The genome of a female Hereford cow has been sequenced by the Bovine Genome Sequencing and Analysis Consortium, a team of researchers led by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is one of the largest genomes ever sequenced. The results, published in the journal Science on April 24, 2009, are likely to have a major impact on livestock breeding. They were obtained by more than 300 scientists in 25 countries after six years of effort.