Traditional livestock breeds adapted to specific environments often have better welfare profiles than modern production breeds. Maintaining breed diversity protects welfare options for changing conditions.
Agricultural breed diversity has welfare implications because different breeds have different welfare needs, capacities, and vulnerabilities. Extreme production breeds have embedded welfare problems that traditional breeds often lack. Maintaining and using traditional breeds preserves welfare options and provides breeding stock for development of production breeds with better welfare profiles. Supporting rare breed products creates viable economic pathways for their conservation.