Saving Rare Breeds

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Yet while consumer demand for heritage turkey is increasing, the number of breeders like Reese and commercial hatcheries that maintain breeding flocks and sell to the public, is down. Of the 52 breeders surveyed in 2003 by the Conservancy, Bender says, 20 sell turkeys but only eight maintain breeding stock. Also, since the 1997 census, nearly a third of the 25 hatcheries surveyed then have gone out of business or have stopped raising or selling turkeys. Drowns' Sand Hill Preservation Center does sell to the public but only has a limited number of poults each year. Reese says he won't even sell poults; instead, he prefers to grow them all to maturity, so he can judge their quality before parting with them. A very experienced breeder might convince him to sell an older bird or two now and then, for a price. Just to have enough of a selection to fill his holiday orders with quality birds and ensure more in the pipeline for future years, Reese raised twice as many birds last year — 3,000 — as he did in 2002. "That's a lot of eggs to gather, set and hatch," he says. But, he's smiling as he speaks, and keeping up with demand.

Back to the Future

Efforts to encourage more sales of heritage birds will not be enough to guarantee their survival, Reese says, if more growers don't select only the best birds for their breeding flocks. "If we're going to really market these birds, we have to do like they did in the 1920s and '30s," he says. "We can't just depend on raising `a turkey' or `a Bourbon Red.' We have to select, and learn how to select not only for the standard but for eating." Breed standards are on file with the American Poultry Association, of which Reese is a member and judge; for turkeys, they dictate color and conformation requirements for a bird to be recognized as one of a particular variety.

Last fall, Reese said he planned to keep back 500 of his best birds: 300 Bronzes, 100 Narragansetts and 100 Bourbon Reds. From these he will select the top 30 Bronze toms and the top 20 Narragansett toms and 20 Bourbon Red toms to be his 2004 breeders.

The Bronzes are still the best and one of the hardiest varieties of standard turkeys, Reese says, and his Kardosh strain is the only original standard bloodline left in the world. "None of the others have been bred for proper color and meat quality through the years."

For 50 years, Reese says, the main market for heritage breeds was hobbyists — people who just wanted a few birds on display in their back yard. As a consequence, no rigorous selection was done. "Now," he says, "we have to breed for good breast meat, too."

To help interested growers learn how, he's teaching in-depth Conservancy-sponsored workshops. Knowledgeable consumers, he says, are willing to pay a big premium for heritage, free-range meat; while he sells his dressed birds for $4 a pound, a supermarket turkey may cost as little as 29 cents a pound. Those in the know understand the difference between the two products; they prefer the heritage flavor, and the opportunity to vote with their buying power for the preservation and humane treatment of the animals.

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