Three ‘super cow’ clones that produce more milk than normal cows in China

• China claims it has cloned three cows that can produce up to 18 tons of milk a year.
• State media say these “super cows” are hard to tell apart and difficult to breed.
• Scientists say they plan to build 1,000 “super cows” in the next two to three years.

Chinese scientists have cloned three cows that produce far more milk than normal, state media reported Jan. 31.

According to the Ningxia Daily, the three cows produced by a team from the Northwest University of Agriculture and Forestry were born in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in late January, just before the Chinese New Year.

The cows are clones of “super cows” — capable of yielding up to 18 tons of milk per year and 100 tons of milk in a lifetime, according to the Global Times.

According to the latest USDA statistics, a typical American dairy cow produces about 10.8 tons of milk annually.

Scientists say only five out of 10,000 typical cows bred in China can produce as much milk as the super cow, according to the Global Times.

And because you don’t know if a cow is a super cow until they’re very old, it’s difficult to breed them once you know, said project leader Jin Yaping.

China struggled to meet domestic demand for milk amid soaring feed prices, and Jin’s team “incarnated” super cows to expand milk production, he said. China also relies heavily on imported cattle from Europe.

Jin’s team used bovine ear tissue to create the first 120 cloned embryos. Of these, 42% succeeded in conceiving a foster parent, and 17.5% failed to achieve results after 200 days, according to the Global Times.

“We plan to build over 1,000 super cows over the next two to three years,” Jin said, according to the newspaper.

Insider reached out to Jin for comment but did not receive a response.