A while ago my wife and I landed on 250 acres of farm land that had been all but abandoned for a generation. I quickly set up Bailey Cattle Company, LLC and went to work rebuilding fences, improving pastures, and plowing up fields. As the son of a commercial cattle rancher, I knew all about farming and raising livestock. I also knew that 250 acres was too big to ignore, yet too small to support a commercial livestock operation. I began looking for an efficient new use for the land.
Online research quickly led me to the idea of Heritage Breed livestock. Heritage breeds are those old families of livestock – cows, pigs, turkeys; you name it – that were brought to America on the Mayflower and the ships that followed her shortly thereafter. Heritage also includes breeds brought from the Old World and cross-bred with native animals to adapt to the rugged lands and rugged markets of the new American frontier.
They include the Red Pole cow, the Sussex chicken, the Tamworth pig, and scores of others. But with the twentieth century introduction of factory farming – corporate owned or controlled producers of only the most efficient meats – many of these old breeds were left behind and now face extinction.
Take, for example, the classic American turkey. The beautiful birds, with colorful plumage and tasty meat – just like the Pilgrims shared at the first Thanksgiving – are all but extinct. Replaced by the broad breasted white turkey, a bird so genetically tampered with that its large breast keeps it from breeding naturally or flying, the old tasty birds lost their market appeal and have almost lost their bloodline.
You see, if there is no market for a livestock breed, no farmer will raise it. The trick, ironic though it may seem, is to get Americans to eat these rare animals again. It’s a process I call “repopulation by consumption.” If you get people eating an animal again, farmers will raise it again (domesticated animals, that is; don’t try this with the bald eagle).
Assisting the farmer in protecting the old breeds is the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The ALBC is a nonprofit organization working to protect over 150 breeds of livestock and poultry from extinction. According to their website, "The organization watches over rare breeds of asses, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys."
The Market
Some heritage animals will survive and even prosper because of the marketing efforts of small farmers. Others however, will always have to rely on hobby farmers growing them simply for the joy of growing something rare. Take Bailey Cattle Company’s Sumatra chickens; the ALBC lists this rare shiny black chicken as critical, the most endangered of all ALBC classifications. But I cannot sell Sumatra eggs for any more money than I can sell other free-range eggs because they do not taste any different. Nor would the meat of a Sumatra chicken taste any different from my broilers (I must assume, having no plans to butcher them). So the rare chicken breeds will have to rely on hobby farmers, 4-H programs, and kids competing for county fair ribbons rather than on increased profits due to any particular rare trait. The same will probably remain true of rare horses, asses, and to a lesser extent, ducks and geese.
Rare cattle and pigs stand a better chance of repopulation by consumption. Several ranchers have already realized decent profits selling Devon meat cattle directly to restaurants and specialty foods grocers. To assist in this, the ALBC occasionally hosts events for chefs and food critics where rare breed beef is served. Currently, Bailey Cattle Company is engaged in intense research into the viability of direct marketing certain types of heritage pigs.
The most successful heritage breed story so far, however, is the turkey. Hundreds of livestock farmers throughout the country are raising these majestic birds and selling to an increasingly aware public. With their richer taste and healthier upbringing, dressed heritage birds typically sell for $55 to $85 each. Compare that to $11 to $18 for a typical supermarket turkey and you can see the appeal for farmers. But the market is not without its hurdles.
Rare breed poults (baby turkeys) are expensive and must be ordered from hatcheries in January or February to ensure the turkeys will be ready for processing by the following November. That leaves the farmer with significant exposure to loss if he or she cannot sell the birds by the following Thanksgiving. Some operations try to get customers to reserve holiday turkeys prior to ordering the poults, but I do not believe that will prove viable for a growing operation. People just do not have Thanksgiving turkeys on their minds in February and no matter how hard you try, you cannot change consumer behavior to fit the turkey’s schedule.
Therefore, the successful heritage turkey farmer will risk some capital upfront and rely on his marketing skills as the holidays near. Those who are so cautious that they will not order a poult until they know it is sold might maintain a small customer base among friends and family, but he should not expect his operation to grow. To succeed you must be willing to have surplus turkeys on hand when the rush hits in November.
Bailey Cattle takes a two-tiered approach to marketing turkeys. The first is aimed at the nation-wide market and involves talking up our products on Internet forums that support small farmers, such as Local Harvest. This is to drive traffic to our website where orders can be placed from the 48 continental states. The second approach is local. I visit with chefs, call on butcher shops, and talk to everyone in my path about these great tasting birds. To supplement local sales this summer, I will take the biggest, prettiest tom (male turkey) in the flock and have him strutting on display at my roadside vegetable stand, along with ALBC literature and turkey pricing and reservation information.
Such marketing techniques will not work for every producer. Internet sales may take large amounts of bandwidth that might be unavailable in rural areas. Roadside advertising only works if you have traffic in your area. Every farmer must find his or her own creative ways to get the product to the consumer.
On a cautionary note, another problem I see developing in the heritage turkey market is the same thing that got us into this situation in the first place: preference for one breed over the others. Everyone is racing to grow the Standard Bronze, a well-bodied rare breed turkey that flourishes in many environments. In showing this favoritism, farmers are leaving behind the White Holland, the Slate, and the Narragansett, among others. At Bailey Cattle Company, we raise all of the rare breeds on the ALBC’s conservation list and we encourage our fellow producers to do the same.
Bailey Cattle Company prefers heritage breeds for their tastier meat, the potentially higher profits on smaller tracts of land, and simply for the hope of repopulating farms with their trusty old residents. I believe most heritage breed farmers are in the business for the love of the land and the love of the animal. It stands to reason that heritage ranchers are the anti-factory farmers. Many are probably humane-certified, preferring pasture raised animals over those grown on concrete-covered feed lots.
The typical heritage breed ranch probably sets aside a few acres for naturally grown fruits and vegetables, free range eggs, and perhaps some value-added products like goat’s milk soap or candles – all for sale at a roadside stand, a farmers’ market, or even online. They know that small farms, supported by local buyers from nearby towns and cities, represent the past, and hopefully the future, of American agriculture. If you relish the thought of a basket full of fuller-flavored meats, tastier eggs, and chemical-free vegetables and you would like to help secure a piece of American history while you are at it, start watching for heritage breed growers and the wonderful old/new products they have to offer.