Australia is seen as a safety net for protecting rare livestock breeds – but why do they need saving?

Jan Kleynhans, director of the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia, feeds rare Tarentaise cattle on a property near Taree in the central coast of New South Wales. Photograph: Brydie Piaf/The Guardian

In a paddock near Taree on the central coast of New South Wales a small herd of burnt orange cattle represent both hope and despair.

The cattle are Tarentaise, a breed that until recently was thought to be extinct in Australia. But hope springs under the watchful eye of Yan Kleynhans.