Is Cloning a Viable Method for Livestock Management?

Lou Ann Good
Food and Family Features Editor

LANCASTER, Pa. — Embracing technology has brought about many changes in dairy and livestock industries. Think how artificial insemination, embryo transplants and in vitro fertilization have influenced the dairy business.

Is cloning the next big revolutionary tool to help breeders improve and preserve genetics?

Steve Mower thinks it is. As director of marketing for Cyagra, a global company with cloning facilities in other countries and a site in Elizabethtown, Mower recently shared the technology behind cloning and the company’s vision for the future. During a recent Ag Issues Forum sponsored by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, Mower said cloning is a tool that can be used for the following purposes:

• Keep up with demand of offspring of cattle and semen of genetically superior animals

• Eliminate some diseases

• Repair injured cattle (can even allow a top performing steer to pass on its genes)

• Preserve stock that dies unexpectedly

• Continue cell lines with genes desired for milk production, mastitis resistance, marbling or tenderness

• Rapidly multiply management and disease resistant traits that have lower inheritability

• Allow transfer of DNA cell lines from country to country.

The primary limitation for breeders and owners is the cost of cloning. Mower said $20,000 is the average cost for the process. It requires 10-12 months from the initial procedure of taking a skin tissue biopsy until a calf is born.

Mower thinks consumer acceptance is growing and will continue to grow. He pointed out that regulatory measures already in place confirms that meat and milk from cloned animals are no different than that from those birthed by traditional methods. Mower also said that tracing is in place to keep cloned meat out of the food chain for consumers who prefer not to eat it.

Since the inception of cloning, improvements have been made in the process that show greater consistency and more predictable outcomes, according to Mower.

Through using elite animals, he said, fewer animals will be needed and there will be less waste of natural resources to maintain large herds, resulting in higher efficiency.