Breeding and Breeds - Raising Sheep - page 39

ALBC PRIORITY FOR RARE BREEDS

CRITICAL THREATENED WATCH RECOVERING

Gulf Coast or Gulf
Coast Native

Cotswold Dorset Horn Barbados Blackbelly

Hog Island (feral) Jacob (American) Lincoln Black Welsh Mountain

Leicester Longwool Karakul (American) Oxford Clun Forest

Romeldale/CVM Leicester Longwool Tunis Katahdin

Santa Cruz (feral) Navajo-Churro Shetland

St. Croix Shropshire

Southdown
Wiltshire Horn

As Don Bixby, former executive director of the ALBC, says, “It does seem
as though the heritage breeds of sheep are doing better — in large part due to
handspinners who appreciate wool diversity. Many heritage breeds of sheep
have moved up in status on our conservation priority list, and some have been
removed from this list altogether. Sheep are amenable to conservationists
and accessible to a wide range of people since they are small and easy to work
with. Many commercial breeds need full intervention, but you can select for
self-suffi ciency in breeding populations.”

Population Status of Rare and Heritage Breeds
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy has established a conservation
priority list for rare breeds of livestock in the United States. The categories
are the following:

■ Critical. Fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and
estimated global population of less than 2,000.

■ Threatened. Fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States
and estimated global population of less than 5,000.

■ Watch. Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States
and estimated global population of less than 10,000. Also included are
breeds that present genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited
geographic distribution.

■ Recovering. Breeds that were once listed in another category and have
exceeded Watch-category numbers but are still in need of monitoring.