Peterborough’s Sacrewell welcomes new critically endangered horse to its farm

Suffolk horses hit the headlines recently as being the first to be bred having already chosen the sex of the foal before insemination. As a critically endangered species, as rated by the Rare Breed Survival Trust (RBST), the team at the heritage farm attraction off the A47 in Peterborough are delighted to be providing a home for Grace alongside the farm’s other Suffolk Punch and Cleveland Bay horses.

Livestock supervisor Amy Hunt said: “Grace has already made herself at home on the farm and will be a welcome addition for our guests and visitors over the summer holidays.

“Here at Sacrewell we’re committed to ensuring the survival of rare breed farm animals such as the Suffolk Punch, with Landrace Pigs and Bagot goats.”

Traditionally, Suffolk horses were working horses, pulling ploughs and machinery, of which the Suffolk Punch is the oldest breed in history to still exist in its present form. They were taken to France during the First World War to pull the guns with hundreds of thousands of horses killed in action.

Following the war, the introduction of new machinery run by engines meant the breeds went out of favour and now, with fewer than 300 horses left in the world, it is vital that the breed is saved.

Sacrewell general manager Lee Scowen said: “Suffolk Punch horses are a living piece of British agricultural history and it’s tragic that they are on the brink of extinction.

“As a breed, they’re gentle, good-natured and wonderful assets to charities such as ours that exist to teach people about food and farming. It means that our visitors can get close to these gentle giants that were once a common sight across the farmlands of East Anglia.”

Sacrewell is part of the William Scott Abbott Trust which was formed in 1964 to provide an agricultural education to those who wanted to learn more about the way the land is worked and the farming methods used to produce food.

The 50 acre site is also home to an 18th Century working watermill which has recently been restored by funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Lee, who joined the farm less than a year ago, is determined to make agricultural education as accessible as possible for all those in search of one and has already made huge steps in improving the facilities on site for visitors both locally and nationally.