What Does “Heritage Breed” Mean?

I feel as though today's Factual Friday night ruffle a few feathers - pun very much intended.

Today, we're talking about heritage breeds.

Often used when it comes to marketing livestock like poultry (hence my egg-cellent pun), "heritage breed" is, again, a term that comes with its own hefty dose of misinformation (though it's well-intentioned misinformation).

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What is a Heritage Breed?

A heritage breed of livestock is one that has existed over many generations and reflects the unique and rich heritage of that livestock. These tend to be breeds that have evolved on their own without too much human interference. 

Over time, we've bred these heritage breeds to develop certain traits that we deem as valuable in the commercial meat, dairy, and egg industries. An example is the creation of the Cornish Cross chicken - this bird, decidedly NOT a heritage breed, was created by breeding Cornish and White Rock chickens.

The Cornish, first developed in 1820, was known as the Indian Game chicken for many years. People loved these birds because they grew quite large - up to 8.5 lbs - with flavorful meat. However, it took them eons to do it, taking months to reach table size.

The White Rock, also rising to popularity in the mid-1800s, was prized for its large size and rapid maturation rates (just 8-12 weeks). 

When these two breeds were crossed, a revolution was born, allowing chicken farmers to produce delicious, meaty carcasses in just a couple of months of production. This not only saved the farmer time and money, but also created the chicken we see at the grocery store and have become so accustomed to eating.

Now, you'll notice that nowhere in here does it say that any of  these are the "original" breeds. Cornish chickens were developed as the result of breeding other chicken breeds for desirable traits (the Red Aseel and the Black Breasted Red Game). So were Plymouth Rocks (Dominques and Black Java/Black Cochins). 

That leads us to the first misconception people have about heritage breeds, which is that they are somehow superior because they are the "original" breeds. There's really no such thing - at least, not if you believe in evolution. 

In that event, the only true heritage breed would be a prokaryotic microbe.

Advantages of Heritage Breeds

That's not to say that there aren't clear advantages of heritage breeds. Often, these breeds have highly desirable traits that make them more hardy and versatile - for instance, they might be better at foraging or more cold-tolerant. In some cases, they can also be more disease-resistant. 

Yet they also can have traits that make them undesirable, like slow growth or a more muscled texture in the meat. 

"Heritage breed" is a term that's often used in the labeling of meat and eggs, in particular, and it frustrates me because, although it is not without its benefits, I think consumers tend to gravitate that way and think the meat is somehow superior or healthier when in fact it's all exactly the same.

Heritage breeds stand out in one way, and that is in the preservation of biodiversity. It's estimated that in North America alone, about 85 to 90% of all animal products come from fewer than 15 breeds of domestic livestock. These include Angus and Holstein cattle, Yorkshire pigs, Cornish cross and white Leghorn chickens, and Rambouillet sheep. 

Disadvantages of Heritage Breeds

Truly, there aren't any disadvantages of choosing a heritage breed, as long as you understand the implications. Heritage-bred meat or any other product is not healthier, nor is it necessarily better for the environment (a Dutch Belted cow can be raised exactly in the same way as a Holstein). It all comes down to farming practices in this regard. 

Instead of choosing heritage breed as your go-to label, again, talk to your farmer. Does it matter if they're raising Cornish Cross chickens instead of Plymouth Rocks, as long as the animals are allowed to roam and express their natural behaviors? 

In many cases, choosing the non-heritage animal, which grows faster and thereby saves money on feed and other expenses, allows a farmer to increase his or her profitability enough to make a difference between breaking even and loss. Just ask about the farming practices themselves, beyond the label  - this is what really counts.

There's an argument out there - not one that I necessarily agree or disagree with - that heritage breeds are what allow small farms to shine, and that they're the backbone of the local food movement. That may certainly be the case for some farms, for some products, and for some breeds.

We went many years as heritage breed stalwarts, refusing to transition to Cornish Cross chickens, for example, because we believed that New Hampshire and Rhode Island Red chickens were "better" and that we could create the ideal product from these breeds of heritage chickens instead. 

What we found was that they took so long to raise to maturity for butchering that the meat was tough and hard to cut. It was flavorful, for sure, but our inputs were so high to get them to butcher weight (and the resulting carcasses so much smaller), that it really wasn't worth it. There was no way we could have sold those "rubber chickens" - which is what they looked like -  to our current customers.

I'm certainly not saying that everyone will have that experience - far from it, in fact. It just comes down to doing what's right for your farm, if you're in the business, and by your wallet as a consumer.

The Takeaway

The biggest place where heritage breeds come into play, however, is in biodiversity, and in a cultural context. I'm not saying that protecting heritage breeds isn't important - not at all. 

Preserving these breeds supports a piece of our biological and evolutionary history that is undeniably important. We reintroduced some egg layers this year to our farm, many of which are heritage bred. This is a transition from the Golden Comets we raised for many years, which were decidedly not heritage breed. We've also raised Berkshire pigs and Icelandic sheep for many, many years. Just this year, we transitioned away from Icelandics to Katahdins because the traits in them that had served us so well before - their independence being the main one - no longer was helpful for our current needs.

The independence had been great when we had a small flock, but as the need to have a flock that actually flocked up and moved together for solar vegetation management grew, our interest in Icelandics waned. Katahdins are an excellent alternative - and as a bonus, we found that they grew larger and had better parasite resistance in our conditions as well (which is something that surprises many Icelandic superfans we talk to who claim that Icelandics are superior in both of those areas).

Again, it all comes down to individual choice. Individual experience.

As you may have noticed throughout all of these food label posts, I try to straddle the line. I won't label anything as "good" or "bad" because food isn't inherently "good" or "bad." It's just food. Unfortunately, it's our natural human inclination to want to pop those labels on our food, making it become some kind of moral dilemma every time we wander the grocery store aisles.

But it really doesn't have to be. By considering what the truth and history is behind these labels, we can all do our part to have a more enriched - and more well-educated - food system that not only honors our environment and the many species that occupy it, but also the farmers and people who raise that food.