Rare Breeds Survival Trust calls on Government to Act Following Removal of Support For Rare Cattle Original Populations

Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) is calling on Government to safeguard conservation of Original Populations of native cattle breeds. RBST’s call for action comes in response to the absence of this key genetic resource on Defra’s new list of the UK’s native breeds eligible for government support.

On 1^st April 2026 Defra replaced the Native Breeds At Risk (NBAR) list with a new UK Native Breeds Support (NBS) list. The new NBS list categorises UK native breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and equines as ‘at risk’ or ‘not at risk’. Only native breeds categorised as ‘at risk’ in the NBS list are eligible for payments under the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes’ native breed supplements (in England).

Original Populations are genetically distinct, non-imported bloodlines within native breeds. While the NBAR list included a number of rare Original Populations, they are absent from the new NBS list. Original Populations which were on the NBAR list included Traditional Hereford, Native Aberdeen Angus, OP Dairy Shorthorn and OP Lincoln Red cattle – all of which are on the RBST Watchlist.

The OP Lincoln Red and OP Dairy Shorthorn remain eligible for ELM support because the main Lincoln Red and Dairy Shorthorn populations are categorised as ‘at risk’ on the new NBS list. However, Traditional Herefords and Native Aberdeen Angus are no longer eligible for support because the wider Hereford and Aberdeen Angus breeds are not categorised as ‘at risk’ on the NBS list.

RBST Chief Executive Christopher Price said: “The new NBS list fails to recognise the importance of Original Population genetics to the livestock sector, and puts at risk the continued existence of this vital resource. At present OP conservation is supported through government legislation and payments: removing this support flies in the face of the international commitments on conservation of genetic resources that UK government signed up to at COP15. We are calling on Government to take action including incentivising, supporting and mandating breed societies to proactively conserve original and minority populations within breeding programmes.”

The new NBS list is effective as of 1^st April 2026.

Find out more about the UK’s Original Population cattle at RBST’s new website: www.rbst.org.uk