Heritage breeds are traditional livestock breeds that were raised by our forefathers. These are the breeds of a bygone era, before industrial agriculture became a mainstream practice. Heritage breeds store a wealth of genetic resources that are important for our future and the future of our agricultural food system
Moss Mountain Farm aka Heritage Poultry Conservancy
Animals are important to the farm, because they are part of the farm’s ecosystem. We founded the conservancy to protect heritage breeds. These animals need our support because they’re being replaced by modern varieties, which are all about production and industrial agricultural systems.
With poultry being such an important component to our food system, it’s critical we recognize the genetic diversity that this food resource offers. Our farm is conserving genetic stock of different breeds, and each breed has its own characteristics. Maintaining genetic diversity is fundamentally important to our food security, and what we’re doing with poultry is just one small piece of that effort.
We are constantly working on maintaining these birds so they reflect the best standards of their breeds. These standards are listed in a book called “The American Standard of Perfection,” first printed after the American Poultry Association was founded in 1874.
As the age-old question is frequently asked, which came first — the chicken or the egg? My answer to that question is, of course, the chicken!
I became a chicken enthusiast at the age of 10 when I won a blue ribbon for a white Silkie hen I showed at the Warren County Fair in Tennessee. Since that time, I’ve raised hundreds of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, as well as a few swans.
I’m particularly fond of heritage breeds and work to ensure these special breeds are around for generations to enjoy.
Protecting the genetics of heritage birds isn’t just about passion. It’s practical. With the rise of factory farming, a lot of people have stopped raising chickens in their backyards. Because of that, these breeds are becoming endangered and we are at risk of losing out on their genetics, which is critical.
To that end, I created the Heritage Poultry Conservancy in 2009. This organization is dedicated to the preservation and support of all threatened breeds and strains of domestic poultry.
At Moss Mountain Farm, we have more than 60 breeds of heritage poultry. Some breeds, such as Silver Gray Dorkings, date back to Roman times. Visitors can come and see nearly 2,000 years of poultry history. While there are specialty breeders that may focus on four to five heritage breeds, I don’t know of any other conservation-oriented poultry collection with 60 breeds that are on ‘the most critical to save’ list, such as Blue Andalusians, White Face Black Spanish or Dorkings. We also keep three colors of the same breed of historic turkeys, as well as six breeds of geese and six breeds of duck.
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Old Time Farm
is a 113-acre farm in Mercer County, PA focused on the preservation of rare, endangered, heritage livestock and poultry.
https://www.oldtime.farm/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Shelly.OldTimeFarm/
OUR MISSION
To conserve and promote America’s culturally diverse but endangered livestock and poultry breeds for future generations through education, sustainable breeding, and conservancy.
OUR STORY
Like many of you, we noticed the increase in cancer, allergies, and autism in our friends and family. We wondered where our food came from, how it was grown, what it was fed, how it was treated. Did this have any impact our health? What did all those confusing labels mean? Who could pronounce all those words on the labels?
In 2010 we sold our business and bought a 113 acre farm in Mercer County, PA to have more space for our horses. Then … I wanted some chickens and a “house cow” for our own milk …
The cows I found locally were high production “modern” types. I discovered the old-fashioned traditional producing livestock breeds were still in existence but were in danger of extinction … the research and adventure started!
DISCOVERY
While searching for that elusive cow I came to realize:
The idealized small diversified “family farm” is in danger of extinction while industrial monoculture farming is on the rise.
Livestock offering less than extreme production are endangered along with the soil biome, native plants and pollinators (not honeybees).
Animals are seldom raised from birth to harvest on the same farm, where immunity to the environment is passed from mother to offspring, in modern production. Instead, the young are taken to places where they have no generational immunity and, in the case of cattle, mixed with the young from other farms. This means antibiotics are necessary to keep them healthy.
Today’s industrial farming is segmented, like work on a factory production line. Animals (plants and soil too) are expected to put out maximum production in the least amount of space, in the least amount of time, with the least amount of inputs – PERIOD.
Layers, who once were doing well when producing 150 eggs per year, have been highly bred to produce 300 eggs per year and that “cage-free” means broken bones for hens who have been bred for generations to live in confinement instead of freedom.
