Heritage Breeds
Modern Renaissance:
The Return of Traditional Breeds on Today’s Farm
Fiber Forum—1:30, Saturday, May 19; 12:00, Sunday, May 20
Heritage breed livestock and poultry breeds are enjoying a renaissance of interest as people rediscover the joy of working with traditional breeds perfectly suited for small farms or backyard flocks.
These breed reconnect their owners to more sustainable methods of farming and help to conserve important reservoirs of genetic diversity for domestic species. The resulting products from these animals have found a rapidly growing number of consumers and have created profitable market niche opportunities for the small farms across the country.
Join American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) staff members Alison Martin and Jeannette Beranger as they tour through the wide diversity of rare breeds and how they can be incorporated on today’s farms. They will explain the importance of giving these heritage breeds jobs and how they can be a productive, profitable and sustainable part of modern agriculture.
Jeannette and Brego
Alison and Randall
Jeannette Beranger is a Program Manager for American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. She came to ALBC with 20+ year’s experience in working with animals and uses the knowledge to plan and implement ALBC breed conservation programs. At home she maintains a heritage breeds farm with a focus on rare breed chickens and endangered Marsh Tacky horses.
Alison Martin joined the ALBC team as the Research and Technical Programs Director. Alison has a Ph.D. in Genetics from Virginia Tech, where she specialized in disease resistance in poultry. Alison’s skills are used in building strategic scientific and technical capacity in ALBC’s breed conservation programs.
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization working to protect over 180 breeds of livestock and poultry from extinction. Included are asses, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. Founded in 1977, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is the pioneer organization in the United States working to conserve historic breeds and genetic diversity in livestock.
