December 16, 2004

LOCAL BREEDER PROVIDES GERM PLASM FOR PRESERVATION OF ENDANGERED BREED

A nationally known foundation for rare breed conservation, SVF Foundation, recently acquired a registered Dutch Belted cow and other genetic material from Kenneth Hoffman, Dutch Belted breeder from Earlville, Illinois.

Dutch Belted cattle are medium in size, with cows weighing 1,200 pounds and bulls 1,700 pounds. The cows easily maintain condition and produce milk on a grass diet. They consistently demonstrate reproductive efficiency and longevity of production. The Dutch Belted breed has many breed traits that make it valuable for use in crossbreeding programs with other breeds, such as Holsteins, to increase calving ease, longevity, fertility, and freedom from veterinary problems.

Kenneth Hoffman has been a Dutch Belted breeder longer than anyone in the United States today, having bred Dutch Belted cattle for over 23 years. "Starting when the breed was at the brink of extinction with only a few dozen living purebred animals, Hoffman has been a leader in increasing the population to several hundred animals," states Dr. Donald Bixby, Technical Program Director of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC). "This is not a lucrative, profit-seeking venture," Hoffman asserts. "Rather, our goal is the long term viability of the breed."

In addition to their sizable herd of cows, Hoffman and his family have been raising, selecting, and collecting semen from Dutch Belted bulls since 1981. Semen from the Hoffman herd is used widely throughout the U.S. and has also been exported to numerous foreign countries such as New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, and the breed's native home, the Netherlands, where it was used to reinvigorate the genetic base of Dutch Belted cattle there, helping to save them from extinction. The Hoffman herd has also provided semen for the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) gene bank. The semen is made available for increasing purebred Dutch Belted herds and also for crossbreeding in commercial dairies.

Hoffman is the Secretary of the Dutch Belted Cattle Association of America (DBCAA) and his family publishes the association's quarterly magazine. He has been credited with saving the Dutch Belted breed from extinction, and in 1995 he was awarded the Conservation Breeder of the Year award by the ALBC for his efforts on behalf of rare breeds. He stresses, "I have not done this on my own, but have just tried to carry on the efforts of many breeders from the past. I felt a responsibility to be a steward of the genetics that we have inherited, especially the less common livestock breeds that are so much needed to maintain genetic diversity within domesticated species. The food supply of the future depends on individual efforts to preserve genetic variation in our livestock."

Bixby adds, "The Hoffman family has shown dedication to the conservation of the Dutch Belted breed and is a model for what individual responsibility can contribute to a secure food supply. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is pleased that SVF Foundation has included germ plasm from the Hoffman herd." SVF Foundation is a not-for-profit operating foundation, based in Newport, RI, whose core mission is to help safeguard genetic diversity in our livestock breeds by cryopreserving semen, embryos and cells from rare and endangered breeds of domestic livestock. The goal of a gene bank such as this is to have genetic material available in the future to provide needed characteristics, to enhance breeds if their gene pools become too small, or to reconstitute a breed in the event of a human or natural disaster.

SVF Foundation chose the Dutch Belted breed of cattle for its genetic value to the dairy industry. The cow acquired from the Hoffmans passed a rigorous battery of laboratory tests for 11 different bovine diseases before it was accepted. As well as the cow from the Hoffmans, they have acquired other females and semen, also tracing to the Hoffman herd.