This indicator shows breeds and races of domestic animals, trends in the number of animals and breeders who applied for agri-environmental payments - breeding of indigenous and traditional breeds of farm animals, and the distribution of breeds to indigenous, traditional and introduced. The situation in cattle is presented by the number of first inseminations by bulls of particular breeds, which is a good indicator of the number of breeding females, and the use of breeding males. Regarding the origin, the breeds and races of domestic animals were divided into native, traditional and introduced, and regarding endangerness, the species were divided into endangered and non-endangered.

The indigenous domestic animals are breeds which developed in the territory of Slovenia. Carniolan bee (Apis mellifera carnica) is also an indigenous race. Indigenous breeds are defined in the Livestock-Breeding Act which sets out the procedure for their recognition. Traditional breeds are breeds of domestic animals which have adapted to climate and other conditions of a certain area. In the Republic of Slovenia, traditional breeds are those under continuous breeding and under selection supervision for at least fifty years in case of horses, donkeys or cattle, or thirty years for other species. Introduced breeds have developed elsewhere and have not yet adapted to climate and other conditions of Slovenia, or are not under continuous breeding and selection supervision for at least fifty years in case of horses, donkeys or cattle, or thirty years for other species. The level of endangerness was taken from the register of breeds with the zoo-technical evaluation.

Breeds of domestic animals are part of the natural and cultural heritage. In 1996, Slovenia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), with an aim to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national levels. Special care must be paid to locally adapted breeds, namely the indigenous and the traditional ones.

Due to the strong competitiveness in a global market of livestock products, the breeding of indigenous and traditional breeds of cattle, pigs and poultry is becoming less attractive. The most interesting breeds on global level present an additional pressure. In Slovenia, the share of introduced animal breeds and their cross-breeds has been constantly increasing. In addition, the locally adapted traditional breeds are strongly influenced by the use of breeding material from other populations. The genes for the currently most interesting commercial properties are being introduced, and therefore the traditional breeds are losing the adjustment to local conditions.

In 2022, Slovenia one race and 190 different breeds of traditional and locally adapted, indigenous and introduced domestic animals were bred, namely 12 breeds of horses, 26 breeds of cattle, five pig breeds, six sheep breeds, four goat breeds, 58 hen breeds, three turkey breeds, 14 duck breeds, nine geese breeds, 50 breeds and two lines of rabbits and a race of Carniolan bee. Among them, only 15 were indigenous and 13 traditional breeds and two endangered unspecified breeds, while others (160) were introduced. Most introduced breeds and lines we find with hens (53), rabbits (52) and cattle (22). There are at least four endangered breeds even among introduced breeds, – two lines of rabbits, one horse breed and one breed of pigs where the Slovenian selection is being carried out. One indigenous and numerous introduced breeds of dogs are also bred.

The level of endangerness of locally adapted breeds is high. 11 out of 13 traditional breeds are endangered. The endangered traditional breeds include four breeds of hens, three breeds of pig, two breeds of goats and two horse breeds. The level of endangerness of indigenous breeds is even higher. Out of 15 indigenous breeds of domestic animals, 14 were endangered in 2022 – five sheep breeds, four breeds of horses, and one breed of hens, cattle, pigs and goats each. The only indigenous breed of dogs is engangered as well. The breeds and races where the adaptation to natural conditions is the strongest are the most successful with defying the introduced breeds. Carniolan bee is the only unendangered indigenous breed. Jezersko-Solčava sheep and improved Jezersko-Solčava sheep breeds have become endangered. The conservation of endangered native breeds requires careful breeding and financial support to the breeders of breeding animals. The turning point was the year 1991, when a gene bank was set up, and the professional services joined their efforts to preserve indigenous breeds. Even more important was the set up of the breeding organizations which connected the farmers and supporters of individual breeds.

The trends and the number of breeders and indigenous breeds of farm animals were estimated on the basis of applications for agri-environmental payments - breeding of indigenous and traditional breeds of domestic animals. In 2022, Slovenia had 15 indigenous breeds and one race of domestic animals, namely five breeds of sheep (10.626 animals), four breeds of horses (3.021 animals), and one breed of cattle (2.512 animals), hens (647 animals), goats (564 animals), pigs (1.727 animals), and the race of Carniolan bee.

In the period 2017–2022, the number of indigenous farm animal breeds increased by 72% in pigs, 60% in cattle, 43% in goats, 30% in horses, 19% in sheep, 11% in hens and decreased by 2% in Istrian Pramenka sheep population. In 2022 Cika cattle breed had the highest number of breeders (373), while only five breeders bred Istrian Pramenka sheep. The number of breeders in the period 2017–2022 increased, mostly for Drežnica goat (72%) from 18 to 31 breeders which still is a fairly low count. At the same time, there was an increase of interest in breeding the indigenous breed of - Posavje horse - which increased by 41% since 2017 as well as increased interest in breeding the Istrian Pramenka sheep breed that went from three to five breeders and Styrian hen which number of breeders increased from seven to 11. The small number of breeders poses one of the greatest risks of losing the breed.

Slovenia is the original area of the Carniolan bee race. The Carniolan bee is not endangered, but we strive to preserve its original shape. In 2022, there were 11,359 registered beekeepers in Slovenia, keeping a total of 213,476 bee colonies in 15,770 hives.

In cattle breeding, which is the most important livestock industry, the number of inseminations with bulls of the traditional breeds like Simmental and Brown Swiss even more are declining rapidly, and the number of inseminations with the introduced Holstein breed and introduced beef breeds is increasing. Between 2000 and 2022, the number of first insemination with Brown Swiss bulls has decreased by 79% and Simmental bulls by 53%. The number of first inseminations with Holstein bulls increased by 12% since the year 2000.

An example of successful breeding work is the Cika cattle breed where the number of first inseminations of breeding cows increased 65 fold from 1991 to 2022, but their share is still less than 1%. Another example of successful breeding work is the breed of krškopolje pig whose population grew 49 fold from 2004 to 2022.

The intensified professional work for the conservation of domestic animals breeds and the set up of gene banks and breeders' organizations have generally improved the situation of endangered breeds, or at least not deteriorated as rapidly as before. On the other hand, the situation is worse in the case of traditional breeds not enjoying any special protection scheme. Some of them are not able to defy the pressure of more competitive breeds, therefore their number is decreasing.