Protecting Native Livestock Breeds is About More Than Meat or Milk

Many native animal breeds are no longer used by Europe’s meat and dairy producers, favouring homogenous commercial breeds instead. Here’s what a native-free future could mean for us, biodiversity, and our food systems.

Native livestock breeds are increasingly at risk of becoming endangered, as they are often better suited to pasture raising than the easily controlled conditions preferred by the intensive meat industry.¹ Instead, more docile natured animals that can gain weight quickly and produce high quantities of milk, meat, or eggs are favoured for large-scale production.

But despite native breeds being better adapted to local conditions, a decline in demand for them begs the question - what would losing these native breeds really mean for the future of our food systems?

How did we get here?

For thousands of years, humans have selectively bred animals for their docility, size, and the quality of their products.⁷ In contrast, native breeds, broadly defined as an animal that has existed in a particular area long enough to be well adapted to the local environment, are often smaller, more unique, and slower-growing than intensively farmed counterparts.² For example, the Polish Red Cow that thrives in the mountains of Poland, the Danish Landrace Goat able to flourish in central Denmark, and the Turopolje Pig which is well-suited to the highlands of Croatia.^3,4,5,6 While these breeds are uniquely adapted to do well where others can’t, the challenges of raising natives at scale means that these traditional varieties are losing ground to commercially farmed breeds, putting their survival at risk.

One example of this is Italy’s Bionda Piemontese chicken, which fell out of favour in the 1960s with the advent of industrial poultry production. This is because the breed is only suitable for pasture raising and produces medium-sized chickens - two factors that don’t lend well to fast profits or large scale production. Attempts to revive the Bionda Piemontese chicken began in the 1990s, but the population remains small and commercial breeds continue to dominate the landscape.⁸

Another contributor to the current predicament is the increasing industrialisation of slaughterhouses and the closure of small abattoirs across Europe. Industrial abattoirs generally prefer dealing with similar sized and shaped animals as it makes them easier to process at scale. Commercial breeds have been bred to be increasingly similar, while native breeds retain a uniqueness that makes them unattractive to industrial abattoirs. With the closure of small abattoirs there are now fewer places to process these native breeds, further diminishing their presence in the meat industry.⁹
 

Additionally, insufficient government support available for farmers with native breeds and subsidies that favour larger, more industrial farms have also contributed to the decline of traditional livestock, according to Mervi Honkatukia, Section Leader for Farm Animals at NordGen. Honkatukia explained to FoodUnfolded: “Commercial breeds generally fetch more money at market and require less financial investment than native alternatives. Without subsidies or support, therefore, farmers are naturally being incentivised to raise commercial rather than native breeds.”

The impacts of losing native breeds

While it may seem that the decline of breeds such as the Polish Red cow, Danish Landrace goat or the Croatian Turpolje Pig would not drastically change most people's daily lives, their potential extinction highlights a far wider issue: the loss of biodiversity.¹⁰ Biodiversity, which encompasses the variety of all life forms on Earth, provides us with clean air, fresh water, good quality soil and crop pollination. It also plays a key role in combating climate change and mitigating natural disasters.¹¹

Just as worrying, the loss of native breeds points to deeper issues within the meat industry. As we lose native breeds and their genetic diversity, commercial breeds are becoming increasingly genetically homogenous. While commercial breeds still retain some genetic diversity, this homogeneity limits the population’s ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions or develop disease resistance - both of which are essential for species survival when times are less than ideal.¹²

For example, disease spreads slower among a genetically diverse population because some of the animals are likely to already have some degree of resistance or immunity.¹³ This means that even if large portions of the breed die from the disease, the population will survive and future generations will inherit resistance or immunity to the disease from their parents. In contrast, a genetically uniform breed, lacking such diversity, could be eradicated by a single disease.

What is being done?

The good news is there are lots of projects around the world that are working to preserve native breeds. Iceland is full of success stories, using a policy of getting meat from native breeds into products rather than allowing new products to undercut the market.^14,23,24 Similar successes have also been seen in Germany and the UK, with other interesting projects underway in France.

