Heritage Breed: British White Cattle. Photo by Janet Brooks
As breeders of the heritage British White cattle breed, we know better than many the importance of maintaining genetic diversity, for some of us this is why we selected British White cattle. A recent article in theconversation.com highlighted that “hundreds of livestock breeds have gone extinct- but some farmers are keeping the endangered breeds alive”.
There are an estimated 8,800 livestock breeds across 38 farmed species but the article notes that this diversity is dwindling fast, fuelled by advances in selective breeding and artificial insemination. These techniques have seen a global focus on a small number of profitable livestock types leaving heritage breeds at risk of extinction. The focus over the past century has shifted from breeding hardy, multipurpose animals to increasing performance for economic gain often in intensive production systems.
The implications are a risk of loss of vital genetic diversity and heightened risk of genetic defects, greater risk to our food systems from lethal animal diseases, and reduced resistance to endemic pests to name a few.
Climate change has also brought a greater focus on levels of meat consumption along with the methods by which livestock are raised. Sustainability and higher welfare approaches to livestock production are integral to a multifaceted response to the effects of climate change. This is why regenerative agriculture and paddock to plate operations are gaining in popularity, two markets where British White cattle have been shown to excel both here and in overseas.
The article and upcoming book Saving Heritage Breeds: A Love Story by Catie Gressier will likely resonate with British White breeders. It notes that there is a small cohort of Australian farmers working hard to conserve endangered livestock breeds but that they are hampered by consumers reluctance to pay more to cover the cost of raising slower growing breeds in free-range environments such as regeneratively farmed cattle.
After four years of research Catie has found that the primary motivation of Australia’s heritage breed farmers is love. Drawing parallels with wildlife conservation, Catie notes that humans will act to save what they love and this holds for livestock too.
So, what can you do to arrest this critical slide in global genetic diversity and ultimately choice? Seek out rare breeds, join organisations such as the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, purchase your meat from farmers growing rare or heritage breed livestock and breed British White Catttle!