The chicken meat industry, once an efficient use of the extra males hatched with layers, now has birds who are ready to harvest at the tender age of 35 days when the historical harvest age would have been at least 16 weeks and that there are several genetic meat defects that industry is struggling to solve.
Cattle are now specifically bred to maximize beef production without a care to how well they produce milk for their calves or to maximize milk production without regard to whether they can calve without assistance.
The industrial answer to the problems created by excessive production is focusing more and more on genetic modification, which bypasses the natural time needed for selective breeding of production traits back to “normalcy”.
THE SOLUTION
To become part of the solution, we decided to put our 113 acre farm and life experiences to work. “Old Time” traditional heritage breeds of poultry, livestock and traditional agricultural methods were the perfect fit to create the idyllic farm and traditional products we were seeking.
Thanks for reading all this! You can learn more about what we are doing and other Moos by following us on social media or joining our email list in the links below!
Shelly and Ray Oswald
PS … I did find that cow and she is the one on the home page of our website. She is an American Milking Devon named “Latigo Rose of Higher View Farm”, she is not a “dairy” cow by modern production expectations and no, I do NOT milk her!
https://www.localharvest.org/old-time-farm-M66167
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Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch
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Joyce Farms Heritage Poultry
The Search For Better Birds
https://joyce-farms.com/pages/heritage-poultry
Our goal is to produce the finest chicken in the world, and we have searched the world to meet that goal. Our search took us to Europe where they have been cultivating slow-growing heritage breeds for generations. We discovered a breed of chicken that we believe offers superior taste and texture, and we decided to bring it home so we can offer culinary treasures that are very rare on our shores. We then found a unique breed of guinea hen that met our same high standards and added it to our line.
Gold Shaw Farm
Heritage Breeds
Other
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Articles
The Big List of 23 heritage chicken breeds
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/heritage-chicken-breeds-zmaz76jmazhar
Australia: 20 Most Popular Heritage Chicken Breeds
https://www.coopsandcages.com.au/blog/20-popular-heritage-chicken-breeds/
Heritage chicken breeds – Finding the best fit for your farm
https://www.ecofarmingdaily.com/raise-healthy-livestock/chickens/poultry-breed-classes/heritage-breed-chickens/
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Special Feature
“Heritage Foods — the company at the forefront of the nonindustrial meat movement —”
The New York Times
Heritage Foods is a mail order and wholesale company founded in 2001 to preserve endangered species of livestock from extinction. Heritage Foods learned about the plight of endangered foods through Slow Food, a non-profit organization created in Italy in 1986, in part to protest the opening of a McDonald’s on the Spanish Steps in Rome, and to bring attention to endangered regional cuisines and ingredients.
Modern factory farming focuses solely on faster-growing animals, and a bottom line that reflects little interest in biodiversity, sustainability, healthy food, or animal welfare. Ancient breeds of livestock are becoming extinct. Such a narrow spectrum is a threat to food security. Unlike endangered wildlife — which can be saved through foundations, preserves, and zoos — the species that were once the foundation of our food supply can only be saved when popular demand increases and farmers have the incentive to raise them.
Heritage breeds are the very foundation of our agricultural history and gastronomic identity. Each breed comes from a unique culinary tradition, with its own pure genetic line, and boasts a different, nuanced flavor. A true heritage breed can be traced back prior to the advent of industrial farming, meaning that they are directly connected to the beginnings of settled agriculture. Industrial breeds, the mainstay of the fast food and supermarket industries, were developed through years of cynical genetic selection and artificial insemination.
Our partner farmers grow 100% heritage breed pigs, turkeys, lamb, chickens, ducks, guineas, and geese. All animals are raised humanely, outdoors, on-pasture, using traditional farming techniques. They reproduce naturally and are never fed any antibiotics or growth hormones. Heritage meats are juicy and tender from their marbling, and boast a profound taste and depth of flavor that has not been squashed by a corporate culture that only cares about rapid production.
We purchase whole animals nose-to-tail and sell them in parts for retail and wholesale. We deliver anywhere in the USA — direct to your door — with 100% customer satisfaction guaranteed.
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