Pigs in Germany

Schwäbisch-Hall pigs, bred in Germany since the start of the 19th century, reached their population peak in the 1950s.¹⁵ But the breed experienced a swift decline in the 1960s and 70s when sales fell drastically after consumer preferences shifted towards leaner meat. By 1981, only 7 sows and 1 boar remained that were considered purebreds by the German government.¹⁶
 

Schwäbisch-Hall pigs.

Teetering on the edge of extinction, a small group of farmers set up the Swabian-Hällisches Pig Breeders' Association to save the species. And today, while there are few animals considered full purebreds, the breed is extensively bred for its meat and for the production of lard.¹⁵

Head of the Association Rudolf Beuhler told FoodUnfolded that part of the struggle to revive the species was “developing market structures and generating demand for premium pig meat from the native breed.” He added that members of the association pride themselves on using “local feed sources and no drugs” in raising their pigs.

Cows in England

Similar to the Schwäbisch-Hall pig, English Longhorn cattle fell out of favour in the 1960s and 70s when breeds more suitable for industrial-scale production arrived from the European continent, Debbie Dann of the Longhorn Cattle Society told FoodUnfolded.¹⁷ These breeds yielded leaner beef, which was popular at the time. Longhorns, and native cattle breeds in general, are known for their fattier, marbled meat, primarily due to their grass-fed diet.

English Longhorn cattle.

During the 1960s and 70s the UK population of longhorn cattle dwindled to around 200-300 animals. But in recent years there has been a turn around in interest in fattier, marbled meat which has put longhorn beef back on the market. Today, the breed numbers around 12-13,000 animals nationwide, largely thanks to the advocacy and promotion by the Longhorn Cattle Society.¹⁷ The Rare Breeds Survival Trust 2024-25 Watchlist has now categorised the longhorns in the green, noting that the breed was formerly considered a priority or at risk.¹⁸

Cryopreservation in France

Since the 1980s, French agricultural associations and research institutes have been collecting biological materials - mostly semen - from native breeds and preserving them in a process known as cryoconservation or cryopreservation.¹⁹ This is a process where biological material such as organs or cells are frozen to preserve their genetic makeup.

Livestock germplasm being frozen in liquid nitrogen.

These specimens have been stored in the French National Cryobank since its creation in 1999 and target nine native French breeds across various species, including ruminants, donkeys, horses, rabbits, poultry, pigs and fish.¹⁹ By the end of 2011, the cryobank had preserved over 250,000 samples of genetic material from over 4,207 animals belonging to 137 different breeds.¹⁹

Is enough being done?

While there are numerous success stories to celebrate, many native breeds still face the risk of extinction or are being crossbred, resulting in the loss of traditional characteristics to keep the breed viable. For example, Serbia’s Sjenica sheep are considered to be critically at risk, with a survey conducted in 2014 finding only 100 purebreds.²⁰ Today, the The Sjenica has been crossbred with merino sheep to make Sjenca-Pester sheep, a hybrid variety that is now the most common sheep in Serbia. While the preservation of Sjenica genetics could be considered a success, the Sjenca-Pester sheep has gradually lost some of the purebred Sjenica’s traditional characteristics.²¹

Meanwhile, the Polish Heath Sheep has been reduced to only one herd of animals in its native region.²² The breed is known for exceptionally high fertility rates and the ability to have offspring twice a year. Meat from the sheep is still produced at a small scale in the village of Wieża, but the breed has largely been overtaken by sheep more suitable for industrial production.

Unfortunately, these examples represent a common thread throughout Europe’s animal farming industry. While ending or significantly reducing intensive farming could be a solution, it is an entrenched part of the global food system, making such a shift seem daunting. With this, other solutions like cryopreservation, targeted breeder associations, government policies and raising awareness about the cultural significance of these species, are crucial in preventing the extinction of native breed.²