligations please go to our NAIT compliance page.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact GeneMark on 0800 GENEMARK (436 362)
Individual Animal parentage testing
To DNA parentage test individual animals you must:
- have up-to-date calving records in MINDA
- have up-to-date mating records in MINDA.
You don’t need a GeneMark account or a laboratory booking to DNA parentage test individual animals.
You’ll get the results of whole herd" testing within four to five weeks. You’ll get the results of individual animal testing within six weeks.
We’ll email the results to you and we’ll also upload them to MINDA.
We provide a free Field Assist to first-time GeneMark whole herd customers (terms and conditions may apply). The Field Assist will help you take the tissue samples and ensure your records are up to date. You should be available on the day to help the Field Assist.
For subsequent whole herd tests you’ll be sampling fewer animals and you should be able to do it yourself — or you can hire a Field Assist to help you.
Individual animal testing is less time-consuming and in most cases you’ll be able to take the tissue samples yourself.
We use the same tissue samples as we use for DNA parentage testing to test for the A2 geneotype or to detect the BVD virus and to perform Genomic evaluations.
See Collecting tissue samples for A2 geneotype testing or BVD testing for more information about how to combine the tests.
Whole Herd Parentage Testing - Dams & Natural Mating Bulls
Whole Herd parentage testing is designed to match current season’s calves to GeneMark G3-profiled dams and sires (via DNA analysis).
|
Service/Test type |
Price per sample (GST excl.) |
|---|---|
|
Service/Test type DNA Profile Only |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $22.99 |
|
Service/Test type DNA Profile + A2/A2 (tissue test) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $35.99 |
|
Service/Test type Uncertain Sire Search (Dams Requiring Sire Verification) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $11.40* |
*excludes $22.99 profile fee.
All prices exclude GST.
Whole Herd Parentage Test - Calves
|
Service/Test type |
Price per sample (GST excl.) |
|---|---|
|
Service/Test type DNA Profile & Parent Search (current season’s calves only) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $27.99 |
|
Service/Test type DNA Profile & Parent Search (previous season’s calves only) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $34 |
|
Service/Test type Additional Search (additional analysis after initial profiling & parent search) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $11.40 |
|
Service/Test type DNA Profile & Parent Search + A2/A2 (tissue test) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $40.99 |
|
Service/Test type DNA Profile & Parent Search + BVD (tissue test) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $41.49 |
Note: Complete a DNA, A2 and BVD test on tissue samples and receive a discounted rate of $10 + GST for each BVD test (saving $3.50 + GST per BVD test)
All prices exclude GST.
Individual Animal Parentage Testing
Offers DNA parent verification on selected animals.
|
Profile/Search/Test |
Price per sample (GST excl.) |
|---|---|
|
Profile/Search/Test DNA Profile Only (dams, natural mating bulls, previous seasons progeny) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $39.99 |
|
Profile/Search/Test DNA Profile & Sire Search (LIC sire profiles will be provided by LIC) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $39.99 |
|
Profile/Search/Test Additional Search (Additional analysis after initial profiling and parent search) |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $17 |
|
Profile/Search/Test A2 tissue test + Profile/Parentage |
Price per sample (GST excl.) $52.99 |
All prices exclude GST.
Flexible payment options available
Flexible payment options make whole herd DNA parentage testing the right choice whatever your financial circumstances. Choose from a number of interest-free payment options to suit your business needs.
Indicate which payment option you want when you complete your GeneMark Account Application Form.
Download the form you need to get started with your DNA parentage testing.
Note: Samples may be analysed using DNA Mass Spectrometry and/or DNA Sequencing. Contact GeneMark 0800 436 362 for more information.
Book a DNA test
Take the guesswork out of matching calves to parents.
To book contact your LIC rep or call 0800 GENEMARK (0800 436362).
