Cumbrian AI centre to pay £67,945 damages

A Cumbrian artificial insemination centre has been ordered to pay £67,945 in damages to a farmer after it wrongly labelled the semen of an Aberdeen-Angus bull. 

More than 1,000 straws of semen from the bull, Deveron Limited Edition, were worthless because under EU regulations they could not be exported after the labelling mistake by Lindsay’s AI. The domestic market was also unavailable because the straws breached Defra regulations, so any resulting calves could not be registered with the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society. 

In a trial at Carlisle County Court in June 2008, Judge Peter Hughes QC heard that Aberdeenshire tenant farmer Hamish Sclater had agreed a contract to sell semen from Deveron Limited Edition to the Irish Angus Cattle Society. Semen could only be taken at Defra licensed sites and Linsday’s AI was the closest site. 

The labelling mistake was discovered in November 2005, by which time Deveron Limited Edition had died.  

Lindsay’s AI has been ordered to pay damages of £31,845 relating to the loss of profit on the sale of 1,158 straws and £36,100 for the lost enhancement to the value of the herd.