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Animal Breeding and Production
The causes and definition of endangerment in FAnGR
Perhaps the self-congratulation of organisations in the developed world, citing
the avoidance of breed extinction in the latter part of the twentieth century,
is premature. The series of disease outbreaks since the 1990s puts the security
of native breeds in a different context. Loss of animals from disease and
from rigorous biosecurity control measures, and loss of owners capitulating
in the tightening grip of bureaucracy, is raising the survival stakes in a
manner we have not seen for several decades. The threats to native breeds
must be identified and quantified, and solutions must be developed and implemented.
Lawrence Alderson
Grazing livestock and
greenhouse gases in the UK
Livestock have been identified as significant contributors to the emission
of greenhouse gases (GHG), and policies adopted by some authorities have discriminated
against them for this reason as the UK seeks to meet the targets of the Kyoto
Agreement. Analysis of available data shows that, while some livestock production
systems can be implicated, grazing livestock in the UK on non-intensive systems
of production make a negligible contribution to GHG emissions. On the contrary,
native breeds of livestock contribute positively to society in many ways.
Their local adaptation is realised beneficially on pastureland which sequesters
carbon and in conservation grazing where there are associated benefits for
biodiversity, and they have an obvious cultural value through their association
with history and heritage. Therefore, the focus of GHG policy should be on
agricultural processes that use fossil fuels and contribute to deforestation
and ploughing up of pasture, rather than on livestock which utilize non-intensive
grazing. Lawrence
Alderson