Tough Breeds Of Livestock Disappearing: Saving Them Before It Is Too Late

Science Daily ^ | 2-17-2008 | Virginia Tech.

[randomhero97]

No mention of GW as the cause?

[blam]

Similar article with many pictures here.

[sinanju]

Fascinating. Guess it’s easier to preserve “heirloom” domestic plant strains than domestic critters.

[Larry R. Johnson]

Well by golly gee whizz! I don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout no tough livestock, but I sure likes my steaks tender. WTF?

[blam]

Florida Cracker Cattle

"Sponenberg also ran across another Spanish livestock breed in his travels through the South - Pineywoods cattle. They are now largely in Mississippi and Alabama, although some are in Florida, where they are called Florida Cracker Cattle. "

[Farmer Dean]

We own a mare that’s mostly Spanish mustang.Very smart and very,very tough.Most horse people don’t have a lot of appreciation for the old bloodline horses,but a couple hundred years ago people that depended on their animals knew how to breed for superior animals.

[olezip]

Fascinating article. We are interested in raising some of these rare breeds, particularly the goats and other livestock other than horses.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Highland cattle, according to one article I read, do very well in the northern great plains. Handle the cold better than most other domestic cattle. Small, but still standing at the end of a cold winter.

[blam]

Spanish Colonial Horses

Colonial Spanish Horses are short, narrow, and built for endurance. Phil Sponenberg evaluates a Marsh Tacky mare, from the McKenzie herd in South Carolina, for this conformation. Photo: Jeannette Beranger

[Skywalk]

I’ve yet to do so but I definitely plan on going to Iceland and riding on some Icelandic horses. They’ve never been interbred in the last 900 years or so and they are hardy and tough but also capable of a gait that is supposedly totally smooth and without the jostling of a normal horse ride. Other horses cannot do what they do.

And that probably came about from preserving the breed. “Hybrid vigor” may indeed have a place in breeding but we also lose something with haphazard breeding of livestock and plants.

[Farmer Dean]

Our mare looks almost exactly like the one in your photo.She is one great horse.

[blam]

You all probably don't know that the US has it's own aboriginal dog...been here 10,000 years.

The Dixie Dingo

[RightWhale]

They say there were horses in the Americas before the Euros introduced them and that some tribes had them domesticated. I am not conversant with breeds of horses so won’t add anything beyond this.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Very interesting article, appreciate your posting it!

[hosepipe]

I thought this was a slam at republicans..

[ottbmare]

So if the Spanish brought their horses to a continent on which there had not previously been horses for thousands of years, presumably the Spanish stock had no indigenous stock to breed with, and the horses bred among each other. With me so far? The next question is, how are these animals genetically different from the ones left behind in Spain and Portugal--the Andalusians and Lusitanos? I don't see how it would be possible for the Choctaws to be genetically different if no new blood was introduced. Which makes one wonder why it's so important to save them. Goodness knows we have no shortage of PRE horses (caballos de pura raza espanol) either in this country or in Spain.

[blam]

"America Before Columbus"

[higgmeister]

My family had one of those painted pintos ponies when I was growing up on the farm. Her name was Paint and she was brought to Georgia from Oklahoma. She was trained as a cutting horse and my uncle saved her when she was retired from the ranch. She made an exciting ride for a young kid if she got to close to the cattle. Her instincts and training would kick in and she would begin trying to herd them like the Oklahoma Cow Pony she was.

[blam]

LOL My Australian Shephard dog, at times, tries to herd me too.