A WATCHLIST WITH A WAKE-UP CALL
While previous Watchlist reports have focused on movements between categories, it may be more relevant in 2014 to look at the underlying trends. In summary, within categories 1 to 5, the Watchlist shows three positive movements for sheep, one negative for cattle and one negative for pigs. Of concern is the fact that three breeds – one a former Watchlist success – have moved from category 6 (Other Native Breeds) into Watchlist category 5 (Minority).
Coming onto the Watchlist for the first time this year are Devon Closewool sheep and New Forest ponies, with British White cattle returning to the Watchlist. Perhaps even more worrying than this is that of the total of 57 breeds represented on the Watchlist in categories 1 to 5, 33 are showing three-year average trends of numerical decline, with only 17 showing growth – a situation that the RBST Conservation Committee describes as “a wake-up call”.
For the purpose of compiling the RBST Watchlist, numbers of fully registered UK females are provided annually by breed societies. An average of this data over a rolling three-year period is then calculated and a species-specific multiplier is applied to convert these figures to the numbers of breeding females. This methodology is applied to sheep, cattle, goats, pigs and equines. Poultry is listed separately within the RBST UK Poultry Breeds at Risk list, which is uncategorised. When determining the Watchlist category a breed should occupy, genetic or geographical vulnerability or other factors can be taken into account.
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Sheep
Of all of the Watchlist species, the picture for sheep is the most positive with 12 breeds showing increasing trends, but this still leaves one breed that has remained static and nine in decline. Two breeds – the Leicester Longwool and North Ronaldsay – have moved from Category 2 to 3 and the Hill Radnor has moved from 3 to 4. Much work has been done with the North Ronaldsay and the Conservation Committee pays particular tribute to the work of Cathy Cassie, reported in the last issue of the Ark. Cathy has led the breed society’s efforts to bring island rams across to the mainland to begin a managed breeding programme designed to create a greater diversity of genetics across the breed. Similarly, the Hill Radnor Flock Book Society has undertaken an energetic programme of breed promotion at shows, which has led to a positive upward trend after a long period as ‘vulnerable’.
Other breeds are also showing an upward numerical trend and, if continued, this could see them moving to a less rare category next year, but the Conservation Committee has, for 2014, recommended caution to ensure that these trends for increasing numbers are sustained over the long term.
RBST monitors those breeds in Category 6 and amongst those, there is a handful of sheep breeds which are of some concern. It is possible that some more breeds may need to be brought onto the Watchlist in the future, while data provided by the breed society for the Devon Closewool has indicated that this breed should now be moved onto the Watchlist in Category 5.
Photos: North Ronaldsay (Right) by John Durrant, Leicester Longwool (Top Left) and Hill Radnor (Bottom Left).
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Cattle
Perhaps the biggest surprise for many will be the move back onto the Watchlist of the British White, a previous success story. Prior to 2010, the trends for this breed were going up, with nothing to indicate a potential reversal. However, having subsequently plateaued, numbers are now in decline. One possible reason for this could be that, like other breeds that show great success in crossing, focus has been slightly lost when it comes to ensuring a robust registered pure-bred population.
The other worrying statistic for cattle is the move of the Gloucester from Category 4 to 3, which reflects a significant reduction in numbers for the second year running.
Photos: Gloucester Cattle (Left) by John Green and British White (Top and Bottom Right).
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Pigs
In the context of the broader industry, pig breeders have been facing a very tough economic situation, particularly relating to the escalating feed prices. This is reflected in the rare breed world by decreasing numerical trends for 9 of the 10 breeds on the Watchlist.
It came as a shock to many last year when the BPA registered Large White moved onto the Watchlist and, sadly, this year the breed moves from Category 5 to 4. Part of the reason for this is that around 50% of the registered breeding female Large White were up until last year kept by just four breeders, one of whom has since suffered a major fire in which all of the stock was lost. Not only did this represent a personal tragedy for the breeder concerned, who lost the results of 60 years’ of dedicated work, it also highlights the risk involved when a large proportion of a breed is geographically or otherwise concentrated.
Photos: Tamworth (Left) by Paul Thornton, Berkshire (Top Right) by Richard Barker and Large White (Bottom Right) BPA.
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Goats
While the Conservation Committee did not recommend any changes of categories for goats, it is important to highlight the continued drop in registrations and falling numbers of registered adult breeding females for the Bagot goat for the third consecutive year. RBST is currently working with the Bagot Goat Society, and have recently conducted a Geneped analysis for the breed. The Society has also introduced a new registration system, via Grassroots Systems Ltd and it is hoped that these measures will help re-focus attention on this breed. Farm parks in particular have an important role to play in the future of the Bagot. Introduced originally to the United Kingdom as a purely decorative breed for parkland settings, the Bagot is now a popular choice for farm parks, because of its size and eye-catching looks, and RBST is working with its farm park network to encourage breeding programmes to ensure that the Bagot has a future in this role.
