SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENTISTS CONSIDER CLONING SUPERCOWS

April 12, 1998

STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA (Reuters) -- Move over Dolly, the cloned sheep. South African scientists are preparing to collect the genes of two "super cows" that produce over 100 liters of milk a day so that they can try to clone the beasts.

"There is nothing in the world at this moment that can compare with these cows. Their production is light years ahead of anything which is available in the world," farmer and "super cow" owner Ludwig van Deventer told Reuters in an interview.

Superstar was the first cow van Deventer discovered with remarkable milk producing abilities. She churned out 124.2 liters of milk in one day when she was tested by South Africa's independent Agricultural Research Council in November.

"We were a bit skeptical about such production," said Jakkie du Toit, regional manager of the council's livestock improvement scheme. "But after we did the tests we had to believe it."

Du Toit said his unit was in the process of testing Superstar to see if she breaks the world record of around 28,577 liters in 305 days. "We expect that she will better the world record," he said. "She has another 95 days to go."

Superstar is due to be crowned Newsmaker of the Year at a local Easter show for putting the South African dairy industry on the world map.

Du Toit said the national average daily milk production in South African was around 20 liters per cow, with advanced herds producing between 30 liters and 40 liters each.

Superstar's half-sister Megastar also has remarkable talents and already produces over 100 liters daily although she is only in her first lactation period. Milk production usually peaks in the fourth or fifth lactation period.

"It is now our intention to look at the possibility of cloning these cows, "van Deventer said. "If you could clone freely you could create thousands of these animals with very high production abilities."

Stellenbosch University scientists will team up with experts from the United States and the Roslin Institute in Scotland, which produced the now world famous sheep dolly last year, the first animal to be cloned from an adult cell.

Local newspapers say the scientists may call their supercow cloning company "Galaxy."