Soccer Dad

21st century stud

If you think that cattle belong to the past you are so wrong.

A few years ago we had bison playing tennis near where I live. Now from Spain, comes the news that a prize bull will be cloned!

He is a mean, magnificent beast. And during his 16-year life, Alcalde has sired scores of bulls that have proved awesome opponents for some of Spain’s most celebrated bullfighters. Now, however, the splendid stud is in his twilight years and his owner, Victoriano del Río, has turned to science to safeguard his precious genes.

Mr. Del Río, a fifth-generation bull breeder who sports a Barbour jacket, has decided to clone Alcalde, marrying cutting-edge genetics with one of Spain’s most traditional enterprises. ViaGen, a cloning and genomics company based in Austin, Tex., will take cells from the aging bull next month in the hope of producing a double.

Alcades' owner gushes.

“This bull is a genius,” said Mr. Del Río during a visit to the rolling pasture where the hulking Alcalde, whose name means mayor, grazed with a small herd of tan cows and calves. “If you owned a painting by Rubens, or Velázquez, you would do everything in your power to preserve it. Alcalde is my Velázquez, and I want to preserve him.”

To the uninitiated, the matador is the star of the bullfight. However, experts say a great fight is as much about the bull as it is about the man in the sparkly suit.

“The bull allows the matador to create a work of art, a beautiful dance. It’s a joint performance,” said Lázaro Carmona, a veedor, or inspector, who visits ranches on the matador’s behalf and helps select animals for the fight. A strong, aggressive bull that runs at the matador’s cape allows him to shine, he said. “I think the bull should take 90 percent of the credit for a matador’s triumph.”

And what exactly does that "90 percent of the credit" get the bull? A nice "vuelta" around the ring?

My guess is that there's little or no chance anyone would have wanted to clone Ferdinand.

But it was fun reading about him.

bullfighting, cloning.