TekVet, LLC Announces Marketing, Sales and Distribution Thrust Into Japan

TekVet, LLC, a Utah-based developer of agricultural technologies, today announced it has appointed Scott Van Orman as director of Japanese operations. Due to the urgent need to restore Japanese consumer confidence in U.S. beef products, the company sees its TekVet System™ as the technology that can reopen the borders of Japan and other foreign countries to U.S. beef imports.

The company will be making a significant move into the Japanese beef market by launching a major marketing and advertising campaign designed to educate consumers as to the benefits of beef that has been tracked, traced, and then health monitored by its TekVet System.

“Scott brings a great deal of experience and maturity to this position,” said D. Bret Smith, chief executive officer of TekVet. “In fact, he has been an advocate of the TekVet project since its inception almost three years ago. We’re very pleased to have him contribute in this capacity, and I’m confident that he’ll be able to alter public perception about U.S. beef products as our corporate liaison to the Japanese.

With a master’s degree in Business Administration from Brigham Young University, Van Orman understands the global business climate and brings 16 years of professional and service experience to the position. Van Orman, who is fluent in Japanese, has been involved in start-up business ventures as well as major U.S. companies. His special emphasis in research-based marketing and consumer-driven sales in the Japan region lends an added skill set to the TekVet team. With his expertise and professional network of contacts within Japan, TekVet expects to quickly establish its presence in that region of the world and certainly impact the Japanese beef industry.

Van Orman’s involvement comes at a time when U.S./Japan agricultural relations are at a particularly sensitive stage. Recently, TekVet’s CEO joined 31 United States Senators, including Senator Orrin Hatch, R-UT, in calling upon Japan to remove the embargo on U.S. beef imports to Japan prior to the June 2006 visit of Prime Minister Koizumi to the U.S.

“Since Japan initiated, and has extended, this unfair embargo on U.S. beef imports in December 2003, it is easy to project that the U.S. cattle industry has lost at least $7.5 billion in exports to Japanese consumers,” TekVet’s Smith said. “Japanese businesses and consumers are calling upon their government to end these restrictions and we agree. It is time to end the seemingly endless dance between our two governments and re-open beef imports into Japan.”

About TekVet and the TekVet System

TekVet is best known for its TekVet System, an automated radio frequency (RF) wireless animal identification solution also designed to constantly monitor the core temperatures of beef cattle at ranges of 300 to 500 feet. Central to the TekVet System is the TekVet SmartSensor™: a small wireless device that is attached to a cow’s ear in much the same way identification tags used by beef producers, ranchers and dairy farmers.

Once in place, the TekVet SmartSensor™ can track and trace the vital and historical information of individual animals while also providing real-time core body temperature / health monitoring. The collective data can then be used for trend analysis to increase herd productivity and reduce the overall death toll, and the possible spreading of disease. The data is captured by TekVet SmartReceivers™ and transmitted to the TekVet SmartManagement™ Console and uploaded to the TekVet SmartNetwork Operation Center™, where the data is compiled and then provided to the appropriate producers via the Internet.

TekVet (formerly COLT Technologies) announced in mid-May that it had signed deals to begin deploying the TekVet System with major feedlot operations in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah, as well as with several foreign producers. The company has since announced a name change to TekVet, the move of its corporate headquarters to North Salt Lake, Utah, as well as launched the TekVet System Grant Program which will provide free TekVet Systems to eligible educational and non-profit institutions.

About TekVet, LLC
Formed in 2003, TekVet, LLC is a privately funded Utah-based developer and manufacturer of agricultural technologies. The company focuses on the application of wireless technologies to lower production costs, increase profits and improve product safety in the livestock industry. For more information on the company, visit its Web site at www.tekvet.com or call 801-335-0500.

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TekVet, TekVet System, TekVet SmartSensor, TekVet SmartReceiver, TekVet SmartManagement, and TekVet SmartNetwork are each trademarks of TekVet, LLC.