Livestock Breed Conservation Priority List Updated for 2011

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization working to protect over 180 breeds of livestock and poultry from extinction. Included are cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, donkeys, and turkeys. Recently the organization released its 22nd annual Conservation Priority List of endangered domestic livestock and poultry breed populations in the United States. The goal of the list is to assess the population of breeds and inform conservation priorities for those that are endangered. The list helps to increase public awareness of the need for domestic livestock conservation. For 2011, there are 188 breeds of livestock and poultry listed, with thirty-three mammalian breeds and twenty-nine poultry breeds listed as critically endangered.