Super cows producing 18 tonnes of milk cloned in China

Three “super cows” that can produce 18 tonnes of milk have been successfully cloned by Chinese scientists, a step which is being hailed as a milestone for China’s dairy industry.

According to Chinese media, the scientists have successfully cloned three “super cows” that can produce an unusually high amount of milk, the three calves, bred by scientists from the Northwest University of Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology, were born in the Ningxia region in the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year on January 23.

The project leader Jin Yaping stated that, the birth of ‘super cows,’ is a ‘breakthrough’ that enables China to keep its best cows “in an economically viable fashion,” the state-run daily Global Times reported.

They were cloned from exceptionally productive Dutch-bred Holstein Friesian cows. The selected animals have the capacity to produce 18 tonnes of milk annually and 100 tonnes of milk during their lifespan.

The scientists made 120 cloned embryos from the ear cells of the highly productive cows and placed them in surrogate cows, according to the Technology Daily.

“We plan to take two to three years to build up a herd comprised of over 1,000 super cows, as a solid foundation to tackle China’s reliance on overseas dairy cows and the issue of the risk of being ‘choked’ [by supply chain disruptions],” Jin told the Chinese newspaper.

In many countries, including the United States, farmers breed clones with conventional animals to add desirable traits, such as high milk production or disease resistance.

China has made significant progress in animal cloning in recent years.

Last year, a Chinese animal cloning company created the world’s first cloned Arctic wolf.

In 2017, Chinese scientists said they produced cloned cattle with increased resistance to bovine tuberculosis, a risk to cattle in many countries.