Livestock Conservancy microgrant awarded to Milton youth
The Livestock Conservancy announced Ainsley West of Milton has received a microgrant to support her work with Leicester Longwool sheep, an endangered agricultural livestock breed.
At one time, Leicester Longwool fiber was highly prized in America, but the breed lost favor to fine-wool breeds beginning in the 1800s. The breed population fell into decline and neared extinction in the U.S. Today, it is estimated that fewer than 5,000 Leicester Longwool sheep exist worldwide, and fewer than 1,000 purebred animals are registered in America each year.
West’s microgrant will help streamline costs and allow her to learn new shearing and hoof-trimming skills. Finding sheep care professionals willing to travel to her West Woolies Farm has been challenging. The grant money will purchase professional shears, hoof trimmers, and a head gate and chute to make handling her flock easier, safer and less stressful for the animals. Feet trimming and shearing are labor-intensive animal care chores where the right equipment makes a big difference.
“The hours I’ll save on these few chores can now go to marketing, blogging, growing our customer base, and offering workshops and classes to bring in more revenue,” West said.
West said she fell in love with heritage breed livestock during a family vacation to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. A recent Delaware Teen Miss United States Agriculture title holder, she is one of 15 livestock conservancy microgrant award winners nationwide, including three awards to aid heritage breed associations and four microgrants for youth like West who are under the age of 18.
“Farmers, ranchers and shepherds are aging out of livestock and poultry production across America,” said Allison Kincaid, executive director of the Livestock Conservancy. “Since 2018, more than 25 percent of our microgrants have invested in youth like Ainsley who are discovering the opportunity to make an impact in conservation. We need these heritage breeders of tomorrow as partners in the fight to save heritage breeds from extinction.”
Since the microgrants program was launched in 2018, nearly $135,000 has been awarded to help each of the 11 species the organization serves: cattle, chickens, donkeys, ducks, geese, goats, horses, pigs, rabbits, sheep and turkeys. Microgrants are completely donor- and sponsor-funded.
The microgrants are among several Livestock Conservancy efforts to promote and protect heritage breeds. Programs include Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em, which encourages knitters, weavers and fiber artists to consider using wool from 23 endangered sheep breeds like the Leicester Longwool for their projects.
