Apr 19 (Kyodo) - Japan's Miyagi Prefecture said Friday a Japanese Black wagyu calf, conceived with freeze-dried semen, had been born in a breakthrough expected to lead the way to stably storing genetic resources of the premium beef.
The female calf weighed 30 kilograms when it was born Tuesday in a Miyagi dairy farm in a joint project with Kochi University. The calf is in good health, prefectural officials said.
The calf was conceived with freeze-dried semen that had been in frozen storage at a temperature of minus 30 C.
The prefecture hopes to eventually rear calves conceived with semen stored at room temperature, the officials said.