By The Associated Press

Gene-edited animals – possible next trend in agriculture?

Nov 16, 2018 | 2:38 PM

ST. PAUL – MINNESOTA — Imagine cows that can withstand hotter temperatures — cows born without pesky horns — or pigs that never reach puberty.

A company based in St. Paul-Minnesota wants to alter farm animals by adding and subtracting genetic traits in a lab.

While it sounds like science fiction, Recombinetics says it needs to convince regulators that gene-edited animals are no different than conventionally bred ones.

In order to make the technology appealing and to ease fears about so-called “Franken-animals”, Recombinetics is promoting its gene-edited traits as a way to ease animal suffering.

For instance, animal welfare advocates have long criticized the way farmers use caustic paste or hot irons to dehorn dairy cows so the animals don’t harm each other.

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Recombinetics says it snips out the gene for growing horns so the procedure is unnecessary. 

A bull that was ‘gene-edited’ to have the dominant hornless trait, has already sired several offspring at the Unviersity of California. The animals will undergo testing to insure there are no abnormalities with their meat or milk.
 
Another Recombinetics project has a focus on castration-free pigs.

Castration is a procedure animal welfare advocates say is commonly performed without painkillers. Editing genes so that pigs never go through puberty, would make castration unnecessary.

Recombinetics says there is also potential for increased animal productivity.  However, it comes down to how much a farmer is willing to pay for ‘gene-edited’ animals and whether the traits would have a cost benefit.