BCBC members tour Stallion AI Services

Last month, members of the British Cattle Breeders Club had the opportunity to tour the state-of-the-art facilities at Stallion AI Services in Shropshire.

Founder Tullis Matson has evolved from pioneering horse breeding to preserving the very building blocks of biodiversity, genetics, through Gemini Genetics and the new UK National Livestock Biobank.

Why it matters

Unlike crops, which benefit from the Millennium Seed Bank, the UK has no equivalent for safeguarding livestock genetics.

“Currently, 75% of the world’s food comes from just 12 plants and five animal species, so we are pivoting on a very narrow resource,” explained Lucy Morgan, Biobank lead.

Combined with climate change, inbreeding and disease threats, she warned, our future food security is at risk.

That is why the UK National Livestock Biobank has been launched: the UK’s first farm animal gene bank, designed to act as a national repository for preserving livestock genetics.

How it works

Skin samples are collected, and unlike sperm or eggs these contain the animal’s entire genetic code. The samples are then cryopreserved and stored indefinitely, each one catalogued using barcodes in a digital database, much like human IVF systems.

This approach is already being used by Nature’s SAFE to safeguard endangered wildlife. In the future, these samples could be used to combat inbreeding by creating sperm or eggs, or even to clone animals, should UK regulations allow.

The process has already shown promise. The San Diego Zoo’s first cloned Przewalski foal was born in 2020 using skin banked decades earlier.

Beyond cloning, these samples could form the base population for understanding and harnessing disease resistance or heat tolerance using techniques such as genome sequencing and gene editing, and even be used for 3D DNA printing in the future.

“We are not there yet,” said Lucy, “but there will be reasons in the future that we use the skin we’re banking, even if we can’t see them yet.”

Building the collection

The Biobank aims to collect at least 50 different genetic lines to ensure genetic diversity, and is now engaging industry stakeholders and government for funding.

“We’d like the UK to lead the field in safeguarding genetics, and we have a real opportunity to seize it,” Lucy added.

It is about protecting what we have today, for the generations ahead.

Find out more

• UK National Livestock Biobank
• Gemini Genetics
• Stallion AI Services
• Nature’s SAFE

With thanks

Grateful thanks to Stallion AI Services for the tour, and to Yeo Valley, who sponsored lunch and who support British native breeds.