LIMOUSIN has become the first beef breed in the world to take advantage of sexed semen technology.

In partnership with Cogent Breeding, Northern Ireland Limousin breeders Raymond and Stephen Crawford have had sexed semen collected from their two Limousin bulls, Sauvignon and Vigot, both winners at the Great Yorkshire Show.

AI company Cogent has pioneered sexed semen, which results in more than 90pc of all sperm in a straw being female, allowing more female offspring to be born.

The Crawford Brothers run the Rathkeeland and Newlittlemount herds in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Their two bulls have been housed and collected at Cogent's five-star Beachin Stud facility near Chester since autumn last year. They are the first Limousin bulls in the world to have sexed semen available.

Sauvignon is a five-year-old senior bull and was a prolific show ring winner in 2006, completing a hat-trick of prizes with reserve male champion at the Royal Show, supreme and reserve interbreed champion at the Great Yorkshire and male champion at the Royal Welsh.

Vigot is an exciting young bull, whose prize-winning run in 2006 included the junior male, reserve overall male and junior interbreed champion at the Great Yorkshire, and reserve male champion at the Royal Ulster.

Cogent has been the industry leaders of sexed semen technology since 1998 and was the first company in the world to offer sexed semen commercially in 2000 to the dairy industry.

Other advantages of sexed semen are said to be to allow breeders to breed replacements from their best cows and heifers, to speed up genetic progress; to reduce disease risks by breeding their own replacements and to select female calves for first-time calvers

The technology is attracting considerable foreign interest, particularly among new EU countries and accession states looking to establish a beef breeding population in the quickest, most effective ways possible.

Raymond Crawford spent a lot of 2006 developing potential export markets for his stock, particularly semen from Sauvignon and Vigot.

Working with Cogent, outlets have been developed in Germany and Poland, with others on the way.

Top Farms, Cogent's agents in Poland, have developed strong links with the UK Limousin breed, already taking delivery of around 90 heifers in total, with more planned.

Sexed semen from Vigot is now on its way to Poland to start breeding replacements for the future.

Mr Crawford said: "Today's beef producers are looking for predictability and, if this technology meets this demand, I'm pleased the Limousin breed is at the forefront of another potential new market."