October 2014
New home for Government-owned Shetland cattle herd in Northern Ireland
Since the 1990s, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) has carried out conservation grazing using specific breeds of livestock to manage its most important wildlife sites. Hebridean, Shetland and Wiltshire Horn sheep, Exmoor and Konik ponies and Dexter and Shetland cattle made up the workforce of grazing animals whose browsing and grazing maintained grasslands and wetlands in good environmental condition.
Earlier this year, RBST was made aware that the government-owned stock may be threatened with dispersal owing to budgetary cuts. An exchange of correspondence between RBST and Agency staff suggested that not all of the livestock would be sold, and that breeding homes would be found for those that may be dispersed. However, in late August the Northern Ireland press carried the story that all the animals, with the exception of the Dexters, Konik and Exmoor ponies, would be sold at the RBST Rare Breeds Show and Sale at Gosford Forest Park, Markethill on the 6th September.
A generous donation from an individual who wishes to remain anonymous allowed RBST to purchase some of the cattle to form a breeding group at An Carn, RBST were able to buy nine cows and calves on the day, some of which were the original animals that had travelled from the Shetland Islands in 2008. The remaining Shetlands were sold to three private buyers, all of whom expressed an interest in breeding the animals pure, increasing the number of Shetland cattle herds in Northern Ireland to five.
The nine cows and calves are now settled in their new home, and staff at An Carn are delighted to be breeding pedigree Shetland cattle in association with RBST locally and nationally. They have offered the centre as a venue for local rare breeds events, and everyone is optimistic for the future of the Shetland breed in Northern Ireland, and very grateful for the kind and generous donation that made it all possible.  
Wretton Frank
Last year, RBST established a number of new agisted stock groups, including Leicester Longwool sheep, Dairy Shorthorn and Whitebred Shorthorn cattle. This year, the focus has moved to finding males to help strengthen these existing groups.
To help the group of Norfolk Horn sheep at Easton and Otley College, our Field Officer for the South of England and Wales, Richard Broad purchased Wretton Frank at the Traditional and Native Breeds Show and Sale at Melton Mowbray on Saturday 13th September.
To make sure the most suitable ram could be purchased, we used Grassroots' Kinship report to check the inbreeding level of all the males at the sale to the flocks at the college. The average IBC (Inbreeding Coefficient) for the breed at present is 0.0397, and luckily all the rams at the sale were less than half this figure. Therefore, we were able to choose from any ram without increasing the inbreeding levels. All the sheep were card graded by Tim Lugsden and Simon Dell, red cards were given to the best quality sheep, which included Wretton Frank. Wretton Frank was purchased for 520gns, the highest priced Norfolk Horn ram at the sale. We are extremely grateful to Paul Davis of Manx Rare Breeds, who donated all the money to purchase Frank.
Frank is now off to Easton and Otley College to run with the flock of ewes, so there will hopefully be lambs in 2015. It is also hoped that we will be able to collect semen from him later in the year for the RBST National Gene Bank.
Melton Mowbray Traditional and Native Breeds National Show and Sale Results
To see the results from this year's Show and Sale, follow this link
The dates for next year will be 11th & 12th September 2015.
Generous Donation for RBST
Rob and Louise Furnace recently featured in Country Smallholding magazine, they have very generously donated the £120 they were paid for the article to RBST. All these stock purchases have been made possible because of extremely generous donations. If you want to help our work, you can make a donation here.
Rob and Louise Furness presenting the cheque to RBST CEO Tom Beeston
Doonies buys new Oxford Down Ram
RBST Approved Conservation Farm Park have been able to buy a new Oxford Down ram following a very generous donation from one of their volunteers.
Graham and Debbie Lennox from Doonies Farm with their newly purchased Oxford Down ram
RBST Young Shepherd Results
The RBST Young Shepherd Final was held at The Royal County of Berkshire on Sunday 21st September 2014. The results were as follows:
Junior (8-12 years old) 17 entries in total
- Elinor Cassie
- Naryce Anderson
- Douglas Cew
- Taylor Western
- Sam Sharp
- Imogen Crozier
- Freddie Squires
Senior (13 to 16 years old) 17 entries in total
- Angus Dagger
- Sam Kacklin
- Robert Burrington
- Lewis Walton
- Victoria Wheeler
- Cameron Wainwright
- Bethany Fincham
The overall champion was Angus Dagger with Elinor Cassie in reserve.
Well done to everyone who competed in this year's Young Shepherd competition. Keep an eye out for qualifying rounds at upcoming shows across the UK this autumn and 2015.
Upcoming Shows and Sales
Featured Breed
Shetland Cattle
Category 4 'At Risk' Between 450- 750 registered breeding cows in the UK
In the early 1900s, with improved transport links to Scotland, many cows were crossbred because of their efficiency of production and ability to rear a large valuable calf. Today the same ability makes them a useful suckler cow on poor land. Their adaptation to extensive systems of management also suits them for conservation grazing, and the breed also finds favour with Smallholders because of its hardiness and thrifty nature.
The Shetland is fine-boned, short-legged and deep-bodied, with short fine horns. Cows stand 44 to 50 inches at the withers and weigh 300 to 500kg depending upon the conditions and quality of grazing. In 1910, the Breed Society accepted animals of all colours though black-and-white predominated. Today most animals are black-and-white, but some other colours have reappeared. To learn more about the breed, please follow this link. Photos by Ruth Dalton and A. Walter
2014 National Goose Survey
   
Embden Buff Back West of England Sebastopol
Numbers of pure bred geese kept in the UK in the 21st century is very low and has now been recognised by all the UK Waterfowl groups, RBST and DEFRA. Both DEFRA and RBST have compiled a list of 'Breeds at risk' which currently includes:
- Brecon Buff
- Embden
- Grey/Buff Back
- Pilgrim
- Sebastopol
- Shetland
- Toulouse
- West of England
To ascertain a better estimate of these geese breeds in the UK, The Goose Club are conducting a survey. If you keep any of the breeds listed above, please follow this link and complete the survey.
Grazing Advice for Meadows
Did you know that hay meadow species diversity is increased when grazing and cutting are combined, rather than cutting alone? Grazing animals can also take the place of a hay cut on sites where access is difficult or equipment is hard to obtain and native breeds of cattle, sheep or ponies can have a hugely beneficial effect on species richness.
The Coronation Meadows project is able to offer advice and support on grazing through the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's Field Officers, Ruth Dalton (North) and Richard Broad (South) - this could take the form of a phone chat, site visit or even a training session. If you're already carrying out grazing with native breeds and would be willing to host a farm walk with a discussion on the benefits of conservation grazing, please do contact Ruth or Richard.
Ruth Dalton
E: ruth@rbst.org.uk T: 01539 816223
Richard Broad
E: r.broad@rbst.org.uk T: 07772 007399
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