After years importing Belgium Blue semen and cattle from their Belgian homeland, one of the UK’s leading Blue genetics companies has reversed the trend.

Norbreck Genetics, the Lancashire-based livestock breeding and exporting company has been breeding British Blues for more than a decade and this month witnessed their first bull depart for Belgium.

Selling across the water was their 10-month-old Norbreck Express, a Bringlee Volkswagon son out of Norbreck Baltimore – one of Norbreck Genetics’ highest index, naturally calving brood cows. Express was sold to the Belgian owned AI company FABROCA, whose team were impressed by the bull’s pedigree, and confirmation.

Philip Halhead, Norbreck Genetics MD said: “The British Blue is now recognised globally for the functionality that UK Blue breeders have introduced into this heavily muscled animal, attracting attention from breeders in Belgium. After successfully completing the rigorous health and genetic defect tests we finalised the sale and shipped our bull to Belgium. This has been a long held personal ambition and I am delighted the sale has concluded. We have been working with FABROCA for some time and have already exported 2 bulls on behalf of other breeders, but this is the first Norbreck bull out of a naturally calving cow that we have exported.”