Sunday, June 30, 2002

The father of them all Send this entry to: Del.icio.us Spurl Ma.gnolia Digg Newsvine Reddit

The father of them all Did you know that 15% of the genetic heritage of American dairy cows comes from one bull??? I didn't until I read this article in The Washington Post. His name was Elevation-and he was a super-cow. For 10 years they milked his you-know-what. So I'm curious-would environmentalists oppose this sort of mass production and mass fertilization of cows with this bull's semen? It's not high-tech, but it certainly is industrial and not "natural." I'm sure we'll reach a physiological limit toward production of milk, meat and eggs from our domesticated animals, but are we there yet? Hell, our fauna are rather small compared to what was around in the Miocene, and of course it's tiny compared to the dinosaurs. I always joke that one day we'll just have "meat things," taking in nutrients through amorphous entry-points and just putting on the flesh. One other point-the article seems to indicate that Elevation and his milk-producing progeny are crucial for Third World peoples. But aren't many Third World people lactose intolerant??? (Indians and many East African groups aren't of course, but Southeast Asians, those of indigenous New World ancestry and West Africans are)