The kids are alright: world’s first cloned cashmere goat fathers 16 young and more are on the way
Animal was genetically engineered to produce finer wool and firm involved in the project says it could help improve quality of the fibre sold commercially
The world’s first cloned cashmere goat has fathered 16 kids in northern China over the past week, with several more on the way, according to a firm involved in the research.
The successful breeding of the cloned billy goat with naturally born females could vastly improve the quality of cashmere in the wool industry, with huge implications for producers, according to the breeding firm Zhongke Zhengbiao Biotech Company.
The billy goat was genetically engineered to produce finer and softer wool.
All of the kids were born at a breeding base in Bayannur in Inner Mongolia, with the first delivered on March 28. They were all in a healthy and stable condition, the company said.
The billy goat mated naturally with 30 females, and up to 14 more kids were expected to be born over the next few weeks, Zhongke Biotech’s chairman Li Zhen said.
“This proves the cloned goat has full breeding capabilities and that we can accelerate the cultivation of a superior cashmere goat breed by combining natural reproduction and clone technologies,” Li told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.
