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Our Mission

The mission of SVF Foundation is to preserve germplasm (embryos, semen and genetic material) of rare and endangered breeds of livestock.

Tennesee Fainting Goat "Chip"Rare breeds of livestock carry valuable and irreplaceable traits such as innate disease resistance, heat tolerance, parasite resistance and mothering ability-qualities which may be needed at some time in the future. It is probable that a particular breed, now enjoying great popularity, may find its future jeopardized because of a shift in the factors that led to its predominant role. For example, consumer preference could begin to lean towards a different flavour or texture of meat, so the beef breed which dominates the market today could fall out of favor. Even more frightening, a highly inbred yet industry-dominating breed could be decimated by a serious infectious disease due to its genetic uniformity.

The efforts of SVF Foundation are to further the conservation of rare breeds of livestock by storing germplasm in the frozen state. None of the developers of this program can predict at this point when the need may arise to retrieve the genetic material collected by SVF. Users of future technology may make use of frozen germplasm in ways we can only dream about.


:MISSION FOR THE FUTURE
Germplasm collected by SVF Foundation is expected to be viable on a long term basis. Once in the tank, the germplasm is not typically released. If, at some point, a situation arises where samples from the collection are needed, a panel of SVF Foundation Trustee's and Scientific Advisors will determine how it may be distributed.