Suffolk Horses in Canada and the USA

Introduction

The Suffolk Horse (also known as The Suffolk Punch) is well established in Canada and the United States of America – and has been since the the first exports to Canada in 1865 and from 1880 to the USA.  The greatest number of exported Suffolk Horses from the United Kingdom right up to WW2 went to these two countries.     When the draught horse revival began in the 1970’s, Canadian and US breeders  once again imported Suffolk Horses from the UK.   With judicious breeding, further imports between 1989 -2000, together with the import of another stallion to the USA in 2012, the Suffolk Horse herd in Canada and the USA is the largest in the world.    The American Suffolk Horse Association (ASHA) is the official Registry of Suffolk Horses in these two countries. 

Suffolk Horses in Canada and USA registered with  ASHA have full DNA testing and Parental Verification to comply with ASHA’s requirements and this has been in place since January 2003.    See:   https://www.suffolkpunch.com/index.php)
 
History was made when for the first time, one stallion and three mares from the United States of America were exported to the United Kingdom 2001-2006.   In May 2018 another historic event occurred when one colt and two fillies were exported to Australia, also for the first time and also from the USA.  Hopefully this trend will continue, either by live export or by the use of frozen semen.
Numerical Status of the Suffolk Horse in Canada and The United States
The Suffolk Horse in Canada and The United States of America under the auspices of the The American Suffolk Horse Association (ASHA) has significantly more Suffolks than in the UK, and significant more working Suffolks.    It receives no grants nor subsidies and all monies collected comes from its relatively small, but dedicated membership via their own fund raising.   For those readers who haven’t already accessed the ASHA website, the link to their Galley section is well worthwhile:   https://suffolkpunch.com/gallery
The following table is illustrative of the numerical success of ASHA and its owners and breeders.    See also under Articles for the two other decades of foal production and registration – Where are we now?   April 2020 update.
© Eleanor Yvonne Hatch, Australian Suffolk Punch Registry & Grading Up Registry 2018
4-H Programs for Youth

In both Canada and the USA,  the 4-H Organization offers a wide range of activities in areas such as  STEM subjects, health and agriculture.   (US Website:  https://4-h.org/about/what-is-4-h/ and Canada  https://4-h-canada.ca/).

The wealth of informed and practical information available is considerable and extremely wide ranging.   

As an example see: https://4-h.org/parents/curriculum/horse/

The following article by Justin McKee about his 4-H project report was first published in Genesis, The Journal of Rare Breeds Canada, Fall-Winter edition, and is reproduced here with kind permission of the McKee Family and Heritage Livestock Canada.