What Rare breed would you avoid and why? (follow on from what would you keep)

[ilyria]

Thank you so much everyone for answering the last question because everyone was so helpful I've been sent back with two new questions.
Question 1: What breed on the RBST watchlist would you avoid at all costs and why?

Question 2: What do you think puts people off rare breed livestock? Ingrained perceptions, experience, figures or something else?

 

[Castle Farm]

Limited market for rare breeds.
Farming has to make a profit or you soon run out of funds. Not so bad if your Husband/Wife has a job/income and who is prepared to finance your hobby.
They are rare for a reason.

 

[BAF]

Rare breeds are rare for several reasons.
1 Theyre slow growing
2 They run to fat before finishing
3 They're woolly/hairy/have horns
4 They fell out of fashion and were superceded by continental stock that grow/finish quickly.

Theres holes in every breed - beltex sheep have a propensity to die more than most sheep, texels have lambing problems, Suffolks have legs, feet and head to rival a cow. Belgian Blue calves are prone to needing chopping out of their mothers, limmys jump better than horses, they're wilder than wild things and if they can't run away they're not above stomping you to death, holsteins are milk pumps in a cow suit that fall apart. And in pigs anything if it's not pink and bald (steady!) It's coloured and hairy and penalised as such.

Youve got to play to your market. I think you could make rare breeds commercial - like they did with the Llyn and although not rare the Angus schemes have seen a massive resurgence in the AA - but on the other hand there's no real incentive to try and commercialise rare breeds.

Personally I've had Gloucester Old Spot pigs and you couldn't pay me to have them again. Stupid, bitey, floppy eared creatures!

 

[spin cycle]

poll dorset

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Rare breeds are rare for several reasons.
1 Theyre slow growing
2 They run to fat before finishing
3 They're woolly/hairy/have horns
4 They fell out of fashion and were superceded by continental stock that grow/finish quickly.

Theres holes in every breed - beltex sheep have a propensity to die more than most sheep, texels have lambing problems, Suffolks have legs, feet and head to rival a cow. Belgian Blue calves are prone to needing chopping out of their mothers, limmys jump better than horses, they're wilder than wild things and if they can't run away they're not above stomping you to death, holsteins are milk pumps in a cow suit that fall apart. And in pigs anything if it's not pink and bald (steady!) It's coloured and hairy and penalised as such.

Youve got to play to your market. I think you could make rare breeds commercial - like they did with the Llyn and although not rare the Angus schemes have seen a massive resurgence in the AA - but on the other hand there's no real incentive to try and commercialise rare breeds.

Personally I've had Gloucester Old Spot pigs and you couldn't pay me to have them again. Stupid, bitey, floppy eared creatures!

Well put

 

[Dry Rot]

Agree the above but by definition rare breeds have a limited gene pool so difficult to selectively breed out faults and increase the percentage of desirable characteristics.

The other problems are shows and breed societies and all the corruption that goes with them.

 

[Tim G]

Rare breeds are rare for several reasons.
1 Theyre slow growing
2 They run to fat before finishing
3 They're woolly/hairy/have horns
4 They fell out of fashion and were superceded by continental stock that grow/finish quickly.

Theres holes in every breed - beltex sheep have a propensity to die more than most sheep, texels have lambing problems, Suffolks have legs, feet and head to rival a cow. Belgian Blue calves are prone to needing chopping out of their mothers, limmys jump better than horses, they're wilder than wild things and if they can't run away they're not above stomping you to death, holsteins are milk pumps in a cow suit that fall apart. And in pigs anything if it's not pink and bald (steady!) It's coloured and hairy and penalised as such.

Youve got to play to your market. I think you could make rare breeds commercial - like they did with the Llyn and although not rare the Angus schemes have seen a massive resurgence in the AA - but on the other hand there's no real incentive to try and commercialise rare breeds.

Personally I've had Gloucester Old Spot pigs and you couldn't pay me to have them again. Stupid, bitey, floppy eared creatures!

How do you define commercial?

 

[brigadoon]

How do you define commercial?

It leaves cash behind

 

[Tim W]

Thank you so much everyone for answering the last question because everyone was so helpful I've been sent back with two new questions.
Question 1: What breed on the RBST watchlist would you avoid at all costs and why?

Question 2: What do you think puts people off rare breed livestock? Ingrained perceptions, experience, figures or something else?

