Canadian Bull Bulls His Way into China

Canadian gift dairy bull, which was given to Premier Zhu Rongji when he visited Alta Genetics last year, was handed over Wednesday to a Beijing centre with a mission of contributing to the improvement of the breeding bulls in China.

The bull calf, named Crestomere Dragon, is ``a symbolic of the close co-operation in animal husbandry'' between China and Canada, both Ambassador Howard Balloch and Chinese Vice-Minister of Agriculture Qi Jingfa agreed at the handover ceremony in Beijing.

The bull, born in November 1998, was transported to China in early May and released from quarantine in June.

Now housed at the Beijing Dairy Cattle Centre, the breeding animal's genetics are expected to transmit the excellent conformation traits of his dam, a World Champion dairy cow in 1999 as well as his sire, a proven artificial insemination sire, according to Ted Mitenko of the Alta Genetics Ltd, the donor of the gift bull.

``Crestomere Dragon is the best breeding bull that China has ever had from foreign countries,'' Vice-Minister Qi said. ``It will play a key role in improving the genetics quality of the Holstein bulls in China.''

Holstein, a well-known breed dairy cattle in the world, is the main dairy breed in Beijing, whose total cattle population exceeds 75,000, according to Zhao Fengshan, director of the rural working committee of the Beijing municipal government.

Both Qi and Zhao said China expected to expand collaboration with Canada in agriculture and animal husbandry.

``There exists a huge potential in Sino-Canadian co-operation in agriculture and animal husbandry sectors, which are high complementary to each other,'' said Qi, adding the country's pending accession to the World Trade Organization will mean a brighter prospect for the co-operation.

Already, Canada and China have launched an integrated dairy cattle breeding project, which promotes modern dairy cattle improvement programmes, and the production of quality milk in an efficient and environmentally sustainable system, according to Bruce Howard, a counsellor of the Canadian Embassy.

Alta Genetics, a leader in Canada's livestock breeding industry, planned to establish a bovine semen and embryo inventory in China to facilitate technological advances of the genetic sciences associated with these products, said Ted Mitenko.



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