Farmers are missing out on direct payments for a lucrative byproduct, foetal calf blood, the Manawatu Evening Standard reports.
Meat companies are receiving as much as $150 for the blood of an unborn calf from the pharmaceutical industry, which uses it for cancer and other research.
The value of the blood is indicated in increased schedule prices that meat companies are paying for nearly full-term cows, but farmers are missing out.
Meat companies were wary of talking about the use of the blood on the grounds that they may be asked to pay more for it, and other associated marketing issues.
It is estimated that bone, tongue and other parts of a cattle beast are worth about $30 to $40 per animal to the meat company.
The value of foetal calf blood increases the value of an in-calf cow markedly.
The blood is used in laboratories because it is sterile and supplies nutrients for cells to grow.
One of the companies that uses the blood is Auckland-based Life Technologies.
Bioproducts manager Peter Airey said the blood was the raw material from which foetal blood serum was derived.
The serum is used to grow mammalian cells for in vitro (test-tube) cell-culture systems.
"Serum acts as a source of growth factors, hormones and nutrients to support the growth of these cells in vitro," he said.
Applications included research into cancer and other diseases and the production of vaccines.
Mr Airey declined to say how much Life Technologies paid for the foetal blood or how long the company had been using it.
- NZPA
Farmers lose blood money
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