We wanted to start our lives on a small farm to get back to that rural lifestyle which we enjoyed when we were still quite young.
...and we were really enjoying the rural lifestyle!
Soon after our transition, we wanted to start raising some livestock for our own needs, livestock which we knew were going to be humanely raised and healthy. We wanted livestock which were not polluted with artificial chemicals, excessive or alien hormones or any unnatural (frankly quite gross when we learned of them,) or artificial "additives" that the food industry is forcing uninformed consumers to eat.
We learned of the very sorry state of the American livestock production industry, but, most importantly, of the livestock breeds, themselves.
Many breeds of livestock, in this country and throughout the world, are in serious jeopardy of going extinct! Too many large factory farms are concentrating on producing meat and other animal products using just those breeds that are the most profitable. They ignore other, less profitable breeds.
Many of these other breeds, while certainly less profitable to factory farms, nonetheless offer other extremely valuable benefits. These benefits are many and varied like thrift, hardiness, companionship, self-sufficiency, variety, easy birthing, intelligence, and, yes, even beauty.
One more point: we are doomed by what we do not yet know. Many medical, philosophical and scientific advances have been made merely by observing, and reflecting on, nature, other species, other lifeforms and other genomes. We are stronger as a race because we have the power to observe life. As we reduce the number of other lifeforms that we can observe, we reduce the amount of information we can learn from them.
By helping to preserve and sustain the weakest amongst us, including other species, we help ourselves.
Some of these breeds were at dire risk of becoming extinct! Their unique genomes may soon be lost altogether, and we could not idly let that happen.
We wanted, and even felt the urgent need, to help. So we selected our livestock breeds from those which especially needed conservation, and we have not stopped.
Rare breeds of livestock which we are actively working to conserve are:
Except for the Pilgrim goose, these breeds are all recovering from their earlier status of being threatened with extinction. The Pilgrim is still in "Threatened" status, indicating that there is still work to do.
Many breeds of critically-endangered livestock and poultry are in very serious danger of becoming extinct. Other breeds have populations which are regularly decreasing in number.
No one farmer or concerned citizen can do all the work to help. Much more effort is required and many more people are needed.
More information is available on the websites for the specific livestock conservation associations.
The predominant general livestock conservation association in America is
