Lansing, Michigan-based food and animal safety firm Neogen has agreed to acquire Brazilian animal genomic laboratory operator, Deoxi Biotecnologia for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2008, Deoxi is a Neogen rival in the livestock genomic space and the acquisition of the company is expected to support Neogen’s GeneSeek animal genomics platform in Brazil.

James Herbert, Neogen’s CEO and Chairman notes that, “Brazil is a critically important country for an animal genomics company to be in. Brazil has the most cattle, is only behind the United States in the production of beef, and is a leading producer of pork and chicken.”

In 2016, the global total for cattle is 971,482 million head according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Second only to India, Brazil’s cattle herd totals 219,092,000 head, or 22.55% of the world’s supply compared to the U.S. herd of 91,988,000, which accounts for 9.47% of the world’s total cattle.

Neogen provides agricultural livestock producers with state-of-the-art identity and trait determination and analysis services through its animal genetic facilities and bioinformatics services. Such testing can determine an animal’s potential performance through predicting its innate ability to gain weight, carry successful pregnancies, ease of calving and reproduction, and strength of immunity to disease within beef and dairy cattle, swine, sheep, and poultry herds and flocks.

With the acquisition of Dioxi, Neogen’s Brazilian customers will now have the ability to have their samples tested, and have access to Neogen’s expertise in-country, instead of having to ship their samples to Neogen’s labs in Lincoln, Nebraska.

“Deoxi has excellent facilities, and an excellent reputation with its customers, which include research institutions, universities, and animal breeding companies,” said Herbert. “Deoxi’s management and staff will remain with the company, and will continue their work to help Neogen grow the Brazilian genomics business. The Deoxi laboratory in Araçatuba will provide our Brazilian customers the same access to the best animal genomics technology as our U.S. customers.”