1) Any of the horses--why? better things to drain my finances
2) Their perceived lack of commercial traits---all traits are commercial, you just need to find their market

 

[Estate fencing.]

poll dorset

Is that a nervous twitch, you just shout “poll Dorset”.

 

[neilo]

Rare breeds are rare for several reasons.
1 Theyre slow growing
2 They run to fat before finishing
3 They're woolly/hairy/have horns
4 They fell out of fashion and were superceded by continental stock that grow/finish quickly.

Theres holes in every breed - beltex sheep have a propensity to die more than most sheep, texels have lambing problems, Suffolks have legs, feet and head to rival a cow. Belgian Blue calves are prone to needing chopping out of their mothers, limmys jump better than horses, they're wilder than wild things and if they can't run away they're not above stomping you to death, holsteins are milk pumps in a cow suit that fall apart. And in pigs anything if it's not pink and bald (steady!) It's coloured and hairy and penalised as such.

Youve got to play to your market. I think you could make rare breeds commercial - like they did with the Llyn and although not rare the Angus schemes have seen a massive resurgence in the AA - but on the other hand there's no real incentive to try and commercialise rare breeds.

Personally I've had Gloucester Old Spot pigs and you couldn't pay me to have them again. Stupid, bitey, floppy eared creatures!

I take my hat off to you Sir. In a single post you will have upset approximately half the livestock farmers reading by making (accurate) generalisations about their favourite breed.

Fair play.

 

[spin cycle]

Is that a nervous twitch, you just shout “poll Dorset”.

yeah.....i meant to say herdwick

 

[Estate fencing.]

yeah.....i meant to say herdwick

Do you sit the pub on a Friday night shouting “poll Dorset”, people ask what up with that old boy, oh he’s withnessed unspeakable things in mid of November lambing yet another “accident”

 

[unlacedgecko]

Soay.

 

[kps]

Soay.
I've had various rare breed sheep and most with a terminal sire on can get to a minimum weight on dw grid but not soays. Wild as well.

 

[BAF]

I take my hat off to you Sir. In a single post you will have upset approximately half the livestock farmers reading by making (accurate) generalisations about their favourite breed.

Fair play.

How to lose friends and alienate people
I thought I was quite kind about limmys. I could have said Theyre the type of cow you look at across the field and think bloody hell my neighbours got some smart cattle then think for a minute and realise they're yours and they've jumped 5 hedges, smashed 3 gates, killed a little old lady and sh!t on the vicars porch

 

[Jockers84]

Thank you so much everyone for answering the last question because everyone was so helpful I've been sent back with two new questions.
Question 1: What breed on the RBST watchlist would you avoid at all costs and why?

Question 2: What do you think puts people off rare breed livestock? Ingrained perceptions, experience, figures or something else?

Q1 - hard to pick one, the breed society’s could be part of the problem as pedigrees limit the bloodlines - there was none of that about when the breeds were created. There’s also a time variation on when the breeds were engineered and fixed, for example a soay would be accent in comparison to a border leister.
Q2 - profitability, pure and simple. Some might turn a pound on them but for production purposes they’ve been replaced with animals that return better margins.

 

[Dry Rot]

I think I'm right in saying that shows started around 1850 and the first shows were for gundogs (my area). Before that, sportsmen kept what worked. If they were wealthy enough, they kept their own kennels and gave away pups to their friends and relatives. When they bred, they went back to these same dogs and very soon a "breed" was created.

Then The Kennel Club came along and with it dog shows. Dog shows were followed by shows for other species. Then clubs, societies, stud books, and breed standards. There is your problem. "Breeds" muddled along for centuries until the bureaucrats became involved and tightened up the gene pools.

The film "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" brought some of these problems to the attention of the public and we now have the return swing of the pendulum. The current demand is for the universal pet and house dog -- and the Cockapoo. In other circles, it's what looks pretty on the supermarket shelf. Or reproduces and grows the fastest....and to hell with taste and nutrition...... which is what food should be all about.

That's enough for today and it's only 8.30am on a Monday. Looks like it's going to be one hell of a week.

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

Q1 - hard to pick one, the breed society’s could be part of the problem as pedigrees limit the bloodlines - there was none of that about when the breeds were created. There’s also a time variation on when the breeds were engineered and fixed, for example a soay would be accent in comparison to a border leister.
Q2 - profitability, pure and simple. Some might turn a pound on them but for production purposes they’ve been replaced with animals that return better margins.

Disagree with point 2, folks just follow fashion, ninety percent of the time they need to improve their management.

 

[JP1]

What a negative thread