Through the collaborative efforts of Colorado State University, USDA, MoFlo, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cytomation the world’s first sex-selected filly was born August 6, 1998. The filly, Call Me Madam, was made possible by new cell-sorting technology developed by XY Inc.

XY Inc. originally intended to provide semen-sexing for the cattle industry. However, with the appointment of Dr. Mervyn Jacobson, chief executive officer, the mission of the company grew to include horses, pigs, and endangered species, specifically, and all non-human mammals. Jacobson said, “Selecting whether a horse will be female or male before it’s even conceived will revolutionize the horse industry.”

This sex-selecting is made possible through sperm sorting technology, which separates sperm that carry the X chromosome and produce females from sperm that carry the Y chromosome and produce males