A century ago the British countryside was home to a large variety of different breeds of farm animals. Today more than 90% of dairy cattle are the black and white Holsteins; Suffolk and Texel breeds dominate sheep flocks and most piggeries contain Large Whites or Landacres. 20 breeds of British farm animals, such as the Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig, became extinct in the last century and many were reduced to a few thousand individuals or less. We need to protect our rare breeds because they have distinctive characteristics such as being suited to certain environments or less intensive farming methods. There are a number of rare breeds that are native to Britain and were found here in pre-Roman times including Soay sheep. The Trust has a flock of Soays on the coastal slopes in Torbay where they suit the poor quality grazing and harsher weather conditions. Until the 1980s over 40% of Britain's ewes were mated to Downland breeds but this declined with the introduction and promotion of foreign breeds and the mistaken belief that Downland rams produced fatty lamb.

Cattle were domesticated as far back as 5000BC and were raised both for their beef and for their use as draught animals to pull ploughs and carts. Modern beef breeds are the descendants of selective breeding started by farmers such as Robert Bakewell in Leicestershire in the eighteenth century. At this time beef farming was helped by the introduction of clover and turnip crops that provided winter feed. At the same time lighter machinery allowed horses to replace cattle as draught animals. British beef breeds include Hereford, Galloway, Aberdeen Angus and North or South Devon's. Recently large continental breeds such as Charolais, Limousin and Simmental have been introduced.