Jan 14, 2008, 12:44 GMT
Sydney - With some Australian ranches the size of small countries and cattle sometimes hundreds of kilometres apart it's not practical to run an artificial-insemination breeding programme.
Boffins at the government's CSIRO research body have come up with a new way to improve the quality of the herd. They reckon it's possible to get Australia's mostly Brahman bulls to ejaculate sperm from British breeds that aren't as well suited to the hot climate but provide better quality beef.
The CSIRO's Bruce Lee is hoping that he can draw stem cells from the testicles of an Aberdeen-Angus or a Hereford and implant them into the testicles of a Brahman bull.
'The idea would be that he can ejaculate sperm of a British bull,' Lee said.
Another advantage of the innovation would be that farmers could determine the gender they wanted.
'For the dairy industry you obviously want to produce all females and for the meat industry you obviously want to produce all males,' he said.
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