Stallion AI Services Play Role in Conserving Endangered Breed
Stallion AI Services are proud to be playing a vital part in the survival of the oldest and one of most iconic of the British heavyweight horse breeds.
The Suffolk Horse is currently on the RBST “critical” list of endangered breeds and without help, could be extinct within the next 10 years.
The Stallion AI services will be responsible for semen collection and freezing. The ground-breaking work carried out by Tullis Matson, and his team, uses the very latest technological and scientific advances to preserve the breed’s gene pool for generations to come and in doing so save an important part of British heritage.
Once widely used in agriculture, the Suffolk horse are a strong and hardy breed with a proud history dating back to 1768, making it the oldest heavy horse in Britain. There are now fewer than 300 Suffolk horses left, and the number of s breeding females has dwindled from 1334 broodmares in 1947 to a mere 73 in 2017.
In view of these alarming developments, the RBST has taken action, and raised over £25,000 through their Heavy Horse Appeal. The money raised will go towards the collection and storage of semen from stallions representing the endangered heavy horse breeds, such as the Suffolk, Clydesdale and Shires.
Together with the RBST and the Suffolk Horse Society, Stallion AI Services and Twemlows Hall Stud are working in partnership to make use of recipient mares and AI technologies to boost the numbers of the Suffolk horse. In 2017, 47 mares were covered with 16 stallions. By the end of the season, at least 27 had been scanned and confirmed in foal, a small increase from 25 foals born in 2016. The Suffolk Horse Society now has 20 licensed stallions on its register.
These last weeks, three wonderful examples arrived at Stallion AI Servicest, bred and owned by Whatton Manor Stud in Nottinghamshire. Their stay at Stallion AI coincided with the visit of HRH The Princess Royal to celebrate the official opening of the company’s Chapel Field Stud facility. Her Royal Highness is the Patron of the Suffolk Horse Society.
Preserving the genes of these beautiful heavy horses, through semen collection, is an important step in the momentous effort to save the Suffolk Horse from extinction. However, further difficulties remain for this noble yet vulnerable breed.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.