Rare Breed Survival Trust

[JP1]

In fairness to the RBST, their charitable remit (aims & objectives) does not extend to recognising emerging new breeds so they should not be taken to task on this account. Even worse is that the RBST appears to now be using a revised new policy of abandoning pure breeds that the charity was created to protect. The RBST is now turning its back on pure original population iconic native breeds such as the Ayrshire, Guernsey & Jersey in favour of accepting crossbred or hybridised (modernised) equivalents of the old pure breeds. The members have not voted on this change of policy and as far as I am aware, the Charity Commission has not been notified in this change to the original core aims and objectives of the RBST

Emerging breed is not relevant in my breed case. The other Galloway breed societies will not register such marked calves

Their remit (as far as I understand) is to support all breeds under threat due to numbers

 

[eagerbeaver]

I think a big shake up of the trustees is well over due and it’s one of the things I have already suggested. The issue is getting them to vote for it is a major piece of work, but it’s quite obvious that they can’t carry on as is. I am on a few committees and there is a distinct mix of skills and knowledge because the trustees are only asked to join if they bring something different to the table

New trustees are only asked to join if they are unlikely to rock the boat and not likely to force change in this previously well-intentioned but now dysfunctional organisation run with building yo financial reserves a a prime aim whilst conserving pure native breeds and genes that will be needed in the future are left to slide into extiction.

 

[delilah]

Talking about which breeds the RBST do or don't recognise is a sideshow.
Folks will only keep a rare breed if it can be sold, at a profit.
They can only be sold at a profit if you have an abattoir, ideally a choice of abattoirs, within striking distance.
The rate the abattoirs are closing, I give the RBST 10 years.
And when you read a double page spread in The Ark where the Chief Executive blames cows for climate change, they don't deserve to last that long. He should be focussing all of his efforts on turning the abattoir issue round, not writing that crap.
@Old Tip

 

[eagerbeaver]

Talking about which breeds the RBST do or don't recognise is a sideshow.
Folks will only keep a rare breed if it can be sold, at a profit.
They can only be sold at a profit if you have an abattoir, ideally a choice of abattoirs, within striking distance.
The rate the abattoirs are closing, I give the RBST 10 years.
And when you read a double page spread in The Ark where the Chief Executive blames cows for climate change, they don't deserve to last that long. He should be focussing all of his efforts on turning the abattoir issue round, not writing that crap.
@Old Tip

The abattoir issue is of course paramount. To be fair, the CEO has been lobbying on this issue without any obvious success since his arrival in 2019. Sadly, he is a political lobbyist first and foremost - not a farmer or conservationist and his words cut little ice representing an organisation where a high proportion of the RBST membership are convinced that the trust has lost its way. Most of the members whose voices I have heard would not give the RBST 10 more years under the present management and Board. If the current CEO leaves in 5 years' time, there will not be much left to be conserved - an increased pot of reserve funding, perhaps which is currently in excess of £3000 but very little else. Membership is reportedly falling and many are saying that the RBST has never been in a bigger mess.

 

[AGN76]

Talking about which breeds the RBST do or don't recognise is a sideshow.
Folks will only keep a rare breed if it can be sold, at a profit.
They can only be sold at a profit if you have an abattoir, ideally a choice of abattoirs, within striking distance.
The rate the abattoirs are closing, I give the RBST 10 years.
And when you read a double page spread in The Ark where the Chief Executive blames cows for climate change, they don't deserve to last that long. He should be focussing all of his efforts on turning the abattoir issue round, not writing that crap.
@Old Tip

I unfollowed him on twatter due to some of his unhelpful negative comments

 

[eagerbeaver]

The abattoir issue is of course paramount. To be fair, the CEO has been lobbying on this issue without any obvious success since his arrival in 2019. Sadly, he is a political lobbyist first and foremost - not a farmer or conservationist and his words cut little ice representing an organisation where a high proportion of the RBST membership are convinced that the trust has lost its way. Most of the members whose voices I have heard would not give the RBST 10 more years under the present management and Board. If the current CEO leaves in 5 years' time, there will not be much left to be conserved - an increased pot of reserve funding, perhaps which is currently in excess of £3 million but very little else. Membership is reportedly falling and many are saying that the RBST has never been in a bigger mess.

