September 29, 2025
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NAAB Suspended Members
Frequently Asked Questions
What action was taken?
On August 26, 2025, the delegates at the NAAB 79th Annual Business Meeting approved a bylaw amendment that included provisions for the suspension of international associate members and cross reference participants. Members and/or participants that are based in a country that meets the following 4 criteria, are to be suspended:
- Trade in bovine semen from the United States to the country in which the headquarters or parent company of the member is located has completely stopped;
- The Association has attempted to find a resolution to the trade stoppage through the United States Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) and the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA FAS);
- The government of the country in which the member is located does not respond to or declines communications with USDA APHIS or USDA FAS to reach a mutually agreeable solution within a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the NAAB Board of Directors;
- The member uses the United States national genomic evaluation data to select and market semen from bulls located in the country to which trade has stopped.
China currently meets all four (4) of the criteria required to initiate the suspension of membership and to suspend participation in the NAAB Cross Reference Database. This suspension applies to associate members as well as cross reference participants based in China. NAAB is obligated to initiate the suspension process.
Why was this action taken?
The US export industry advocates for a level playing field in all markets where dairy and beef producers can freely purchase either domestically or imported bovine semen. The bylaw amendment addresses how the association will handle situations where a country does not allow semen to be imported from the USA. It is added to create clarity for NAAB’s global membership. China currently meets all four of the above listed criteria. NAAB cannot arbitrarily determine if the suspension is enforced. The suspension applies to members in any country that meets these four criteria listed above, and the suspension must be applied equally.
What animals can still receive an evaluation?
This suspension does not affect the evaluations for females. Females will continue to receive CDCB genomic evaluations.
Also, young bulls 15 months of age and younger can still receive evaluations for selection purposes. These results will be provided by CDCB to the nominators as per the normal process.
Males that were either a G status or F status for the August 2025 evaluation may continue to receive updated genomic evaluations. Their NAAB codes will not be shared with CDCB or allied industry. Therefore, while genomic evaluations will be received on these bulls, any high-ranking sires in China may not be included in the high-ranking breed index lists in December and onward.
What animals are affected?
Bulls that were enrolled after June 27th, 2025 (deadline for August evaluations) and controlled by the suspended members and/or cross reference participants will not be included in the file sent to CDCB designating the A.I. bulls eligible for evaluations in December, due to the suspension being active on November 3rd. Any bulls controlled by a suspended member that were updated to G status will revert to a C status due to the suspension. These bulls will not receive evaluations in December.
How can the suspension be lifted?
Once the criteria outlined in the bylaw amendment are no longer met, membership and access to the cross-reference database can be reinstated, provided the organization is in good standing and has no outstanding payments.
Can an organization market semen using the evaluation from the initial nomination?
Any company that markets semen from a bull using the CDCB genomic evaluation data must pay the A.I. Service fee. The date of the genomic evaluation is to be included with advertising material. These are CDCB policies that are to be followed regardless of the NAAB actions.