Saving Rare Breeds

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How You Can Help

If you want to learn how to preserve rare livestock breeds on your homestead, you should join the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) in Pittsboro, North Carolina. And if you want to help but can't raise animals yourself, you can make a donation to support the work of this nonprofit group.

Founded in 1977 by agricultural historians, the ALBC works to encourage the conservation of more than 100 heritage livestock breeds. Poultry, cattle, swine, horses, sheep and goats are their primary focus.

Efforts by the staff and about 4,000 members include identifying breeds in need of conservation; identifying and connecting experienced breeders; encouraging newcomers to the livestock conservation world; tracking populations of endangered animals; establishing a rare breeds gene bank; helping to establish federal genetic conservation policy, and funding and participating in research on animal habits and health.

"Since its founding, the Conservancy has become a leading force for rare breed conservation in the United States," says Chuck Bassett, executive director. "Its work is more important today than ever because the increasing loss of livestock diversity greatly reduces the genetic resource upon which future agricultural dynamics must rely."

The ALBC publishes a bimonthly newsletter called "The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy News," and sponsors workshops around the country on various aspects of rare breeds conservation.

When the Standard Went out the Door

The Standard Bronze turkey was the Thanksgiving bird of choice from the 1850s until about 1940, according to Frank Reese, Jr. Most farmers kept a range flock, using the birds for insect control as well as eating. In the 1940s, Reese says, millions of Bronzes and Narragansetts were being raised for the U.S. market when a bigger-breasted, white-feathered British turkey arrived on the scene. "It had a shorter breast bone and shorter legs, but the same muscle mass," Reese says.

The U.S. turkey industry quickly shifted to this new variety of bird, but the turkey couldn't reproduce on its own because of its disproportionate shape. "Fertility went to nothing," Reese says. "They tried using standard Bronze toms on the broad-breasted female birds at first, but it messed up the genetics and they got mixed lots, so they went to A.I. (artificial insemination). And color (the Bronzes, Narragansetts and other heritage turkeys with patterned or colored feathers) went out the door."

Today, the U.S. turkey industry produces nearly 300 million birds annually in large "barns" that each house thousands of birds. These turkeys are strains of the broad-breasted white; all are so top-heavy from selection for the big breast that they develop joint problems as they mature that make walking difficult. They grow to a slaughter weight of 10 to 15 pounds in only 2 1/2 months' time.

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