Renae Clark
Livestock Conservancy Microgrants help farmers, ranchers, shepherds, homesteaders and breed groups in saving Conservation Priority List breeds from extinction.
Microgrants up to $2,000 each are awarded in three categories: National Microgrants for adult individuals; Youth Microgrants for teens; and Breed Association Grants to improve membership services, marketing materials, gene banking and educational events.
Microgrant recipients for 2024 include :
Russell Bailey
Russell Bailey of Lewisville Permaculture Research Center Farm in Lewisville, North Carolina for work with Mulefoot hogs. The grant will enhance the farm’s infrastructure with reliable water and electrical connections, ensuring hogs’ well-being and breed sustainability.
Susan Buchanan of Meridian, Alabama to expand her Belgian d’Uccle chicken flock. Buchanan will use Microgrant funding to purchase a cabinet-style incubator for larger and more consistent hatches. She’ll also create a larger grow-out pen, doubling the current size.
Kay Lytle, Mustang, Oklahoma, will grow her Cotswold sheep flock with improved fencing from Premier 1. The Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em fiber provider will also build her Rare Fields Fiber sales and product line of Cotswold wool.
Nicole Coston, Hendersonville, North Carolina, will purchase and renovate a “duck hut” for her flock of Silver Appleyard ducks to help manage a 40 acre mature apple orchard.
Youth Microgrant Recipients:
Brenna O’Bryan
Brenna O’Bryan of Lakeview, Oregon is growing her purebred Myotonic/Tennessee Fainting Goat herd while improving both health and quality. She will use her Youth Microgrant to purchase straws of semen as well as Premier1 heating lamps and portable electric fencing for better hillside grazing.
The Stony Ground 4-H Club, based in Wappingers Falls, New York, will use its Youth Microgrant to construct a mobile poultry coop. The club raises heritage birds including Creve Coeur, Golden Sebright, Dominique and Auburn Java chickens and Bourbon Red turkeys on pasture at the historic Stony Kill Farm Environmental Education Center
Youth Microgrant recipient Renae Clark, Austin, Minnesota, (pictured above) looks to improve the quality of her Lilac rabbit warren through breeding, nutrition and improving her barn’s air quality.
National Organizational Recipients:
NSGA members
The National Sebastopol Geese Association (NSGA) will boost efforts to conserve this breed by achieving Internal Revenue Service status as a
501(c)(3) tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization. In 2020, only 132 Sebastopol geese were shown at American Poultry Association (APA)-sanctioned shows, but the number is steadily increasing. By 2022, 409 of these beautiful birds were exhibited.
The American Cotswold Record Association (ACRA) will use its 2023 Microgrant to modernize its Cotswold sheep breed registry, which has been recorded in paper form for nearly 20 years.
Since launching the Microgrants program in 2018, more than $100,000 has been awarded to help every one of the 11 species served by the organization. The grants are funded through donations and memberships.
Applications for the next round of microgrants open in May 2024.
