Holy cow! Daisy loses her horns
SCIENTISTS are designing a health and safety cow, genetically altered to have
no horns, to cut the risk of injury to farmers, ramblers and animals.
They are using sophisticated gene-editing techniques to insert a DNA patch
into the genome of holsteins, Britain’s foremost dairy breed.
The extra DNA has been taken from other breeds of cattle, in which it is known
to suppress horn growth.
The aim is to create a genetically modified dairy cow, identical in every
respect to existing livestock but without the horns — and safety risks.
“This would be a major advance in animal welfare,” said Geoff Simm, a
professor of animal breeding who chairs the government’s Farm Animal Genetic
Resources Committee, and championed the idea in a report on livestock
genetics just published by Defra, the food and farming ministry.
Simm’s proposal is partly based on research into gene editing at the Roslin
Institute, part of