--- title: Dairy Cows: How Researchers Are Assuring Their Future description: In an effort to provide food security to America, researchers are preserving genetic material from rare and important breeds of livestock canonical: https://time.com/4035225/researchers-food-security/ author: Julia Lull article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-15T20:34:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:06:37.259Z article:section: Science og:title: How Researchers Are Ensuring the Future of Livestock og:description: "We are losing breeds at an estimated rate of one per month on a global scale" og:url: https://time.com/4035225/researchers-food-security/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c6aaa91ae72d215/698863b15f570f1a76b1d5e4/screen-shot-2015-09-15-at-3-48-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dairy Cows og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Researchers Are Ensuring the Future of Livestock twitter:description: "We are losing breeds at an estimated rate of one per month on a global scale" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c6aaa91ae72d215/698863b15f570f1a76b1d5e4/screen-shot-2015-09-15-at-3-48-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch How Researchers Are Ensuring the Future of America's Livestock  by [Julia Lull](https://time.com/author/julia-lull/)  ## Julia Lull Sep 15, 2015 8:34 PM UTC   by [Julia Lull](https://time.com/author/julia-lull/)  ## Julia Lull Sep 15, 2015 8:34 PM UTC About 95% of the dairy products in the U.S. are produced by the more than 8 million Holstein cattle spread throughout dairy farms in America. However, with only enough genetic diversity to produce 34 unique cows, the American Holstein population is at a serious risk. One disease could have the potential to wipe out the entire population, and decimate the dairy industry in the U.S. In an effort to provide food security to America, a team of researchers, veterinarians, and farmers at the [SVF Foundation](http://svffoundation.org/) are preserving genetic material from rare and important breeds of livestock, like the Holstein. “We are losing breeds at an estimated rate of one per month on a global scale. And once they are gone they are gone,” says Sarah Bowley, Program Director for the SVF Foundation. “It took 5,000 to 10,000 years to domesticate these species and we are losing them in the blink of an eye.” With 28 breeds preserved so far and about 10 more to go, the SVF Foundation is beginning to look towards the future. According to George Saperstein, Scientific Advisor to the SVF Foundation, “when that disastrous disease strikes the…Holstein cows, the answer to saving them is going to be in that library, in those freezers.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4035225/researchers-food-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4035225/researchers-food-security/"},"headline":"Watch How Researchers Are Ensuring the Future of America's Livestock","datePublished":"2015-09-15T20:34:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:37.259Z","description":"\"We are losing breeds at an estimated rate of one per month on a global scale\"","url":"https://time.com/4035225/researchers-food-security/","keywords":["Solutions That Matter","Tech","Farming","Dairy","America","sheep","cattle","Sustainability"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c6aaa91ae72d215/698863b15f570f1a76b1d5e4/screen-shot-2015-09-15-at-3-48-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Lull","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-lull/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c6aaa91ae72d215/698863b15f570f1a76b1d5e4/screen-shot-2015-09-15-at-3-48-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dairy Cows","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/solutions-that-matter/","name":"Solutions That Matter"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4035225/researchers-food-security/","name":"Watch How Researchers Are Ensuring the Future of America's Livestock"}}]}] ```