Photo: Golden Guernsey (Right) by Jon Durrant and Bagot Goat (Left) by Linda Trotman.
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Other Native Breeds
The Devon Closewool has never previously been listed as a rare breed and RBST is working with the Breed Society to ascertain whether this fall in numbers may be due to a situation where there is a lack of registrations rather than a lack of actual animals, and to assess other risk factors. The breed has previously been considered to have some risk to its population because of geographical concentration but has not been thought to be numerically at risk until now.
It is felt that for a number of Category 6 breeds, there has never been, understandably, a rare-breed mind-set, meaning that some breeders have not fully understood the importance of registering their animals so that they can be counted in the official population. A key message, therefore, is that registrations matter.
Another important lesson that this year’s Watchlist delivers is that there must be no sense of false security for those important native breeds that do not appear on the Watchlist. As a national charity which exists to protect Britain’s livestock heritage, it is essential that RBST continues to monitor those breeds not currently considered under threat. While Category 6 does contain an impressive list of success stories, it doesn’t guarantee a safe haven. Whilst it is true that some livestock keepers are keen to focus their conservation efforts on Watchlist breeds, we must never under estimate the important contribution people keeping Category 6 animals make to breed preservation.
Photo: Devon Closewool Sheep by the Devon Closewool Sheep Breeders Society
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A Species in Crisis
At the end of his address at the 2013 Watchlist launch, RBST Patron HRH The Prince of Wales concluded with the words “keep breeding”. The trends revealed by the 2014 Watchlist figures show how important this message is across all breeds. However, for the equines, those words have to be tempered with a proviso: breed only from the best and then only if you can afford to keep the resulting foals.
The situation for horses and ponies has to be viewed in the national context, and nationally, Britain is in the midst of what the British Horse Society (BHS) has described as “a huge and unprecedented welfare crisis” due to over-population. In a report published at the end of 2013 in its membership magazine British Horse, BHS said: “Decades of unchecked and indiscriminate breeding mean that we now have far more horses than we have knowledgeable homes to care for them.“
In the vast majority of cases, pure-bred foals from registered rare breed equines still have to compete on the open market and with so many horses now available for sale, prices are low and buyers hard to find. Not surprisingly, even the most dedicated breed supporters have to think more than twice about breeding. For all equine breeds, including those in Category 6, actual registration figures for 2012 are lower than the previous years and some breed societies have already reported that in 2013 those figures will be even further reduced. If the trends continue, it is likely that some native pony breeds such as the Dales, Dartmoor and Exmoor could potentially also need to be moved to more at risk categories on the Watchlist in the near future. The 100% populations of the Eriskay, Cleveland Bay and Hackney could face grave risks of even higher levels of inbreeding if these trends continue.
Ironically, welfare issues, and the responsible actions taken by their owners, are partly the reason for the New Forest pony coming onto the Watchlist. Numbers of stallions released for breeding on the Forest have been significantly reduced by the New Forest Pony and Cattle Breeding Society to prevent overbreeding and avoid welfare issues arising from a lack of buyers. This does, however, mean that the New Forest Pony has fallen below the 3,000 threshold for registered adult breeding females for the first time. Now officially a rare breed, it is important to help ensure the genetic diversity of this reducing population is maintained.
The situation facing all equine breeds in terms of lack of market for youngstock poses a dilemma for RBST – how can it fulfil its role of preserving the breeds for the future without adding to today’s problems? As a national charity, RBST cannot ethically encourage widespread breeding and stresses the importance of only breeding to maintain genetic diversity within a breed and then only in circumstances where the breeder can afford to ensure the long-term future of a foal, without having to rely on selling it.
Whereas with other species, in special circumstances RBST is able to purchase agisted stock, this is not a viable option with equines. RBST does currently own an agisted herd of Exmoors, which have previously bred successfully, but at present they are being used for conservation grazing, which is really the purpose of the agisted stock programme.
While the current combination of over-supply and economic pressures continues to depress the market, it is inevitable that the numbers of rare breed equines will continue to fall. While it will continue to consider a plethora of options, including Geneped analysis to identify the most genetically significant examples of each breed, the Conservation Committee considers that the only ethical conservation measure currently open to RBST is to use the Gene Bank.
As well as working closely with breed societies to encourage semen collection, RBST will also liaise closely with welfare organisations to ensure that if they take in any rare breed stallions, there is an opportunity for the Trust to look at their genetics and, where appropriate, organise semen collection before the animal is taken out of the breeding population by gelding. In this way, RBST will be act responsibly in the context of the equine situation whilst fulfilling its obligations as the guardian of the UK’s native breeds by taking a long-term view.
Photos: Exmoor Pony (Left) by Michael Dewhurst, Dartmoor Pony (Bottom Left) by The Dartmoor Pony Society, Hackney Horses (Top Left) by Linda Trotman.
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