Meet the 2025-2026 Livestock Conservancy Microgrant Recipients

Interest in The Livestock Conservancy’s 2025–26 Microgrants remained strong, with more than 150 farmers, ranchers, shepherds, homesteaders, breed groups, and youth submitting applications. Now in its eighth year, the program has provided more than $150,000 in funding to support over 100 rare breed projects nationwide, reaching 35 states and benefiting 97 of the Conservancy’s 182 Conservation Priority Listed breeds. This year’s program includes 11 grant recipients.

YOUTH GRANTS

Benjamin Hartig of Kentucky, hopes to grow all of heritage breed goose numbers on his family’s farm, including Dewlap Toulouse, Sebastopol, American Buff and especially the critically endangered Pomeranian goose. The 16-year-old high school junior plans to build four new breeding pens for each breed. Additionally, he will use the funding to purchase a Pomeranian gander to introduce new genetics into his breeding flock.

Indiana’s Elizabeth Hatcher aims to expand her flock of Horned Dorset sheep and its genetics. She hopes to breed all five of her eligible ewes this year, with resulting lambs raised as show sheep and potential breeders, for sale or lease by other participants in sheep shows. The funds will help her access higher-quality genetics to breed with and improve the next generation of sheep. It will also enable her family to sell the resulting lambs to interested farmers and showmen at a lower price, making the breed more accessible to others.

Jacob Keller, 13, of Missouri, raises and shows large fowl Cochin chickens in several varieties, with the white and buff varieties ranking as his favorites. His funds will be used to purchase a small backyard barn to contain breeding pens. He wants to produce high-quality birds that represent the best of the breed.They’re pretty big birds and they need lots of space,” he explains.

BREED ASSOCIATION GRANT: The Hotot Rabbit Breeders International group will be using grant funding to publish and distribute a new physical guidebook to active American Rabbit Breeders Association judges via ARBA’s continuing education programs. The secondary project will be to create an improved advertising system for breeders with a real-time website. This will enable people to find individual Hotots and breeding stock that are immediately available.

PREMIER 1 GRANT: Corrie Cooper will be incorporating an acre or more of land into her year-round rotational grazing system for her flock of Florida Cracker sheep. The grant will provide electric netting fences on the Florida property, creating flexible paddocks, supporting regenerative land management and increasing lamb production to meet growing demand. The improvements will  irrigate the pasture and enable rotational grazing.

NATIONAL WINNERS

Wilbur Hanley plans to use the grant money to purchase upgrades for his Langshan and Aseel chicken breeding program, including an incubator, a hatcher and brooders to ultimately improve hatching success rates. He will also be building larger grow-out pens and outdoor chicken tractors. Additionally, he will introduce new genetics to improve diversity in both breeding flocks.

The Genesee Country Village & Museum in New York will modernize and streamline its livestock recordkeeping by purchasing an electronic handheld data-collection device and accompanying software. This integrated system will allow facility staff to record accurate and essential livestock information in real time, including breeding data, births, weights, treatments, movements and other key health and production metrics.

Dara Gribi of California intends to upgrade her aging cage system. Her current cages are more than 20 years old and pose a risk to the safety of her Blanc de Hotot rabbits. Replacing the cages will enable her to safely house the rabbits and continue pursuing her breeding goals. The efforts will improve the breed by allowing for more space to accommodate multiple lines of Hotots

Andrea and Loran Mulnix of Montana are focusing on preserving Belsky Line Colonial Spanish horse on their ranch. They will purchase a portable heavy-duty round pen, which will allow them to work with young stock more safely and train older stock under saddle. The portable round pen would also allow for better doctoring, as well as serving as an adequate area for bringing in and breeding outside mares to their stallions.

A sincere thank you to our judges for their time and expertise in evaluating applications, and to the donors whose generosity makes this important program possible. Their support has had a lasting and meaningful impact on both the grant recipients and the rare breeds they steward.