 

[matthew]

I and others, have tried to engage this society with the problem - and it is a problem - of over protected, disease carrying wildlife v. their mission statement to preserve rare breeds. If that is to include cattle, goats, outdoor pigs and sheep then the fence must come down.
But the answer was ‘most of our subscribers are retired non farmers, and they love badgers’. Obviously from the distance that power and no responsibility gives, of course.
No use pointing out that a coughing badger doesn’t distinguish between a Holstein dairy cow or a rare breed Longhorn / White Park bull: the minds are set.

 

[JP1]

Talking about which breeds the RBST do or don't recognise is a sideshow.
Folks will only keep a rare breed if it can be sold, at a profit.
They can only be sold at a profit if you have an abattoir, ideally a choice of abattoirs, within striking distance.
The rate the abattoirs are closing, I give the RBST 10 years.
And when you read a double page spread in The Ark where the Chief Executive blames cows for climate change, they don't deserve to last that long. He should be focussing all of his efforts on turning the abattoir issue round, not writing that crap.
@Old Tip

Er it might not have been a side show if there was actually a F&M outbreak in Norfolk last month and I was facing a contiguous cull

Yes the small local abattoir is important but that wasn't the central tenet of this thread

 

[delilah]

Er it might not have been a side show if there was actually a F&M outbreak in Norfolk last month and I was facing a contiguous cull

Yes the small local abattoir is important but that wasn't the central tenet of this thread

The OP asked why people do or don't keep rare breeds. The answer for most is profit or lack of, and the abattoir issue sits central to that.

 

[Whitepeak]

Anyone else heard about the National Rare Breeds Show?
Heard a rumour that it will no longer be hosted by the Three Counties Show next year. Supposedly the RBST haven't paid the Three Counties for hosting it (possibly going back to the 2019 show!), so they have kicked them out.

 

[JP1]

The OP asked why people do or don't keep rare breeds. The answer for most is profit or lack of, and the abattoir issue sits central to that.

I don't doubt abattoirs are fundamental to ALL small and local farmers , rare breed or not but no that isn't what John was asking

He asked (and polled) who was a member of RBST, who kept rare breeds pure and pedigree and what stopped them joining RBST

My breed isn't recognised by RBST and DEFRA via FAnGR the secretive internal breeds advisory have finally put my breed in to a "breed in development". Neither FAnGR nor RBST will engage in proper dialogue (ie two way) and thus I can't be in RBST and furthermore:

My breed qualifies for NE nBARR grazing subs etc and has a CTS breed code

Is NOT on the BARR (Breeds at Risk Register) and thus would have no discretionary appeals on a contiguous cull when the men with the pithing rods arrive

Does not get any recognition via RBST for others who may wish to breed Riggit Galloways or form local show classes

So you have valid points but it's you that didn't answer the OP's questions. Not that the abattoir issue is not important. Equally important is the role of RBST in promoting Native Breeds and the provenance of extensively grazed breeds / enhancing environments through attuned grazing programmes and helping to roll back the anti lobby who either consider themselves more ethical or assisting the environment

 

[Old Tip]

Anyone else heard about the National Rare Breeds Show?
Heard a rumour that it will no longer be hosted by the Three Counties Show next year. Supposedly the RBST haven't paid the Three Counties for hosting it (possibly going back to the 2019 show!), so they have kicked them out.

Not sure where you heard that but I can confirm it’s absolutely not the case

 

[steveR]

The OP asked why people do or don't keep rare breeds. The answer for most is profit or lack of, and the abattoir issue sits central to that.

And Butchers dealing with the Local Authortity and and inspections if they are called a cutting room and not a butcher!

 

[Old Tip]

I don't doubt abattoirs are fundamental to ALL small and local farmers , rare breed or not but no that isn't what John was asking

He asked (and polled) who was a member of RBST, who kept rare breeds pure and pedigree and what stopped them joining RBST

My breed isn't recognised by RBST and DEFRA via FAnGR the secretive internal breeds advisory have finally put my breed in to a "breed in development". Neither FAnGR nor RBST will engage in proper dialogue (ie two way) and thus I can't be in RBST and furthermore:

My breed qualifies for NE nBARR grazing subs etc and has a CTS breed code

Is NOT on the BARR (Breeds at Risk Register) and thus would have no discretionary appeals on a contiguous cull when the men with the pithing rods arrive

Does not get any recognition via RBST for others who may wish to breed Riggit Galloways or form local show classes

So you have valid points but it's you that didn't answer the OP's questions. Not that the abattoir issue is not important. Equally important is the role of RBST in promoting Native Breeds and the provenance of extensively grazed breeds / enhancing environments through attuned grazing programmes and helping to roll back the anti lobby who either consider themselves more ethical or assisting the environment

