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Now a small herd of cloned livestock is moving from laboratories to farms--and closer to American dinner tables. Cloning is becoming a business, though it has generated few, if any, profits.
At least three biotechnology companies are pitching their services to ranchers and dairy farmers. One firm has shipped at least 20 cloned animals this year. Three of the clones, copies of a famous Holstein named Black Rose, live on farms in Wisconsin dairy country. The companies want to change the way farm animals are bred, helping farmers produce meatier steaks or more milk. Farmers already select the biggest bulls or best milk cows for breeding. By cloning these animals, the companies say, farmers can quickly improve the genetics of entire herds.
Among the companies promoting its cloning service is Advanced Cell Technology Inc., the Massachusetts firm that created a furor several weeks ago with its attempt to clone a human embryo. Congress is debating a proposed ban on...