About The livestock conservancy
The Livestock Conservancy: Protecting America's Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds
The Livestock Conservancy is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to protecting America's endangered livestock and poultry breeds from extinction. The organization was founded in 1977, and since then, it has been working tirelessly to preserve the genetic diversity of our nation's farm animals.
Many of America’s once-common farm animals face extinction if we do not take action now. The industrialization of agriculture has led to the decline of traditional farming practices, which in turn has resulted in the loss of many unique breeds. These breeds are often well-suited to their local environments and have developed traits that make them resistant to diseases or pests. Losing these breeds would mean losing valuable genetic resources that could be used for future breeding programs.
The Livestock Conservancy works with farmers, breeders, and other organizations to promote the conservation of endangered livestock and poultry breeds. They provide education on animal husbandry practices that can help preserve these breeds, as well as support for breeding programs that aim to increase their numbers.
One way they do this is by maintaining a list of endangered livestock and poultry breeds in North America. This list includes over 200 different species, ranging from cattle and pigs to chickens and turkeys. Each breed on this list is classified according to its level of endangerment: critical, threatened, watch or recovering.
Critical status means there are fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States or fewer than 1,000 globally; threatened status means there are fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States or fewer than 5,000 globally; watch status means there are more than 1,000 annual registrations but still need monitoring; recovering status means they were once listed as critical but have made progress towards recovery.
By identifying these endangered species through their classification system they can focus their efforts on those most at risk while also providing information about each breed so people can learn more about them.
Another way The Livestock Conservancy helps protect these animals is by providing resources for farmers who want to raise rare-breed livestock or poultry themselves. They offer workshops on animal husbandry techniques specific for rare-breed animals such as pasture management strategies tailored specifically for heritage breed grazing habits which differ from modern commercial hybrids' grazing habits.
They also provide access to a network of experts who can answer questions about breeding techniques or health issues related specifically with rare-breed animals such as how best manage parasites without using chemical dewormers which may harm heritage breed genetics over time due selective pressure against resistance genes within populations exposed repeatedly over generations..
In addition they offer grants for research projects aimed at improving our understanding about how best conserve rare-breeds including studies into genetics population dynamics disease resistance etc..
Overall The Livestock Conservancy plays an important role in preserving America's agricultural heritage by protecting its unique livestock and poultry breeds from extinction while promoting sustainable farming practices based around biodiversity rather than monoculture production systems focused solely on yield maximization regardless long-term consequences like soil degradation loss biodiversity etc..
livestockconservancy.org
