Thanks for posting this link, Arielle. It's what I would call a positive negative lesson. It teaches (positive) where not to go (negative). The first three paragraphs say it all, and it has all been said before again and again and again..... This is the same banter that extension types have been parrotting since the early mid-20th century.
The first paragraph is one matter. Corporate hybrids are the easiest route for commercial egg-layers. There's not a doubt; just like a Dunken Heines box is the easiest way to make brownies. About 2 1/2 weeks ago I had a brownie made from scratch. It had such a full and unique flavor that I kind of crumbled. Then, in addition to the taste sensation, there's the visual image of the care and time that went into the making of the brownies that adds to the overall experience.
We have customers swear that our Ancona eggs are the best eggs they know, some of them trained chefs, and they're comparing them to other local farms, local farms that use corporate hybrids for their production. They insist that our eggs are better. I could ride that wave of praise, but the truth is I can't really tell. Still, there are flavor differences in apples and tomatoes why not eggs. I just might be lacking in the egg flavor discernment test, but it's not the point. There's a local farmer in the area who raises purebred, registered Hereford cattle.They get practically all of our beef business. Others we know, customers of ours, do the same, and say that it's the best beef available. Again, I don't know. I don't know that I can really tell the difference, but I just gave him a heavy chunck of change for an assorted box of beef. He's a humble hard-working man, and he smiles big and says thank you. He loves to see me coming because, yes, he knows I'm going to spend money, but he knows it's because I honor his farm. The purchase honors the breed, honors the farmer, honors the heritage, honors the life. There are some farms in the area that just collect random cattle, fatten them, and slaughter them. I avoid them. I guess it's better than nothing, but I want to see that breed thriving. I tell folks all the time that a thriving breed is part of a thriving farm, and when I see that in an operation I tell everyone about it. Earlier we were asked about our business, and I've honestly avoided it because it's a rather long and daunting response. Still, here's a big part of what we've always done, we call corporate food, corporate food, and we make it about more than the product. For anyone that will listen, we make it about the breed--the name of the breed, the farm, and the life, which is, in my opinion, the heritage. When I see a local farmer raising ISA Browns, I'd rather just go buy Pete-n-Jerry's mass produced organic eggs. They're doing it better; they're doing it more efficiently. Our first tenet has always been breed preservation. Someone approached us, all in a rush, at the last Christmas market and asked whether or not our eggs are organic. I answered honestly that we are not and that the goal of our farm is breed preservation; we are first and foremost about the chickens. She looked disappointed and walked away. 20 mintues later she came back and bought eggs. Why? I don't know. Perhaps she'll return, perhaps not. But she's one of these that follows sound bites. "Organic" was her sound bite, but now she has a new idea "breed preservation". It's in there now, milling about; who knows where it will go. Do the dude's ISA Browns lay more than our Anconas? Yep. Are our eggs cooler and more interesting? Yep.
The second paragraph in the article is full of veiled half-understandings because they present this skewed reality of production-bred vs. standard-bred. Hatcheries are gradually transforming all of their "rare breeds" into shabby-looking Leghorn wanna-be's. They simply are no longer what the title says. I know that some people hear that statement with suspision, but they're just not. Their bodies just aren't what they're supposed to be. In illustration, the Deerfield Fair is the third largest display of poultry in New England after the Boston Expo and the
North Eastern Poultry Congress (which is about to take place and which I totally recommend). We had over 800 birds at the fair. It is the only APA sanctioned fair in the state. Still, there were tons of hatchery birds. Earlier in the year I had passed a cull White Dorking female I had used as a broody to a poultry friend. It was just going to be used as a layer; so I didn't give it much thought. Her son entered it into the fair. Oiweh! One of my culls was at the fair; I was secretly mortified, and, consequently, will never make that mistake again. Nevertheless, it took champion English. I saw the ribbon and hung my head. Slowly I did the walk of shame up to Don, who was judging the class, and I pointed to the ribbon. He just shrugged, and said, "Hey, at least it has proper type." Actually, he was right. There were a lot of English birds there, primarily hatchery "Buff Orpingtons", but none of them were Orpingtons. They were bony egg-layers with a bunch of fluff. If that's what's desired, get an ISA-Brown.
Heritage breeding goals are different. In
almost all cases, the SOP standard for shape for each breed of large fowl is written to a specific production niche. There are benefits and disadvantages to each shape. Which shape is best for our needs? The answer to that is, perhaps, the answr of which breed ot raise. Nevertheless, breeding to the standard doesn't guarantee production. It does, however, properly poise them for their purpose. The SOP and Hogan's
The Call of the Hen are either at odds or in sinc. It's a question of not putting the cart before the horse: SOP first,
Call of the Hen second. You can take SOP birds and then start selecting for breed appropriate productivity within the guidelines of their standard.
If one starts with hatchery sourced "production-bred" stock, or perhaps uses it to cross into more SOP appropriate stock (and OMG I've been down this road), theresultant offspring will be so far from the standard and so few of the hatchlings will approxiamte the standard, that one is obliged to disregard anything else save the standard and breed for type. Only then can you go back toward steps to advancing egg-production.
The third paragraph, which rides the wave of the second, is absolute bologna....for the most part. Yes, Sumatras aren't farm fowl
per se, but most of the sources extension types draw their information from would say that La Fleche are strictly ornamental, which is a bunch of ripe poppycock written once by some stooge who had never eaten
coq-au-vin with
la poule flechoise. This silly idea, amid several other silly ideas inexperienced extension folk have put forward, have hurt many a breed for no more good reason than ignorance and fad. The reality is, with proper breeding and dedication, almost every large fowl breed in the Standard is
ideally farm worthy. They just need to be bred up.
We talk about this breed or that breed, and this or that chart is built on-line to parrot the same tired information from one generation to another, but the chicken reality is that a "breed" is only as good as its strain. Meaning it's what we all make of our birds that matters. We just have to have the patience and commitment to do it. One can only ride the wave of breed reputation for so long, for it's about the strain. Although ideally selected it would not be the case, it is possible to have Standardbred Jersey Giants outlay Standard bred Campines,
if the former are being selected for productivity and the latter are not. Simply claiming that
traditionally Campines are said to be the Leghorns of Beligum is not enough. Campines
per se don't necessarily lay well just because of their Standardbred potential; however, bred to the Standard and then selected beyond that for laying-specific productivity they could result in one of the best laying strains of fowl extant in America today.
These breeds have suffered neglect for ages; so it's going to take ages to turn that around. Still, we'll have years and years of pleasure bringing them around, and, IMO, that's a good life and heritage. It's perfectly possible to develop a farm or homestead worthy strain of Partidge Rocks or Houdans or Lakenvelders. We just have to start, not give up, not switch breed every five years, and not over-extend our resources by trying to do more breeds that our set allows for.
