RBST Announces 2011 Breed Support Awards
2011-07-11

RBST has announced the allocation of funds for 2011 under the Breed Support Programme, with the majority of the grants going to the important work of rare breed promotion.

Whitebred Shorthorn cattle

A total of ten groups have won funding, seven of which applied for contribution towards various types of promotional material ranging from information leaflets to display material and website design. Each grant represented match funding of 50% and the groups who received funding in this category were:

- The Gloucester Cattle Society

- The White Park Cattle Society

- The Whitebred Shorthorn Association

- The Manx Loaghtan Breeders' Group

- The Dartmoor Sheep Breeders' Association

- The Large Black Pig Breeders' Club

- The Tamworth Breeders' Club

Other awards were made to the Highland Pony Society, The Portland SheepBreeders' Group and the Castlemilk Moorit Sheep Society. The grant to the Highland Pony Society was made to support attendance at a number of key equine events including Equi-Fest and Your Horse Live, both of which take place south of the border. Both the Portland and the Castlemilk Moorit grants were made under the heading of technical breed research. For thePortlands, this will cover purchase of equipment and for the Castlemilk Moorits it will fund part of a research and breed promotion project looking at cost analysis on the uses and markets for lambs and for conservation grazing.

Looking to next year's round of applications, Conservation Officer Claire Barber says: "We would really like to encourage more breed associations or societies to come forward with applications for technical studies or breed recording projects, particularly any that have not had funding from RBST over the past five years - or indeed those who have never received financial support. If any organisations are looking at initiating such projects and are unsure of whether they might qualify for consideration, we would be happy to discuss their plans and advise them accordingly.

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