One of the two major cloning companies, Infigen Inc. of Deforest, is setting up a model dairy with cloned cows to test the concept. Infigen claims to be further along than any other company at making cloning efficient and, thus, economical. During a recent tour designed to prove his point, President Michael Bishop took visitors to several small, unmarked farms leased by the company in the rolling hills of Wisconsin dairy country. He showed off scores of clones. The company has created 110 cattle clones and about 30 pig clones, he said.
Numerous animals are pregnant.
Of the embryos the company implants in surrogate cows in cloning attempts, just 17 percent result in live births. Still, that's an impressive figure when most laboratories are reporting 3 to 5 percent success rates. Bishop and his employees have taken to giving clone pairs whimsical names. One set of cow clones is named Cookies and Cream, and another pair is named Carbon and Copy. You've got two of this kind, two of that kind.