Westgen, originally known as the Lower Fraser Valley Artificial Insemination Association, was established in September 1944. The newly formed association operated from a facility in Surrey, British Columbia before moving to the present site in Milner, B.C. in 1949. In the same year the organization changed it's name to the B.C. Artificial Insemination Centre, a name which it held for the next 49 years. BCAI Centre's clientele and scope of activities grew following mergers with the Okanagan AI Centre in 1958 and with the Chilliwack AI Centre in 1986. In January 1997, the BCAI Centre along with three organizations in Ontario and Quebec, Gencor, Eastern Breeders and CIAQ, formed a limited partnership known as the Semex Alliance, joining producer-controlled Canadian AI centres form coast to coast and creating one of the largest genetics company in the world. In August 1997 the BCAI Centre expanded its territory eastward, and began offering semen and other AI services to dairy and beef producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. On June 1, 1998 the corporate name Westgen, Western Canada's Genetics Centre was adopted, to more appropriately reflect a membership and company activities in four provinces.