Not only the biodiversity of wild species, but also the diversity in livestock is declining rapidly: Out of 6.300 registered livestock breeds in the world 1.250 are endangered or already extinct. In Germany 16 out of 32 cattle breeds are endangered, while three of the most popular cattle breeds make up 92 % of the more than two million herd-book cows. Due to their adaptation to local conditions on first sight many rare and endangered cattle breeds appear to be well suited for organic farming systems, but the percentage of rare breeds on organic farms is not much higher than on conventional ones. Council Regulation (EC) No 1804/1999 on livestock production in organic farming recommends to encourage biological diversity and to favour the use of breeds which are already adopted to the local conditions. This paper summarises a study on the motivations of organic farmers for keeping rare and endangered cattle breeds, and on which role breeding issues and livestock biodiversity play for organic farming organisations and controlling agencies. The main reasons for keeping rare cattle breeds were good fodder utilization, low susceptibility to diseases, good adaptation to local conditions, but above all a personal relation to a specific breed. Conservation aspects and breed-specific subsidies were of lower importance. Nevertheless, husbandry of rare cattle breeds should be economically viable. Unfortunately most organic farming organisations and controlling agencies hardly touched on breeding and choice-of-breed aspects in their advisory work; they more or less shared the view that the issue was of minor importance for organic farms. The paper concludes with a vision under which conditions rare cattle breeds could be better integrated into organic farming systems and on how organic farming could contribute to the in-situ conservation of livestock genetic resources
