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Strategies for the conservation of the indigenous Kerry Cattle of Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2011

V.E. Olori  and
B. Wickham
V.E. Olori
Affiliation:
Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), Shinagh House, Bandon, Co. Cork, Ireland
B. Wickham
Affiliation:
Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), Shinagh House, Bandon, Co. Cork, Ireland
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Summary

The Kerry is the most numerous of the three surviving indigenous breeds of cattle in Ireland. With a total population currently under a thousand animals it is listed as endangered in the World Watch list. Conservation efforts currently focus on both in situ and ex situ conservation. This approach is possible because of the existence of a few enthusiastic pedigree breeders, a breed society and a herdbook with registrations dating back to the 19th century. The Kerry cattle population is small with overlapping generations. The main objective in its conservation is to minimise inbreeding and conserve genetic variation. The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) was recently mandated to support and co-ordinate the conservation efforts which are centred around minimum coancestry selection, a mating advisory service, semen and embryo cryoconservation. To this end, a mean relationship system was developed for the routine computation of inbreeding and provision of a mating advisory system. Four bulls are identified annually for semen collection and storage. A second scheme aims to identify 15 cows for embryo cryoconservation over a three-year period. Future conservation efforts will benefit from the collation of Kerry cattle breeding and production information in a central database. This and a study of the dynamics of the Kerry cattle population are future priorities for ICBF in an effort to prevent the extinction of the Kerry cattle.

Resumen

La raza Kerry es la más numerosa de las tres razas indígenas de bovino que actualmente viven en Irlanda. Con una población total actualmente por debajo de los mil animales, se encuentra en la lista de razas en peligro publicada por la World Watch List. Los esfuerzos actuales de conservación se centran tanto en lo métodos in-situ como ex-situ. Este enfoque es posible gracias a la colaboración y entusiasmo de un pequeño grupo de mejoradores, una sociedad de raza y al libro de registro de razas que contiene datos desde el siglo XIX. La raza Kerry posee una pequeña población con superposiciones de generación. El mayor objetivo en su conservación se centra en minimizar la endogamia y conservar la variación genética. La “Irish Cattle Breeding Federation” (ICBF) ha sido solicitada hace poco para coordinar y dirigir los esfuerzos de conservación que se centran alrededor de la selección del mínimo de consanguinidad ancestral, un servicio de consultoría para los apareamientos, la crioconservación de semen y embriones. Con este objetivo, se ha desarrollado un sistema de puesta en relación para la computación de rutina de la endogamia y la extensión del servicio de consultoría para los apareamientos. Se identificaron cuatro toros cada año para la recogida y conservación del semen. Un segundo esquema fue establecido para identificar 15 vacas para la crioconservación de embriones en un período de tres años. Los futuros esfuerzos de conservación se beneficiaran de esta recopilación de bovinos Kerry y de la información recogida en una base de datos centralizada. Todo esto junto con un estudio de las dinámicas de población de la raza Kerry forman parte de las prioridades futuras de ICBF en un esfuerzo de prevenir la extinción de la raza.

Keywords

CattleConservationDatabaseEmbryoIrelandSemenStrategyKerryKinship
Type
Research Articles
Information
Animal Genetic Resources/Resources génétiques animales/Recursos genéticos animales , Volume 35 , April 2004 , pp. 37 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2004

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