THE Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) is encouraging smallholders and farmers to ensure timely registration of their rare breed livestock and equines despite the disruption to shows and sales for a second year, to help safeguard the breeds’ futures.
In normal years the summer’s county shows, agricultural shows and sales often provide key milestones ahead of which rare breeds are registered, but many of these shows have been cancelled or disrupted. Registered livestock and equines need to be recorded in the relevant flock book, herd book or stud book, and some receive certificates.
RBST chief executive Christopher Price said: “If registrations of rare breeds are overlooked in 2021 as a result of disruption to summer events, crucial information will be lost and the work to support the future of these breeds will suffer. Every registration helps RBST and the breed societies to determine an accurate picture for breed numbers and geographic distribution. Year by year this analysis informs our conservation priorities and programmes of work, as well as decisions about which breeds to target for the UK Gene Bank and categorisations on the RBST watchlist. Some breeds must be registered within a certain timeframe and missing the window this year will have impacts for years to come, because only progeny of registered animals can themselves be registered.”