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Fw: [RC] Cash Cloned - Sisu West Ranch

I just realized that I intended to send this to ridecamp, but my magic fingers hit the wrong button. I know the thread has dwindled down now and I hope that you will just take these comments as just food for thought. I am definately not trying to stir up things.

Subject: Re: [RC] Cash Cloned


As with fruit trees cloning can not improve the breed in the sense that it could ever produce an individual genetically superior to its ancestors. It could, however, raise the average quality of the whole breed.

Again let us consider apple tree. While Kat is right that nurture influences the exact taste of a particular type of apple, wild apple trees grown from accidentally planted seeds are usually almost inedible. The propagation of cloned apples has raised the average quality of fruit. If cloning of animals ever becomes inexpensive, I would expect that we would first see herds of cloned milk cows. The dairy industry embraced AI decades before the horse industry, because milk production could be precisely measured and a genetically superior herd meant the difference between continuing to farm and moving to town and getting a job in a factory. At the present time, the breeding of genetically superior bulls is a specialty operation, not the hope of every dairy farmer.

If (and this is a very big if) cloning of horses were to become cheap and common the horse industry would be in for some radical changes. The racing parts (TB, QH, Standardbred, etc.) would not change for two reasons. First, rich people, who do not like change, control them. Secondly, cloning can not produce a horse that is faster than any horse in the past. Though it would be interesting to bet on a race between 12 genetically identical horses. It would be sort of like one design sailboat racing. The best training barn would presumably, determine the winner.

The average rider could possibly buy a clone of great horse for his/her chosen activity. Imagine a world where all horses have good conformation, sound feet, freedom from navicular disease etc. (Yes I know that the best genetics can be ruined in many ways, but you still have to have a good genetic base) If this were to happen, one would hope that enough specialty breeding operations would exist where sexual reproduction was carefully used to improve the breeds.

By the way, I do not see a time when cloning will be less than 100 times as expensive as normal sexual reproduction. The only cost to the mare owner is the stud fee. You can even keep a horse (That perhaps should have been gelded) entire and thus have an essentially free breeding. Cloning will still require a laboratory, an egg donor, and implantation by highly trained and paid professionals. After all this expense, you are still only at the same stage as a natural breeding.

Ed

Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875

(406) 642-9640

ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx


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