With exceptionally high interest and a hall filled with entrepreneurs, producers, university lecturers, students, and doctoral candidates, the international seminar “Dairy Cattle Breeding: Genetics and Economics. The U.S. Experience” was opened at Trakia University – Stara Zagora, organized by the Representation of the United States Department of Agriculture in Bulgaria.

The event was opened by Assoc. Prof. Tsvetoslav Kojnarski, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Trakia University, who welcomed the participants: “The technologies that today’s lecturers will present to you have been simplified to a level that is maximally understandable for people who are not professionals in this field, and they provide a sufficiently clear idea of how this will affect the livestock sector if we choose to follow the path that America took more than 100 years ago. Thank you for being here! I am glad that we are hosting such an event and we thank the United States Department of Agriculture for choosing Trakia University as a location for such initiatives.”

The seminar brought together leading experts and industry representatives to discuss the latest American technologies in dairy cattle breeding – genomic testing, the economics of genetics, reproduction management, and the impact of American genomic selection on global production.

The lecturers were Jay Weiker – President of the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) and Chairman of the Board of the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), Todor Arbov – international consultant on dairy cattle breeding, and Dr. Paulo Carvalho – specialist in genetics and reproduction.

The topics and presentations of the lecturers sparked lively discussions and active exchange of experience, as the participants raised a number of questions related to the practical application of the presented technologies in Bulgarian farms.