UK Sire Services

UK Sire Services is a bull stud with an international reputation and is one of only 5 companies in the UK to collect, store and export bull semen.

Directors Rob Wills and Geoff Corke are Devon-born businessmen who started out as farmers, then went into the bull semen business as demand grew for well-established breeds of cattle, such as Jersey, Charolais, Lincoln Red, South Devon and Belgian Blue. The company operates from Tigley, near Dartington, in Devon.

With 20% of sales going overseas, Rob Wills was keen to boost export figures. When UK Sire Services joined the UK Trade & Investment Passport to Export scheme, the company met the Regional Language Network South West. Inspired by what he heard, Rob Wills decided to broaden the profile of the company and translate the most important pages of the website to appeal to an international market. Using language providers recommended by RLN SW, key pages from the UKSS website were translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Polish.

Up to this point, UKSS had not translated any of their materials as their main customers had been willing to do business in English, but after meeting RLN SW, the company decided to change their policy – they felt the time had come “to really start hearing what overseas customers want, and try to respond to that demand, instead of selling them what we have here in the UK”.

Further export sales have resulted from the translations and Rob says “We really were provoked into thinking about our international communication strategy”. The challenges of the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak, and the bluetongue threat, have impacted upon the company, but pedigree cattle are still very attractive to the overseas market. By looking at how they present their products to the world, UK Sire Services have proved that they can survive threats to their business, stave off the competition and strengthen their appeal to overseas breeders!

Visit the UK Sire Services website at www.uksireservices.com.

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