Scientists cloning cattle in University of Georgia
laboratories see their work
going straight to the farm and the grocery store. High-quality
bulls they clone
for cattle farms will make consistently high-quality beef more
available for
consumers.

“The more we do this (clone cattle), the better we get at
it,” said Steven
Stice, an associate professor and Georgia Research Alliance
Eminent Scholar
with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.

But it’s a slow process, scientifically speaking.

Stice and a team of scientists and technicians, are
perfecting the techniques
to clone cattle in their Athens laboratory. Once that process
is finalized,
they’ll begin transferring the cloned embryos to recipient
cows. These cows
will be surrogate mothers to the calves as they mature.

J. Rodekohr, UGA CAES

STICE AT WORK Cloning cattle used to be the stuff of science fiction, but now it’s science fact. Steve Stice is working to perfect the cloning process at his UGA laboratory. He expects perfect copies of superior cattle to be on the farm in five to ten years.

To begin the cloning process, scientists collect cells from
the
skin and ovaries of genetically superior cattle. These cattle
show characteristics that meet consumer demands for beef, like
good intramuscular marbling, or a long torso which produces more
steaks.

Once the cells are collected, Stice’s team can either ‘bank’
them for later
use or clone them. “We’ve found we get the best results with
cells from ovaries,”
Stice said.

The team of scientists is currently working with cells from
10 beef cattle.
“These cattle have such good genetic characteristics, their
owners are willing
to pay for the inefficiencies of the process to get ‘copies’
of them into their
breeding program.”

With these ‘copies’, Stice said more producers can add the
superior characteristics to their herds, either through
traditional breeding or artificial insemination. In the South,
most commercial cattle farmers don’t use artificial insemination,
because the extra management required by heat and humidity make
it more expensive than it’s worth.

But in other areas where artificial insemination is commonly
used
or for purebred farmers, this program shows glowing promise.

“All these things take time, though,” he said. “It won’t
happen
overnight.”

Stice expects the first of his perfect copies to be in
commercial
breeding programs in five to 10 years.

For the purebred cattle farmer who can afford it, cloning is
already a reality. But for the program to be a success, as Stice
defines it, these cloned breeding bulls will have to cost $4,000
to $5,000. That’s about twice the cost of most bulls purchased
for commercial operations.

“But with this kind of genetic superiority, that extra cost
will
be worth it,” Stice said.

Stice’s work doesn’t change the genetic makeup of the
animals, it
just repeats it — exactly.

Which brings up an oft-asked question about maintaining
genetic
diversity in cattle. “Part of the plan we have is to preserve
genetic diversity,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we ‘bank’
cells — that and to keep a variety of characteristics available
to quickly meet changing consumer demand.”

Add to that the factor of breeding cloned bulls to many cows
with
varied backgrounds and Stice feels their plan will maintain a
large bovine genetic pool.

The research is expected to add value to cattle for operators
across the nation, by helping them provide more consistent beef.
And that’s what consumers want at the grocery store.