NAAB Technical Director and CSS Service Director Jere R. Mitchell Retires

Jere R Mitchell, Technical Director for the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) and Service Director for Certified Semen Services Inc. (CSS), a subsidiary of NAAB, announced his retirement at the end of December 2018 after serving thirty years in this capacity.

“We salute and express our appreciation for Mr. Mitchell’s dedication and efforts in support of the U.S. AI industry and to cattle improvement around the world,” states Dr. Katie Olson, chair of the NAAB Board of Directors. “Here in the U.S., the artificial insemination industry is self-regulated. CSS was created in 1976 to ensure the proliferation of healthy and disease-free cattle. Jere has contributed to this growth by continuing and improving those minimum standards that were set forth establishing CSS as an effective industry auditing service that assures a high standard for AI production center practices, working with the industry to insure certain operating procedures, i.e., sire and semen identification, health testing and proper record keeping, semen processing protocols, AI center animal management and semen quality control which have been followed to provide effective genetic improvement for dairy and beef cattle”.

“NAAB has been in existence for 72 years and there have been only two Service Directors for CSS” Mitchell said. “During my 30 + year tenure, I have travelled extensively and conducted approximately 1450 audit inspections of labs, barns and facilities for the members of the NAAB and CSS. I have learned much and been well blessed to know and work with many of the scientists, AI industry pioneers and current personnel that have contributed greatly to our successes. I have the utmost respect for all of my peers and all of the people in this industry which I will miss.”

Jere Mitchell joined the NAAB/CSS staff in 1988 as the NAAB Technical Director and as the second CSS Service Director.  He has conducted the national service program for the U.S. AI industry and provided technical support to NAAB. He has worked closely with both the NAAB and CSS Boards of Directors, various NAAB Committees and USDA-APHIS VS staff.  In conjunction with the Research Committee, he helped coordinate the NAAB Research Program for many years. Working with the NAAB Technical Committee, he has helped organize topics of interest, invited informative speakers to the biennial Technical Conferences and has been responsible for editing and publication of the NAAB Technical Conference Proceedings on AI and Reproduction. Mitchell has been a member of the U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA), Society for Theriogenology (SFT), Association for Applied Animal Andrology (AAAA), AETA, ADSA and ASAS.

Prior to joining NAAB/CSS in 1988, Mitchell worked in technical and research areas for various organizations in the AI industry starting in 1974. He is a native of Cortland, New York.  Mitchell earned his A.A.S.degree in Agricultural Science from S.U.N.Y at Alfred, B.S. in Animal Science from Kansas State University, M.S. in Dairy Science (Reproductive Physiology) from Virginia Tech and undertook advanced studies at Penn State University where he was a Staff Instructor in the Department of Dairy and Animal Science. He also served two years in the U.S. Army. Jere and his wife Becky reside in Columbia, MO and have 2 grown sons and 3 grandchildren.