The Cattle Breeding Centre was a veterinary research centre at

Shinfield Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District. Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming p ...

in the United Kingdom.

History

The site opened in February 1943 as the Reading Centre for the Artificial Insemination of Dairy Cattle. It had Shorthorn and Guernsey cattle. In January 1944 the site produced the world's first calf produced by artificial insemination, working with the Agricultural Improvement Council. Another site had been opened at Cambridge in November 1942. The site closed in 1991.

Visits

On Thursday 15 November 1979, the site was visited by President General

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

of Indonesia; the President had come to power in a coup in 1965, and the visit was attended by protestors from Reading University

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

group. On Wednesday 29 October 1980, the site was visited by the second President of Botswana, Quett Masire.''Times'', Wednesday 29 October 1980, page 8

Demolition

The site was demolished by the University of Reading and sold for housing (360 houses) in 2003.

Structure

The site was east of the A327, south of the M4, around a half-mile east of the former headquarters of

Berkshire County Council The Council of the Royal County of Berkshire, also known as the Berkshire County Council, was the top-tier local government administrative body for Berkshire from 1889 to 1998. The local authority had responsibilities for education, social servi ...

. A short section of the National Cycle Network 50 runs east–west past the former site.

Function

The site worked with artificial insemination (AI) of cattle and pigs.

References