ABS Global, formerly the American Breeders Service, is an artificial insemination company that sells

frozen bovine semen Frozen bovine semen is a method of preserving bovine semen for future artificial insemination, even after the death of the donor. History The early artificial insemination organizations were largely farmer-owned cooperatives. The first such coop ...

. It headquarters are in

DeForest, Wisconsin DeForest ( ) is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, along the Yahara River. The population was 10,811 at the 2020 census. A suburb north of Madison, it is part of the Madison metropolitan area. History Before European settlem ...

. American Breeders Service was founded in 1941 by

John Rockefeller Prentice John Rockefeller Prentice (December 17, 1902 – June 13, 1972) was an American attorney and member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was born to Chicago lawyer Ezra Parmalee Prentice and Alta Rockefeller Prentice in New York. Prentice ...

. It was originally called the American Dairy Guernsey Associates of Northern Illinois and changed its name to American Breeders Service in 1950. As of 1962, the company was headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its facilities reportedly stored over 1.5 million

ampule An ampoule (also ampul and ampule) is a small sealed vial which is used to contain and preserve a sample, usually a solid or liquid. Ampoules are usually made of glass. Modern ampoules are most commonly used to contain pharmaceuticals and che ...

s of frozen bull semen. The semen was kept frozen with

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

. American Breeders Service began selling its products in the Soviet Union in 1983, after conducting negotiations there for six years previous. That year, the company cloned two bulls, named Divide and Duplicate, from one embryo. As of 1983, American Breeders Service was owned by

W. R. Grace and Company Grace is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes polyethylene and polypropylene catalysts and related products ...

. Its name was changed to ABS Global in 1994, after the company was bought by an investment bank. On November 15, 1999,

Genus plc Genus plc is a British-based business selling elite genetics and other products manufactured using biotechnology to cattle and pig farmers. It is headquartered in Basingstoke and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business has ...

bought ABS Global from Protein Genetics, a New York–based firm. When the sale closed, ABS had around 340 employees, 150 of which were in DeForest.

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* {{Authority control 1941 establishments in Wisconsin American companies established in 1941 Companies based in Wisconsin Dane County, Wisconsin