Chinese Scientists Clone Three "Super Cows"

Chinese scientists have managed to clone three cows which they claim can produce high quantities of milk.

The “super cows” were bred by scientists from the Northwest University of Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology in the Ningxia region on January 23.

The three cows are believed to be clones of cows from the Holstein Friesian breed in the Netherlands.

According to scientists, the “super cows” can potentially produce around 18 tons of milk across their entire lifespan.

The cows are expected to produce 1.7 times the amount of milk that a normal cow might produce from the United States.

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The cows came from 120 cloned embryos which were obtained from the ear cells of the Holstein Friesian cows, before they were eventually implanted into surrogate cows.

The first calve was born on December 30 and weighed approximately 56.7kg.

One of the leading scientists behind the cloning Jin Yaping, believes the clones are a “breakthrough” and that scientists plan to breed a full herd of “super cows”.

"We plan to take two to three years to build up a herd comprised of over 1000 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 Global Times.

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