 | |
| Formation | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit |
| Purpose | Scientific |
| Location |
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| Website | svffoundation |
The SVF Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve rare breeds of livestock. It is the only private organization in the United States that preserves rare livestock by gathering and storing both semen and embryos of the animals in its collection, a technique called cryopreservation. [1] [2]
SVF, which stands for "Swiss Village Farm", is located in Newport, Rhode Island, and has facilities both for housing live herds and for cryopreservation on its 45 acres. Live animals are also available for sale to farmers and ranchers to increase the practical use of rare breeds in modern agriculture. It is not open to the public except for one day a year, as a strict biosecurity measure. [1]
SVF was founded by Dorrance Hill Hamilton, the billionaire heir to the Campbell Soup Company fortune and one of the wealthiest Americans according to Forbes . [3] [4] The Newport property on which it is housed was built by railroad magnate Arthur Curtiss James in the early 1900s and was purchased by Hamilton in 1998. [5]
Likened to an "animal seed bank", [6] the foundation had about 45,000 samples of germplasm from sheep, goats, and cattle as of 2010. [1]
Much of the cryopreservation work at SVF Foundation is accomplished with the help of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, [5] and a Tufts veterinarian is the foundation's chief scientist. [2] This work began in 1999, and in 2004, the Foundation had its first successful birth of a preserved rare-breed embryo — a Tennessee fainting goat — by a host mother of a different breed. [7]
Ex situ conservation is the process of protecting an endangered species, variety, or breed of plant or animal outside its natural habitat. For example, by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, an artificial environment which is similar to the natural habitat of the respective animal and within the care of humans, such as a zoological park or wildlife sanctuary. The degree to which humans control or modify the natural dynamics of the managed population varies widely, and this may include alteration of living environments, reproductive patterns, access to resources, and protection from predation and mortality.
The Bagot goat is a breed of goat which for several hundred years has lived semi-wild at Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire, England. It is a small goat, with a black head and neck and the remainder of the body white.
A sheep–goat hybrid is a hybrid between a sheep and a goat.
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is a conservation charity whose purpose is to secure the continued existence and viability of the native farm animal genetic resources (FAnGR) of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1973 by Joe Henson to preserve native breeds; since then, no UK-native breed has become extinct.
The Spanish goat, also called the brush goat or scrub goat, came originally from Spain via Mexico to the United States. It is now a meat and brush-clearing type found widely in the United States. In the Southeast and elsewhere, they are often referred to as "wood" (Florida), "brush" or "briar", "hill" (Virginia), and "scrub" goats. Until recently, these goats were kept mainly for clearing brush and other undesirable plant species from pasture lands. The boer goat had overtaken Spanish goats for meat by the 1980s.
The Cheetah Conservation Fund is a research and lobby institution in Namibia concerned with the study and sustenance of the country's cheetah population, the largest and healthiest in the world. Its Research and Education Centre is located 44 kilometres (27 mi) east of Otjiwarongo. The CCF was founded in 1990 by conservation biologist Laurie Marker who won the 2010 Tyler Prize for her efforts in Namibia.
The Livestock Conservancy, formerly known as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) and prior to that, the American Minor Breeds Conservancy, is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting rare breeds, also known as "heritage breeds" of livestock. Founded in 1977, through the efforts of livestock breed enthusiasts concerned about the disappearance of many of the US's heritage livestock breeds, The Livestock Conservancy was the pioneer livestock preservation organization in the United States, and remains a leading organization in that field. It has initiated programs that have saved multiple breeds from extinction, and works closely with similar organizations in other countries, including Rare Breeds Canada. With 3,000 members, a staff of eleven and a 19-member board of directors, the organization has an operating budget of over a million dollars.
The Royal Golden Guernsey is a rare breed of dairy goat from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, where it has been known for more than two hundred years.
Hog Island sheep are a breed of sheep descended from animals first brought to Virginia's Hog Island in the 18th century. During the 1930s and 1940s, storm conditions forced the island's residents to evacuate, leaving some sheep behind. These sheep adapted to the environment free of human intervention, becoming feral.
Santa Cruz sheep are an extremely rare breed of domestic sheep that once existed as a feral population on the Santa Cruz Island of the Channel Islands of California. Small and hardy, the sheep were all killed or removed from the island to prevent destruction of natural habitats. Today, they number fewer than 200 animals. This breed is primarily raised for wool.
The Baudet du Poitou, also called the Poitevin or Poitou donkey, is a French breed of donkey. It is one of the largest breeds, and jacks were bred to mares of the Poitevin horse breed to produce Poitevin mules, which were formerly in worldwide demand for agricultural and other work. The Baudet has a distinctive coat, which hangs in long, ungroomed locks or cadenettes.
In modern agriculture, a rare breed is a breed of poultry or livestock that has a very small breeding population, usually from a few hundred to a few thousand. Because of their small numbers, rare breeds may have a threatened conservation status, and they may be protected under regional laws. Many countries have organizations devoted to the protection and promotion of rare breeds, for which they each have their own definition. In botany and horticulture, the parallel to rare animal breeds are heirloom plants, which are rare cultivars.
One of the rarest goat breeds in the world, the New Zealand Arapawa goat is, according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, critically close to extinction. A small, dual-purpose animal that was found isolated on the island of Arapawa in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand, there is evidence to support the belief that the Arapawa goats are direct descendants of the now extinct "Olde English" breed. In 1773 Captain James Cook released two goats on Arapawa Island's East Bay, and on a subsequent trip in 1777 he gave another pair to a Māori chief in nearby Ship Cove. A few decades later in 1839 a visitor to the whaling settlement on Arapawa Island wrote in his diary that it "swarmed" with goats.
Arthur Curtiss James was a wealthy speculator in copper mines and railroads.
The British primitive goat is a landrace of domestic goat native to Great Britain and Ireland, and is the original goat of the region. It is considered a rare breed, existing as several, isolated feral herds, as some captive populations in zoological parks and nature reserves, and breeding stock on some private farms operated by groups of rare-breed enthusiasts. As few as 1,200 individual British primitives may remain. The variety is also referred to as the British native goat, the old British goat, the old English goat or the British landrace goat, among more specific names It descends from the earliest goats brought to the region in the Neolithic era, around 3,000 BCE. It is classified in the Northern breed group of goats. A population in Northumberland is sometimes referred to as the Cheviot goat. The British primitive is among the foundation stock of some modern standardised breeds, including the Anglo-Nubian goat. The breed is comparatively small, with commensurately low milk production. It is hardy and wiry haired, adapted to rough terrain and weather, and able to subsist and breed on its own without human intervention.
Dorrance "Dodo" Hill Hamilton was an American heiress of the Campbell Soup fortune and philanthropist who founded the SVF Foundation in Newport, Rhode Island and preserved Hammersmith Farm. She was one of the wealthiest Americans according to Forbes, and a billionaire in 2005 to 2007. She had homes in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Boca Grande, Florida, Surry, Virginia and Newport, Rhode Island.
Heritage Foods USA is an American heritage meat distribution company with offices in Brooklyn, New York. It was formed in 2001 as the sales and marketing arm of Slow Food USA — a non-profit organization founded by Patrick Martins, dedicated to celebrating regional cuisines and ingredients. The Heritage Turkey Project, which helped double the population of heritage turkeys in the United States and upgraded the Bourbon Red turkey from “rare” to “watch” status on conservation lists, was Heritage Foods USA’s first project aimed at heritage breed preservation. In 2004, it became an independent company selling heritage breed meat to top tiered restaurants and consumers.
Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources is a strategy wherein samples of animal genetic materials are preserved cryogenically.
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