"...when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another Heaven and another Earth must pass before such a one can be again."
-William Beebe You may be wondering what "heritage breed livestock" is, and why it should be conserved. I shall tell you, and I will also tell you how you can help if you find this cause as close to your heart as I find it to mine.
Heritage livestock breeds are the original breeds of livestock that founded the commercial breeds we are all used to. These wonderful breeds supported our ancestors needs for many, many year and have not only history but are amazing multi-purpose animals. Unfortunately, these animals are becoming more and more rare, with some breeds even nearing extinction. It may seem absurd that these amazing animals are no longer being used as much as they were, but there is a reason for that. Not a good reason in my opinion, but a reason. The commercial livestock industry cares more about quantity than quality, and so they are interested only in breeding animals that grow very large very rapidly and therefore can be sold faster and for more money than the more naturally growing and proportioned heritage breeds.Take the commercial turkey for example. These birds have been bred to grow at extreme paces and with extremely huge breasts. Sure, if the only thing that happened by breeding these animals to have these traits, it may not be such a bad idea. However, with this unnatural growth pattern, these turkeys not only develope meat before they develope the muscles to support this meat - making it difficult for them to move and nigh impossible to fly - but because of the increased size of their chest, combined with the lack of muscle strength, these animals cannot even breed on their own. If a flock of commercial breed turkeys (think butterball) were released into a natural environment, they would not survive. They would be taken down by predators, and the ones who managed to escape would not even be able to procreate. So, the first thing the commercial livestock industry sacrifices in these animals is their ability to live a natural, normal life as God intended for them to. They are no where near self sufficient. The second thing sacrificed is something that should mean something even to those who don't give a hoot about animal welfare (and shame on them, I might add); flavor. In a taste test between heritage breeds of turkey and a butterball, the butterball lost. The winner of the best flavor was in fact a Midget White turkey; a heritage breed. So, not only does the meat industry screw with the animals natural genetics, it screws up the flavor. People who buy their meat from commercial farms are in truth paying top dollar for sub-par meat. In this world, where money is indeed important, I want to get my moneys worth for what I buy; don't you?
Furthermore, I'm sure we've all seen the ads about the abuse of commercial livestock. I'm not saying that all commercial livestock is abused, I am sure it is not.I am not saying that all heritage livestock breeders care for their animals properly and give them a good quality of life. I do, however, want to point out that many heritage livestock breeders operate free-range, and sometimes even organic, farms. In fact, all of the websites I have been able to find advertise themselves as doing so. I would wager that the majority of the heritage livestock breeders are reputable. Why? Because, if they cared more about profit than the animals they would most likely not be breeding heritage livestock; they would put growth rate and carcass weight above the animals welfare.
So, how can you help the plight of the much better heritage breeds of livestock? Here are a few ways:
- You could always help conserve by raising a heritage breed. This is, of course, not an option for everyone. Raising livestock, or any animals, the right way is a huge commitment. Proper care and breeding is even more important when dealing with heritage breeds, which have a smaller (and unfortunately in some cases, a dwindling) gene pool. It's not a matter of buying tom/rooster/buck/bull/etc and tossing it out in a field with a bunch of girls. You have to have enough land, money, and time to really do things right. The first thing you will have to keep a tight noose on is the health of your animals. Yearly testing for certain diseases, regular worming and shots, and medication for sick or injured animals will be required.Remember, a vet bill for a cow will be much more expensive than that for a cat. In some cases, it might even be difficult to find a livestock vet in your area, which is an important thing to have. You don't want to be caught in the middle of the night with a mare who has a mal-positioned foal and the closest livestock vet be two hours away. You would likely lose both the mare and the foal in such a situation, unless you got lucky and were able to reposition the foal yourself - not always an easy task. There are also the genetics to consider. Like I said, you can't just throw the boys and girls in a pen and let 'em go. You will need to carefully document who is bred to who for your records and registration purposes. You will need to know when they were bred, so you will know when to expect a baby; you will need to be present at the birth to ensure a safe delivery and a live baby (this would not apply with poultry.) You will also need to carefully decide which males to breed to which females and which animals to keep in your breeding stock and which to let go as pets. You will need to be familiar with your breed of choice's standards so that you will be able to spot flaws in your animals. Upon spotting these flaws, you will need to decide which ones are severe enough, or not compensated by enough good points, to require the animal to be removed from your breeding program. In dairy animals for example, you would not want to keep an animal with a problem with their udder in your breeding stock. With Nigerian Dwarfs, an animal with lop ears would need to be kept as a pet and not for breeding. When you find animals like this, you will need to either a) keep them on your farm and not breed them (meaning they will be a non-profit animal, but they could always be a good pet) or b) find them a new home as someones pet- something you will have to be careful about or you may actually sell your animal to someone who will irresponsibly breed them or abuse them. Once you have decided which animals are good enough to keep as breeding stock, you will also have to spot the faults- no matter how minute - in these animals and breed them to a counterpart who excels in the area that your animal is weak. The purpose of any animal paring should always be to magnify the good and minimize the bad; a lot of consideration has to go into which pairing will do this the best. Another thing to consider is the emotional investment that breeding animals (or owning them even) is.Remember, you will be working with these animals every day, and you will (I hope, at least) come to love them and they will be entertaining as well as profitable companions. This is all well and good, right? Well, yes in a way it is. Animals supply wonderful company and love to their humans. But with this love comes a price. Animals, like humans, die. The main difference is that animals live much shorter lives. The longest living livestock animals generally only live thirty years; a long time, but not compared to a human life. Sometimes your animals will live long lives to a ripe old age. Sometimes, however, your animals will be mortally wounded or injured, fall ill, have a birthing complication, or be killed by a predator.The truth is, though, no matter when or how your animals die you will experience a painful loss. There will also be moments that will put you through stress; selling an animal and trying to find a good home, helping one through a difficult and painful birth, trying to help you animal cope with a painful injury; the list goes on. So, is conserving a breed worth all this? To me, it is. But to others, helping in another way may be preferable.
- Another way you could help is to donate the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (link at bottom.)The ALBC is exactly what it says; a heritage breed conservation organization. Their website (again, link at bottom) contains a list of the most in danger breeds and also countless other amounts of information (they are where I got the information of the turkey taste-test from). From their website you can donate by either a) donating $30.00 or more and becoming a member as I did, or if you prefer donating any other amount. I strongly recommend you visit the site, even if you don't wish to donate.
- One more way you can help is to buy your meat products (or wool or dairy, as it were) from heritage livestock breeders rather than commercial operations or supermarkets. In this way you support the heritage breeders and do NOT support the commercial breeders. I will list link below.
I hope that you have found this information useful and thought provoking. This is a cause near to my heart, and is one reason I choose Nigerian Dwarfs for my goat breed; they are currently listed as "recovering" on the in-danger livestock list on ALBC. Below are links that can provide more information and also some that sell heritage meat or other products.
http://www.albc-usa.com
http://www.beltiebeef.com
http://www.hobbyfarms.com
http://www.ndga.org
http://www.albc-usa.org/links.html
http://albc-usa.org/documents/Turkey%20Producers.pdf