Ensuring Their Future - Conservation Planning for Breed Organizations

Welcome to Ensuring Their Future: Conservation Planning for Breed Organizations, part of The Livestock Conservancy's Cultivating Leadership for Breed Organizations series.

Breed clubs, organizations, and associations are an important part of successful conservation. A well-functioning breed organization has the ability to unite owners around a common cause to support the animals they love and ensure they are around for future generations.

The Cultivating Leadership for Breed Organizations webinar series focuses on what it takes to develop a strong foundation upon which an organization can function and handle any problems that may present themselves. Courses in this series include:

• Articles of Incorporation and By-laws
• Managing Membership
• Recruiting and Managing a Board of Directors
• Accountability & Transparency
• Internal & External Communications
• Risk Management
• Herd Book Registry/Management
• Civil Communications
• Strategic Planning
• Conservation Planning

In this course, Ensuring Their Future: Conservation Planning for Breed Organizations you will learn the importance of a creating and utilizing a breed conservation plan, key elements, the planning process including: who to include, what to include, and measuring success and accountability. Breed longevity depends on breeders and breed associations to plan for their future! This course will challenge you and your organization to tackle the big work of goal identification, long-range planning, plan implemntation and monitoring, and evaluation. This course will help you make the most of your breed while preserving valuable genetics.

Presenters include:

Dr. Alison Martin, Program Director, The Livestock Conservancy, was formally educated in breeding and genetics at Virginia Tech, where she specialized in the genetics of disease resistance in poultry. Alison joined The Livestock Conservancy in 2011, and has been honored to work extensively with breed organizations. Dr. Martin has also written articles, scientific papers, and presented to all types of breed associations and small farm audiences about breeding, selection and genetics. And while leading Livestock Conservancy staff in developing conservation strategies, she also developed breeding plans for individual breeds of sheep, goats, pigs and poultry.

Dr. Charlene Couch, Senior Program Manager at The Livestock Conservancy, holds a Ph.D. in Zoology, and her career has been focused on genetics and conservation. In her work at the Conservancy, Charlene help breeders and breed associations with their breeding strategies, herdbook analysis, and DNA testing projects. Charlene also help breeders and breed associations access genebanking resources, and she enjoy providing general education for new or aspiring heritage breed farmers. Dr. Couch co-authored "Advanced Reproductive Technologies for Equine Breed Conservation" and "Managing Breeds for a Secure Future, 3rd edition."

Dr. Phil Sponenberg, Technical Advisor for The Livestock Conservancy, is a retired professor of pathology and genetics at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. He has served as technical consultant for The Livestock Conservancy since 1978, soon after its founding. He has published books and refereed papers on breed management, genetics, and veterinary pathology. He continues to actively participate in the management and expansion of several breed on TLC’s Conservation Priority List.

The Livestock Conservancy is America's leading organization working to protect more than 150 heritage farm breeds, including livestock and poultry, from extinction. Learn more about rare breed conservation at LivestockConservancy.org.

Banner photo of a American Milking Devon courtesy of Jeannette Beranger