Saving the Suffolk Punch

By Helen Briggs
BBC News Online science reporter

It is a horse synonymous with England, mentioned by Charles Dickens in his classic novel, David Copperfield.

The horse was bred to pull the plough in the rich lowlands (Image: Suffolk Horse Society)

Over the years, the Suffolk Punch, a heavy horse with a distinctive chestnut coat, has carried men into battle, pulled the plough and hauled logs in the forests.

But mechanisation has left the native breed in decline and there are only 300 left in Britain.

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), a charity set up to conserve Britain's native livestock heritage, lists the horse as category 1, "critical".

It is campaigning for funds to preserve the DNA of the breed in its national genetic archive in Devon, which officially opened in September.

The RBST, based at the National Agricultural Centre in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, aims to collect and store semen from all the native rare breeds in Britain - more than 70 equines, cattle, goats, pigs, sheep and poultry.

Insurance policy

The genetic material will be stored "in perpetuity" and will not be touched unless one of the breeds suffers a catastrophe, says Susie Craddock of the RBST.

It's sad to let the expertise and source of power disappear because we never know when we might need them again Amanda Hillier, Suffolk Horse Society

Over the course of three to five years, it hopes to take samples from 25 stallions of 12 breeds, the most urgent being the Suffolk Punch; the Eriskay Pony of the Western Isles of Scotland; and the Cleveland Bay, native to North Yorkshire.

However, the process costs more than £2,000 per horse and so far only six stallions have been banked. The Suffolk Horse Society in Woodbridge, Suffolk, is helping with the scheme.

Administrative secretary Amanda Hillier says the society, another registered charity, tries to encourage standard breeding by promoting the horse as a desirable animal.

Concern about rare breeds was highlighted by the foot-and-mouth disaster

With its stocky build and willing temperament, it has found a niche in the leisure industry and is in demand as a riding horse when crossed with the thoroughbred.

But with only 18 registered licensed Suffolk Punch stallions in the studbook, there is a need to preserve DNA samples as a last resort.

"It's sad to let the expertise and source of power disappear because we never know when we might need them again," says Hillier. "It's an insurance policy for the future."