Biotech Firms Apply DNA Testing to Animals.

Byline: Paul Jacobs

Jun. 1--White Water Skoal is a rodeo star, a 1-ton, bred-to-be-ornery bucking bull, a champion and the sire of champions.

Retired to stud at the Flying U Rodeo Company ranch in Marysville, this prize animal is listed on the Rodeo Stock Registry, along with several of his offspring, their identities certified by DNA testing.

"You get people who swear up and down that this calf is by this bull," said Cindy Moreno, who oversees breeding at the Flying U. "The DNA proves them wrong or right."

DNA testing is being used more and more to prove animal parentage and pedigree -- and to identify for breeding purposes animals that carry desirable or undesirable traits in their genes. And several companies have moved into this small, but burgeoning market. Chief among them is Celera AgGen in Davis, a division of Celera Genomics, which last year completed a rough draft of the human genetic code.

There's plenty of competition for Celera in animal testing -- not just from other private labs, but also from …