There is a word that I heard in my youth that I seldom here anymore... and that word is prepotent. A sire was considered a prepotent sire if he sired offspring better than he was himself and especially if he sired a son that out bred him. I hardly ever hear of this anymore. I often wonder about this, especially when I think of the literally thousands of offspring some of these popular sires have produced. I would think that, if these sires were true beef industry improvers, that there would be a son or several sons that would be ready to take the sires place as the next great breeding sire. It doesn't happen very often... not in most purebred breeds, nor in the clubby industry as well. If there were more of these sires around, wouldn't it stand to reason that cloning a sire would be really an insignificant issue, as there would be sons of the sire that could take his place... and do at least as good and hopefully better job of siring excellent offspring.
I can think of a few handfuls of sires in several breeds that were the hottest thing going in their time, however, I am left scratching my head to name a son of these bulls that worked as good as the sire did. Of course there are some sons that have done a good job, but I question if they have been as consistent across the board as the sire. It stands to reason that if a sire is used on some of a breeds best females, there should be sons that are even better breeding pieces. This happens occasionally, but it seems to be less than I would think should be the case.
An old time breeder who I learned a lot from when I was starting out in breeding cattle told me that to be successful in this business, you must always seek for improvement in each generation you produce. I see so many people who are satisfied in producing the same thing over and over, and never striving for improvement. Some of these people scratch their heads and wonder why other people's cattle are getting better than the cattle they produce. The " assume" that these other breeders must be cheating and/ or doing something illegal to be producing the cattle they come out with. I hear this all the time. On a recent trip to the US, I heard so many bad stories about some of the top breeders in the breed I raise, I was left to wonder if there was any truth in any of what was said. I am certain much of what I heard was a feeble attempt to bring these top breeders down a few notches so that they would be closer to their level. A mainline breeder has to have thick skin to put up with this nonsense, as it always seems to happen if you have any success.
Back to the issue at hand.... Cloning. I think cloning has a place in the industry, but I am concerned that it too, will become a misused tool in the industry. I also struggle from time to time with some of the issues surrounding this technology. Personally I see no reason to ever have more than one clone from any animal, and question if it is even required if these animals that are being cloned were actually as good at breeding as some people seem to think they are. My view is that if they are as good as that, there should be sons available that will be even better. If there isn't I question if these animals are half as good as we think they are.