Rarer Than a Giant Panda

I'm afraid it's true, some of the rare breed farm animals that we've met in past posts (and others that we'll meet today) have numbers lower than the Giant Panda (of which there are reckoned to be about 1,500). All of today's gang can be found at Church Farm, Stow Bardolph which I visited recently.

Boreray Sheep

When the remote islands of St Kilda were evacuated in the 1930s, after the human population had voted to leave for the mainland, the sheep on Boreray were left on the island to fend for themselves. In the 1970s a few were brought from the island and from these all the mainland Borerays are descended. Most of them are white with dark marks on their faces though some individuals are darker.

British Saddleback Pig

This is Basil, the Saddleback boar, and if you look closely you can see his tusks protruding from the sides of his mouth. But don't get too close as he can inflict some nasty injuries with them if he doesn't like the look of you! "Nice Basil, good ol' Basil", would be a good way to address him.

Back in the days 'when I were a lad' these were one of the breeds of pig favoured by those who kept just one or two pigs. Although they rarely had large litters of piglets they were very little trouble to look after (as long as you kept on the right side of Basil!). It seems amazing to me that they are now considered "at risk" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

Golden Guernsey Goat

If beauty alone was the major consideration of goat keepers then surely the Golden Guernsey would be one of the most popular breeds. But the truth is that goat farming of any type is not hugely profitable in the UK, though recent health food fads have made goats' milk more popular. It's all come a long way since people tethered their goats on the roadside verges of my village and old Mrs Fletcher would knock at the door and say "I've brought you a nice jug of goats' milk", then before she turned to go would add "That'll be fourpence, please!"

Gloucester Old Spot Pig

Them pigs are John Potts'

I knows 'em by their spots

These were the traditional pigs of the cider orchards of the West Country, quiet, easy-going and placid - and often very fat and lazy! Males weigh in at around 600 lbs (250 Kg) and a Gloucester Old Spot was supposed to be the biggest pig ever raised in the UK. Today, far from being a cottagers' pig, they are kept by both Prince Charles and Princess Anne on their Gloucestershire estates. Despite royal patronage they are on the "at risk" list.

North Ronaldsay Sheep

These dainty-looking little sheep come from the most northerly island of Orkney and have a remarkable adaptation; they are the only sheep in the world who can live on a diet of seaweed. The islanders used to rely heavily on harvesting the kelp or seaweed on their rocky beaches but when the market for that commodity collapsed it was decided to build a drystone wall all around the island to keep the sheep on the shoreline while using the inland area for growing crops. 

The resultant wall, six feet high (2 m) and 13 miles (21 Km) long is now listed as a site requiring conservation, though the current population of the island lacks the skills and resources to maintain it.

British Lop Pig

Here's an interesting one: most people's reaction on seeing a British Lop is "Why's that here? It's just a normal pig". And that has added to the British Lop's problems. While it's not to hard to get people to keep odd- and exotic-looking breeds as a visitor attraction or just as a talking point, it's very difficult to persuade farms to keep something that looks perfectly normal, however rare and endangered the breed may be. And with less than 100 breeding sows the Lop is certainly endangered.
  

Suffolk Punch

Suffolk Punch horses originated from a small area of that county and were bred for farm work. They are shorter and stockier than other draught horses which apparently makes them more suitable for farm jobs. They are always this wonderful chesnut colour. And whatever this computer thinks, when referring to horses, there is traditionally no letter "t" in chesnut. There are only about 80 mares of this breed in the world, much, much rarer than the Giant Panda then.


Dartmoor Sheep

White face with grey markings around the nose and everything else covered in long, thick, curly wool - that would be a Grey-faced Dartmoor. Not quite as rare as some of the other breeds here but still not numerous enough to be safe, the Dartmoor is a big sheep that is extremely hardy and able to survive on the uplands of Dartmoor. And far too cute for me not to take lots of photos.


Take care.