WSP05005

• File Number: 8021
• Description: Section D General Studies - Western States Water Council
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 9/1/1990
• Author: Land Institute
• Title: The Land Report - The Land Report - Fall 1990
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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the industrial economy in the nineteenth century.
Unfortunately, modern farm animals are products of
this industrial mind. We are left with breeds more
suited to a human-created environment and increas,
ingly dependent on human "solutions" to physical
problems such as parasites, birthing problems, and
high nutritional requirements. While these needs are
easily met under an energy-intensive system, increas-
ing costs are making farming highly prohibitive to
the beginning or limited, capital farmer. What is
needed in order to make the transition to a low-
capital, diversifled system are crops and livestock
able to withstand the vicissitudes of nature with
minimal human intervention.
The ability to give birth without assistance
should be a primary consideration when choosing a
breed of livestock. However, the modern emphasis on
rapid growth and high growth rates have made
birthing assistance necessary for many breeds of
cattle and sheep. Charolais cattle, a breed from the
lush pastures surrounding Vichy in France, have
become increasingly popular because of the extremely
high growth rates in calves. The muscular develop-
ment at birth is so advanced that calving difficulties
are common. One Charolais bull imported into Great
Britain sired calves of which 9.4 percent underwent a
difficult birth and 7.1 percent died within 12 hours."
Although this may be an extreme example, it does
illustrate that the goal of maximum production can be
counterproductive to the welfare of the animal, and
that other breeds, particularly those that reproduce
with little or no human interference, are perhaps
what are needed for an agriculture based on nature's
model.
Specialization, which is the rule today, was
seldom a top priority in the past, since multifunc-
tional abilities were more important. For example,
an older breed such as the Milking Devon not only
produced high quality milk from a strictly grass diet,
but also served as a beef animal and excelled other
breeds for draft purposes. It was able to do this while,
foraging on poor land and surviving an adverse
climate. A modern dairy breed such as the Holstein
can certainly produce more milk, but high energy
feed and protection from bad weather is necessary.
In fact, some modern Holsteins produce so much milk
that they require three milkings in a twenty-four.
hour period.' In addition, the emphasis on the
extreme dairy conformation in Holsteins has resulted
in animals with very little flesh, reducing the value of
the carcass when the animal has reached the end of
its useful milking life.6
While dual and triple purpose animals are not
conducive to the high proflts of agribusiness, they are
ideal for a sustainable system. Unfortunately, the
Milking Devon has been reduced to between 300 and
400 animals, and if lost would be the end of that

genetic line of cattle.. The future breeding stock of
cattle would rest on a much narrower genetic base.
With environmental changes such as global warming
and ozone degradation, preserving a wide genetic
base in livestock is important to aid in the develop-
ment of new breeds. To allow genetic truncation of
livestock is a risk not worth taking. Another short-
coming of many breeds is their dependence on high,
energy agriculture for their survival. With the rising
cost of intensive livestock maintenance, it is impor-
tant to preserve breeds better suited to low input
systems.
The original stock for most of the minor breeds
in the United States comes from Europe. Some
breeds, such as the Texas Longhorn, evolved for a
significant time in the U.S. as a feral population, but
the foundation stock is Spanish in origin. These
cattle, known for their huge, widespread horns, are
becoming commercially useful again due to the
market trend towards leaner meat. Because of the
recent increase in numbers, Texas longhorn cattle are
no longer considered a minor breed.
Many breeds of livestock are still prevalent in
their country of origin, but are at risk of disappearing
rapidly due to increased industrialization of agricul-
ture. A country as small as Great Britain is the home
to at least 112 native breeds of cattle, sheep, goats,
pigs, and horses! Many of these are now very rare.
In the U.S. the number of native and non-native
breeds is smaller than .that of Europe, but some
breeds in the U.S., such as the Dutch Belted cattle,
are no longer present in their country of origin. This
distinct breed, jet black except for a white belt encir,
cling the body between the shoulder and hips, can
achieve milk yields comparable to that of the Holstein
but of higher butterfat content.. The U.S. is an
important source for some rare breeds, and through
continuing importations is providing much protection

Milking Devon cow and first calf resulting from tM
AMBC rare breeds semen bank. Photo by Robert
Amberg, courtesy of AMBC.

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