You will be glad to know FAnGR no longer exists but is now called something equally unmemorable. RBST has no say in what they decide and often only here what has been decided through the press. According to DEFRA the new group is supposed to be more outward looking and approachable but we will wait and see. As to Riggots they are listed on the watchlist now alongside the other Galloway breeds so are recognised which is a first step. The Albion was fully listed recently after a few years of work in compiling the information required so it’s not a closed shop.
As to abattoirs we were making some progress with the relative government officials but it’s all ground to a halt and who knows what will happen under the new regime.

 

[Old Tip]

I and others, have tried to engage this society with the problem - and it is a problem - of over protected, disease carrying wildlife v. their mission statement to preserve rare breeds. If that is to include cattle, goats, outdoor pigs and sheep then the fence must come down.
But the answer was ‘most of our subscribers are retired non farmers, and they love badgers’. Obviously from the distance that power and no responsibility gives, of course.
No use pointing out that a coughing badger doesn’t distinguish between a Holstein dairy cow or a rare breed Longhorn / White Park bull: the minds are set.

When was this, not heard anything comparable to what you mention the bit about members couldn’t be any further from the truth

 

[matthew]

When was this, not heard anything comparable to what you mention the bit about members couldn’t be any further from the truth

A year or three back, at the RBCT stand at major shows. I wasn't alone either. A prominent breeder of Longhorn cattle got the same response.
What you may be told at committee meetings will be different.

 

[Old Tip]

A year or three back, at the RBCT stand at major shows. I wasn't alone either. A prominent breeder of Longhorn cattle got the same response.
What you may be told at committee meetings will be different.

Be keen to have a chat, been a struggle with the current government but that may change i hope. Not sure who you saw but if it was that long ago

 

[matthew]

Be keen to have a chat, been a struggle with the current government but that may change i hope. Not sure who you saw but if it was that long ago

This was the major shows at Stoneleigh, or royal Cornwall.
The chap i spoke to (in a darkened tent) was dressed in dark green, smelt of goats and was quite 'hairy' - as in unkempt beard etc.
My colleague (with the Longhorns) is Midlands based and she had the same response. Not necessarily from the same person. Her efforts, together with a few more enthusiasts have lifted the Longhorn off the endangered list.
But they still get hit with TB, and reactors still get shot.

Another colleague has a small herd of Large Black pigs. Under TB restriction, as is the commercial herd of pigs run by that farm. No exit from that situation unless and until they skin test each and every pig on the farm..

 

[topground]

I don't doubt abattoirs are fundamental to ALL small and local farmers , rare breed or not but no that isn't what John was asking

He asked (and polled) who was a member of RBST, who kept rare breeds pure and pedigree and what stopped them joining RBST

My breed isn't recognised by RBST and DEFRA via FAnGR the secretive internal breeds advisory have finally put my breed in to a "breed in development". Neither FAnGR nor RBST will engage in proper dialogue (ie two way) and thus I can't be in RBST and furthermore:

My breed qualifies for NE nBARR grazing subs etc and has a CTS breed code

Is NOT on the BARR (Breeds at Risk Register) and thus would have no discretionary appeals on a contiguous cull when the men with the pithing rods arrive

Does not get any recognition via RBST for others who may wish to breed Riggit Galloways or form local show classes

So you have valid points but it's you that didn't answer the OP's questions. Not that the abattoir issue is not important. Equally important is the role of RBST in promoting Native Breeds and the provenance of extensively grazed breeds / enhancing environments through attuned grazing programmes and helping to roll back the anti lobby who either consider themselves more ethical or assisting the environment

Somerset Show Societies happy to accommodate Sheeted Somerset Cattle and likely to promote breed classes.
So much for FAnGR ( or whatever they are how called @Old Tip ) attempts to strangle the breed at birth.
It just goes to show that breeds are for the breeders to determine what they should be called and their characteristics. Not self appointed elites or self serving anonymous civil servants and their ‘expert’ advisors..

 

[Old Tip]

New trustees are only asked to join if they are unlikely to rock the boat and not likely to force change in this previously well-intentioned but now dysfunctional organisation run with building yo financial reserves a a prime aim whilst conserving pure native breeds and genes that will be needed in the future are left to slide into extiction.

Completely disagree with everything in this post but I guess it’s your opinion