{"id":29679,"date":"2023-08-24T12:21:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T10:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=29679"},"modified":"2023-08-24T12:21:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T10:21:41","slug":"a-view-from-the-farm-adam-henson-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2023\/08\/24\/a-view-from-the-farm-adam-henson-5\/","title":{"rendered":"A view from the farm Adam Henson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A view from the farm<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n\n

Adam Henson<\/h2>\n\n
\n\n

50 YEARS OF THE RARE BREEDS SURVIVAL TRUST<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n


<\/p>\n\n

\u201cA<\/span> load<\/span> of odd-bods.\u201d Those aren\u2019t my words but a memorable phrase from my old friend and fellow farmer, Charles Martell. What\u2019s more, he\u2019s fully qualified to say it because he was one of those \u2018odd-bods\u2019 waving the conservation flag in the 1970s. <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s hard for us to imagine today, but in the post-war years, no one had heard of sustainability or biodiversity and public campaigns were mostly focussed on the blue whale and giant pandas. At the same time, agriculture was being intensified and highly productive modern livestock were introduced to meet the demands of a hungry population. <\/p>\n\n

So it\u2019s no wonder that when a small band of enthusiasts stepped forward to save Britain\u2019s historic farm breeds, they were greeted with deafening indifference. Traditional native breeds, such as Lincoln Longwool sheep and South Devon cattle, were considered the \u2018old timers of the farmyard\u2019. My dad would often talk about the time he took his Old Spot pigs to auction and was laughed out of the market. <\/p>\n\n

But by 1973, things were changing and Charles remembers the first meeting of rare-breeds farmers \u201cin a greenhouse in Portsmouth\u201d, which marked the birth of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. \u201cSuddenly you could feel the confidence that we were on to something that was needed,\u201d he says. The Trust was the first charity in the world dedicated to preserving and protecting heritage farm livestock, and this year the organisation is celebrating its 50th birthday.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
There are few remaining flocks of Lincoln Longwools, making them a \u2018priority\u2019 on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust\u2019s watchlist<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

PRESERVING RESILIENCE <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The charity\u2019s early days were all about saving breeds from extinction, because so many had already disappeared or been cross-bred out of existence. It\u2019s pretty sobering to think that we\u2019ll never see another Anglesey cow, Middlesex pig, Buff Medway chicken or the gloriously named Pink-Nosed Somerset sheep. <\/p>\n\n

Even so, there are plenty of people who will argue that one sheep (or cow or pig) is much the same as the next, and it doesn\u2019t matter where they come from or what they look like. Which misses the point of rare breeds conservation. Apart from being part of the rich tapestry of the British landscape, with livestock bred or evolving to suit the distinct soil, climate and food needs of their counties, every breed has unique genetics. It\u2019s this DNA that determines individual traits \u2013 the lustrous fleece of Cotswold sheep, for instance \u2013 and it\u2019s vitally important that it\u2019s preserved. <\/p>\n\n

Perhaps the Rare Breeds Survival Trust\u2019s greatest achievement is the UK National Gene Bank, which contains frozen semen and embryos from many of our rarest breeds. I like to think of it as a living insurance policy in case a breed was ever wiped out by disease or disaster. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cI like to think of the National Gene Bank as a living insurance policy\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

To mark its anniversary, the Trust has a new focus \u2013 \u2018Native breeds for modern needs\u2019 \u2013 and it means shouting from the rooftops about the benefits of our traditional livestock. I could start with a long list of tasty produce, including Romney Salt Marsh lamb, Berkshire pork or delicious Single Gloucester cheese from the milk of Charles Martell\u2019s Gloucester cows. But there are also the various uses of wool, conservation grazing to aid biodiversity and the role rare breeds play in research into reproduction, disease resistance, nutrition and food security. It\u2019s not a bad legacy for a load of odd-bods!<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Ask Adam:<\/span> What topic would you like to know more about? <\/strong><\/em><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em>
Email <\/em>your <\/strong>suggestions to editor@countryfile.com<\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Photo: Oliver Edwards, Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

50 years of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"18","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"18","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_18-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_18-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"September-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"September-2023","purple_external_id":"September-2023-18-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"September-2023-18-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000084073||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000084073||","purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.207","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.207","purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.207","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.207","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"91da22fd-9e7f-40d1-a93f-fc46e9516d91","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-08-24T08:20:07Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"35fa1c57-893b-40fc-94c0-1a4101752fb2","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-08-24T10:21:47Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ANfocV4k7QPyUwBpBAXUvsg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[19],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview.jpg",1772,1181,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/08\/2FK8ME1_preview.jpg",1772,1181,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"50 years of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29679"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30353,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29679\/revisions\/30353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}