The Shugborough Estate - a rare breed attraction

Visitors to the Georgian Farm on the ever-popular Shugborough Estate in

Staffordshire arent simply meeting carefully preened pigs, cute lambs and chicks -
theyre also witnessing one of the mot successful rare-breed protection projects, and
getting up-close-and-personal with an animal thats as rare as the Giant Panda.

The attraction, which is managed by Staffordshire County Council, was awarded a
prestigious Rare Breed Status by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) as
recently as March of this year - putting them in an exclusive club of only 20 to have
achieved this status in the whole of the UK.

What this all means to its visitors, of course, is that there is an opportunity to stroll
around a period-perfect Georgian Farm, and meet the animals, including some very
recently-born Soay Lambs, which are actually as rare to find these days as the Giant
Panda!

Recognised for its Downton Abbey style upstairs-downstairs experience,
Shugboroughs working Georgian Farm is especially popular during the spring and
early summer when it becomes a maternity ward for some of the worlds rarest
breeds of pigs and sheep.

The Boreray Sheep, of which Shugborough has three, is the Estates rarest animal
and is on the RBST critical list with less than 300 breeding animals left in the entire
world.

Leicester Longwool Sheep, classed as endangered, Middle White Pigs; Soay
Sheep; and Berkshire Pigs are some of the other rarest breeds now being nurtured at
the Estates farm.

With fewer than 500 Soay Sheep left, there was much to celebrate at Shugborough
when two Soay Lambs were born at the end of April. And around another half dozen
are expected in May.

As a Rare Breed Survival Trust farm park, this means that not only is Shugborough a
fabulous family attraction, but also that it is helping to protect some of the rarest
breeds of pigs, sheep and cows in the world.

Peter Titley of the RBST says: We are very pleased with the work that Shugborough
are doing to conserve these rare breeds and their awareness raising activities
amongst the public. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is committed to increasing
populations of the UK's rare and native breeds of farm livestock and its great to have
Shugborough on board to help us achieve this. We were particularly impressed with
the way the farm staff have been working closely with farmers from across the county
and region to spread the genetics of some of our rarest breeds.

Over 100,000 visitors a year now pass through the gates of Shugboroughs farm and
are able to get involved in a wide variety of activities, including bottle-feeding, pig-
washing, gently petting and listening to talks on caring for animals.

The Estate has kept rare breed livestock for over 30 years, and now joins only 19
other accredited parks across the UK.

Visit http://www.shugborough.org.uk/theshugboroughestate/Farm.aspx for further
details of opening times and prices.

Ends

For further information, and photo-opportunities, please contact:
Corinne Caddy
Tel: 01889 881388
E-mail: corinne.caddy@staffordshire.gov.uk


Notes to editor:
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is a national charity, which aims to save rare, historic
and ancient breeds of British Livestock www.rbst.org.uk
Accredited Farm Parks have been identified as farms open to the public who are
actively preserving and increasing these breeds, working with other local farmers to
increase genetic pools and raising awareness of this work with the general public.

Amongst Shugboroughs rare breeds are:
Boreray Sheep (classified as on the critical list - less than 300 breeding animals left
in the world); Leicester Longwool Sheep (classified as endangered - 300-500 left);
Middle White Pigs (classified as vulnerable - 200-300), Soay Sheep (classified as
at risk - 900-1500 left); and Berkshire Pigs (classified as at risk - 300-500 left).