Biotechnology
Producing Value-Added Animal Products
In the U.S., billions of dollars of waste can be eliminated through improved genetics and increasing uniformity in beef animals. Cloning provides a partial solution to these problems. The recent advances in cattle cloning technology are important, but there are still major obstacles preventing widespread commercial use of this technology. The problems preventing commercial use in animal agriculture are the relatively low pregnancy rates, abortions and high neonatal mortality rates in cloned offspring. These problems require that cloned animals have a high value added. UGA animal and dairy scientists have developed a procedure to collect cells from animals so that they can collect both performance data as well as carcass characteristics. This level of sophistication should allow them to produce more valuable offspring under certain environments such as grass-fed beef in Georgia. They were able to take cells from a beef carcass and propagate cells in vitro to produce a cloned animal. The Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved cloned animals for consumption and this year the UGA scientists have taken steps to address concerns. They have participated with industry partners and provided the animal carcass data and reproductive performance data that the FDA needs to make an informed decision. There have been policy debates, public forums and popular press articles through which they have helped provide information to the public. In the future, once FDA approves the cloning process for human consumption, they plan to take cells from steers raised on grass, no hormones or antibiotics, and produce a high yield and quality carcass for future breeding herds. This technology will allow Georgia beef producers to lead the beef industry into a new era in cattle genetics. (2006)
Sources
| Name | Department | |
| Steven Stice | sstice@uga.edu | Animal and Dairy Science |
| Clifton Baile | cbaile@uga.edu | Animal and Dairy Science |