Rare farm animal breeds face extinction

by Andrew Lupton
the Martlet

Four years ago owner Nick Usborne opened the 15-acre farm to help halt an exploding global crisis.

Farm animal breeds were, and still are, vanishing from the planet at a rate of one breed every five days. Each year an average of 73 breeds, or roughly five per cent of all farm animals, slip quietly into extinction.

An estimated 1,500 breeds (30 per cent of all farm animal breeds) are threatened.

"What we've seen over the past few decades is an alarming, unprecedented rate of extinction," Usborne says sadly.

"When I look down the road a few years, I simply don't see these animals surviving without some significant change in public opinion."

Even more striking than the extinction rate is that it continues virtually unnoticed by scientists, environmentalists and governments.

The Wilding farm operates as a survival centre, housing and breeding 50 animals which represent 17 rare breeds. Wilding also educates visitors about the need to preserve threatened breeds.

"This place is the only public window to the issue in Canada," said Usborne.

"When I tell people that farm animals are becoming extinct, they say 'wow, I've never really thought of it'."

School groups from kindergarten to university have visited the site and left with handfuls of information about the plight of farm animals. Tourists have come and been shocked by the issue they didn't know existed.

And now, after four years of operation, low attendance, high operating costs and lack of government support will force Usborne to shut Wilding's gates forever. Usborne says he's unable to pay annual feed and maintenance bills that average more than $150,000 per year.

"I suppose I'm more of a preservationist than a businessman," he says. "I underestimated the amount of support we'd get. It's really sad because these are very special animals."

Farm animal extinction is tragically linked to agriculture's 'evolution' towards industrialization. Animals began to disappear at the turn of the century, but after World War Two the decline became much more rapid. The extinction of farm animals is explained mainly by elementary genetics, Usborne says.

As farmers are forced to compete on a global scale, animals were bred for just one genetic trait: high production. A few decades ago farmers would choose from thousands of different breeds to suit their climate. A swine farmer in Manitoba for instance, would choose pig breeds able to breed and produce meat in a cold climate.

With farmers having to compete in world markets, technology eliminated the need for strong breeding stocks. As animals were kept by the thousands in climate-controlled pens, hardiness was no longer an important genetic trait.

Instead of breeding animals able to withstand the elements, corporate-controlled farms bred for high output only.

"All of a sudden farmers weren't looking for the same genetic factors that had led to such immense bio-diversity," said Usborne.

"Pigs were bred based on how fast they could go from piglet to slaughter and the amount of meat they'd produce. Farmers stopped breeding animals with other genetic traits and they started to disappear."

Extinction isn't the only problem caused by single-trait selective breeding.

Holstein cows are unrivalled in their ability to produce massive amounts of milk. In Canada about 90 per cent of Holstein females are fertilized by the semen of just 12 bulls. The lack of genetic diversity has left the Holsteins vulnerable to disease.

"The narrowing of the gene pool causes problems for the breed," said Usborne.

"When you genetically select for just one trait many of the other traits that made the breed efficient before are bred right out of the animal." In some American farms Holsteins only survive two or three seasons before health problems set in.

"In some cases the internal structure of their udders begins to break down," said Usborne.

"They develop all sorts of disease problems. It's like a sign saying 'hello, when you select this specifically, this is what happens'."

While the situation worsens, representatives of industry and government have done little to reverse the problem. At the 1992 environemtnal summit in Brazil, Canada pledged to protect rare farm animal breeds. Since then Usborne has seen little action to help halt breed depletion.

Usborne has sent letters to all levels of governments begging them to address the problem. His pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Usborne and a 700-member Canadian organization called Rare Breeds Canada wrote to the British Columbia's agriculture minister six weeks ago. He has yet to receive a response.

"I don't expect anything to change until people are up in arms about this issue," said Usborne.

"When it's wildlife people get motivated. But when it's farm animals facing extinction, for some reason there isn't the same response."

Usborne believes part of the problem is the modern-day separation between consumers and their food source. These days the supermarket milk rack is as close as most shoppers get to a farm, he says.

The Ontario Agriculture Ministry reports that at the turn of the century 40 per cent of Canadians families were directly involved in farming. Today that figure has fallen to less than four per cent.

As Wilding Heritage Farm prepares for closure, Usborne is planning another way to bring the issue to public awareness.

While most of his animals will be sold to hobby farms for breeding and preservation, Usborne plans to write a book about the issue of depleting breeds of farm animals.

"People must become aware of this because who knows what the needs of farming will be in the future?" he said.

He argues that without a diverse pool of genetics to choose from, farmers will be unable to react to changing farming demands that may arise in the future.

"Without these animals the genetic field will be too narrow to react to the market's changing needs. I can't help but wonder what will be left to our grandchildren."