Iowa's grand champion steer a clone of 2008 grand champion

By Dale Minyo

This year’s Grand Champion Steer at the Iowa State Fair is a clone of the 2008 Grand Champion Steer. Yes it is legal, or at least no rules were broken.

The 1,320 pound steer was produced by Bovance, a joint venture between Trans Ova and the cloning firm ViaGen. The exhibitor’s dad is the president of Trans Ova Genetics, a livestock reproduction company in Iowa. Bovance bought the cloned steer for a record-setting $45,000 bid at the auction to keep the animal out of the food chain.

For more on this visit:http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/common/link.do?symbolicName=/free/news/template1&product=/ag/news/topstories&vendorReference=0353b2fa-34a2-481b-912d-1cb46058ad3a&paneContentId=70109&paneParentId=70043 or http://brownfieldagnews.com/2010/08/25/iowa-grand-champion-steer-was-clone-of-2008-champ/