Cloned cattle have the potential to improve the quality of beef and dairy products as well as the potential to enhance profitability for the world's farmers. A possible future benefit of this research will be the ability to replicate animals that carry genes resistant to disease. This will enhance production rates and holds the potential to reduce the amount of antibiotics currently necessary to maintain animal health. The UT cloning research is specifically intended as a tool to help scientists understand early embryonic development. The more we know about how embryos grow and develop, the more we can improve fertility.
Infertility is a major concern of farm animal managers.
It can seriously impact the profitability of an operation. Millie will be among the first clones to be compared to the animal from which she was cloned. We hope that she will produce milk as well as or better than her genetic equal, but only time will tell. History has shown that careful cross breeding is necessary to improve genetic potential, which would include the potential to increase milk production. These questions are among the many that our researchers will be examining as Millie matures and enters into the University's milking herd.