Transcript Heritage Livestock Breeds - ACORN Organic Conference

The Importance of the Heritage Livestock Genetics,
for the future of farming
 Traditionally, farmers throughout the world
have raised thousands of different animal
breeds.
 However, since today's industrial farms rely
upon only a few specialized types of livestock,
thousands of non-commercial animal breeds
have disappeared, along with the valuable
GENITIC DIVERSITY they possessed.
 Fortunately, a growing number of sustainable
farmers are preserving agricultural variety and
protecting biodiversity by raising “heritage” or
“heirloom” animal breeds.
 Heritage breeds are traditional livestock breeds that
were raised by farmers in the past, before the
drastic reduction of breed variety caused by the rise
of industrial agriculture.
 Within the past 15 years, 190 breeds of farm
animals have gone extinct worldwide, and there are
currently 1,500 others at risk of becoming extinct.
 In the past five years alone, 60 breeds of cattle,
goats, pigs, horses and poultry have become
extinct.
 Heritage animals were bred over time to
develop traits that made them particularly welladapted to local environmental conditions.
 Breeds used in Industrial Agriculture are bred
to produce lots of milk or eggs, gain weight
quickly, or yield particular types of meat within
confined facilities.
 Heritage breeds are generally better adapted to
withstand disease and the ability to survive in
harsh environmental conditions, and they are
better suited to living on pasture.
 Then came the industrialization of agriculture.
 Animals were treated like mechanical objects and
housed in minimal conditions.
 They were fed standardized rations regardless of
their location or circumstances, and sometimes
without regard for their biological needs.
 A few breeds tolerated that treatment well enough
and remained productive, so they became the
favorite breeds for that species for commercialized
production.
 Sadly, for several decades that model of agriculture
was taught as the "best" and sometimes the "only"
way to raise livestock.
 83 percent of dairy cows are Holsteins
 60 percent of beef cattle are of the
Angus, Hereford or Simmental breeds
 75 percent of pigs in the US & Canada come
from only 3 main breeds
Yorkshire, Landrace and Duroc
 Over 60 percent of sheep come from only four
breeds, and 40% are Suffolk Bred
 Happily, enough people were still interested enough in
traditional methods, and in the merits of genetic
diversity.
 At the same time, the industrialized production model
began showing stress cracks, which only grew worse in
subsequent years.
 Those highly productive breeds proved to have very high
maintenance requirements, experienced rapid burnout
under industrial production management, and were not
well equipped to weather diverse climate, parasite and
temperature conditions.
 In short, this experiment in treating animals like
machines only proved that one size does not fit all very
well.
 Scientists studying lack of genetic diversity in wild
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animal populations began to realize that the same risks
faced domestic animal populations.
a lack of genetic diversity resulted in less ability to
thrive in various conditions. Large, productive animals
would struggle in less than ideal conditions.
Breeds developed in temperate climates did not fare well
in hot, dry locations.
The situation had come full circle, but now those breeds
which used to thrive in those various conditions were
often close to extinction.
Those bloodlines which had once provided goods to
small family farms now needed small family farms to
rescue them.
 The genetic diversity of livestock is threatened worldwide, but
especially in the global South, where the vast majority of farm
animal breeds reside.
 Documenting and conserving this diversity — of cattle, goats,
sheep, swine and poultry — is just as essential as the
maintenance of crop diversity for ensuring future food
supplies in the face of health and environmental threats.
 Just as we should know which crop varieties are most tolerant
to flooding or disease, we should know which kinds of milking
goat can bounce back quickly from a drought, which breeds of
cow resist infection from sleeping sickness and which types of
chicken can survive avian flu.
 But while crop genes are being stored in thousands of
collections across the world and a fail-safe gene bank buried
in the Arctic permafrost, no comparable effort exists to
conserve livestock genes.
 We need a parallel, even bigger, to link local, national
and international resources and conserve livestock
genetic diversity through dedicated livestock gene
banks. These should store frozen cells, semen and DNA
of endangered livestock from across the world.
 Gene banks should also be used to conserve the legacy
of 10,000 years of animal husbandry. Collections must
be accompanied by comprehensive descriptions of the
animals and the populations from which they were
obtained and the environments under which they were
raised.
 We must as farmers and herders work together to
conserve the farm animal breeds that have largely been
selected and nurtured into existence by generations of
farmers attuned to their environments.
 Canadienne
 Dutch Belted
 Florida Cracker Cattle
 Kerry Cattle
 Milking Shorthorn - Native Cattle
 Milking Devon Cattle
 Piney woods Cattle
 Florida Cracker Cattle
Ankole-Watusi
Belted Galloway Cattle
Devon or Beef Devon Cattle
Dexter Cattle
Highland Cattle
 Arapawa Goat
 San Clemente Goat
Spanish Goat
Tennessee Fainting Goat
Nigerian Dwarf Goat
Spanish Goat
 Gloucestershire Old Spot Pig
 Large Black Pig
 Mulefoot Hog
 Red Wattle Hog
 Red Wattle Hog
Nothing recovering
 Gulf Coast or Gulf Coast Native
 Leicester Longwool Sheep
 Romeldale/CVM Sheep
Barbados Blackbelly
Clun Forest
Shetland
Barbados Blackbelly
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ABOUT ALBC
http://albc-usa.org/
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Ensuring the future of agriculture through the genetic conservation and
promotion of endangered breeds of livestock and poultry.
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is a nonprofit membership
organization working to protect over 180 breeds of livestock and poultry from
extinction. Included are asses, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits,
chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys.
Founded in 1977, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is the pioneer
organization in the U.S. working to conserve historic breeds and genetic
diversity in livestock. We hope you'll browse through these pages and learn
more about the diverse and valuable agricultural heritage that is ours to enjoy
and to steward.