This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.

The U.S. dairy and beef industry can thank one Idaho company for developing a leading procedure to detect pregnancy in cows.

BioTracking in Moscow analyzes blood samples to quickly and accurately detect pregnancy in all ruminants, including cattle, sheep, goats, bison, deer, elk and moose. The company has modified a process Professor Garth Sasser developed at the University of Idaho.

Dr. Sasser, a native of Pingree, Idaho, founded BioTracking in 1994 after years of study, teaching, and research in the animal science field. Marketing Director Doug Pals tells me the company's tests were first conducted through a procedure using radioactive isotopes to test blood samples for a specific protein that appears in the blood of pregnant cows. Dr. Sasser continued to perfect the test until about four years ago, when he developed BioPRYN.

BioPRYN is an inexpensive procedure, $2.25 per head for cattle, through which blood samples are evaluated for the presence of Pregnancy Specific Protein B. Doug says the test is accurate, safe and and economical for cattle producers. It can be applied 30 days or later in pregnancy. Customers mail in the samples, and BioTracking has results the day after receiving them.

Doug tells me farmers and ranchers use the test results to determine which cows are not pregnant and can be re-bred. This results in shorter calving intervals, more calves being born per year and greater calf and milk production.

BioPRYN analyzes about 5,700 blood samples per week and continues to grow at about 10 percent per month. In 2006, BioTracking conducted tests for more than 207,000 cattle, compared to tests for 85,000 cattle in 2005. This year, the company expects a similar percent increase in the number of cattle it tests.

BioTracking has affiliate labs around the world, including labs in Hungary, Canada, and throughout the United States.

For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.