"There are a lot of reasons why we’ve done business with Sunshine Genetics for over 10 years, and they’re rooted in the confidence we have in the work they do. Our goal at the farm is to breed and develop superior Holstein genetics through careful selection and extensive embryo transfer work and Sunshine Genetics is an important partner in achieving that goal. Their staff is great to work with, and they pay extra attention to the details that can make or break a flush. They’ve also got a real handle on the pulse of what’s going on in the countryside which has been invaluable to our business, and improved the quality of embryos we produce and market.

Our donors that we’ve sent to their facility have done really well. The staff there keeps them in really good shape and we’ve never experienced a problem transitioning them back home to calve or breed. And the results speak for themselves – we’ve been able to achieve more successful flushes at their ET center.

One recent example was with Regancrest-DL S Ralisha-ET, a cow that we purchased mid-lactation. After flushing her at our farm, with some success mixed with failures, we decided to send her to Sunshine at the end of her lactation. In her first four flushes there, she made 59 usable embryos which allowed us to fill remaining contracts and export other eggs overseas. We’ve got a great deal of confidence in the staff at Sunshine Genetics, and the results speak for themselves."

Nate Janssen, Dairy Operations Manager, Golden Oaks Farm, Wauconda, Ill.

"Working with Sunshine Genetics has opened up a worldwide market to our genetics. Before we started taking cows to Whitewater, international sales of embryos had been next to nothing, and we were relegated to trying to market them domestically. In only a few short years, overseas sales have increased dramatically, and we’re already off to a great start in 2009. For us, embryos are easier to export from their facility and the result has been at least a 5 or 6 times doubling of international sales.

One of the best examples of the value Sunshine has brought to our herd is with Ocean-View Juror Hay-ET. She was flushed in California with some results but had reached the point where she had stopped producing eggs and it was near time to ship her. We decided to send her to Sunshine where she made 12 eggs on her first flush and over 100 in the few years she was there. For a cow that was almost beefed, we sold baskets of embryos from her all over the world and generated around $60,000 in sales.

Our experience with Sunshine Genetics has been an entirely positive one. They offer the kind of care for our cows that we demand, and having cows at their facility raises the visibility of them. People see them there that wouldn’t otherwise get an opportunity. During Expo last year, Zandra was on the front lawn all week as hundreds of visitors drove into their farm. That’s the type of publicity that money can’t buy."