Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
By the 1970s the rare poultry preservation group, the Society for Preservation of
Poultry Antiquities (SPPA), listed the Jersey Buff on its critical list. They could still be
found in 1984, but in only a few places.
I relocated to Iowa that year, and by the time I found a farm in 1988, the breed's pop-
ulation had declined even further. I signed the papers for the farm one week and the next
week dug out all of my SPPA breeders' directories and other publications that listed Jer-
sey Buff turkeys. I made call after call and wrote letter after letter, only to find the same
result. Each and every breeder on the list had a similar story of how they had gotten rid
of their “old-fashioned” birds.
After weeks and weeks of searching and following every lead I could, I finally found
one person with a small Jersey Buff flock. After all of the research, I think I can conser-
vatively conclude that in 1988 there were only two small flocks left. One has to ask how
50,000 documented breeder birds can result in a near extinction of the breed 30 years
later.
Rescued Breeds
The ALBC began to survey turkey breed populations in the mid-1990s — and not a mo-
ment too soon. Many older breeds had dropped to dangerously low numbers. The United
States and many other countries had allowed the mass-produced, giant-sized commer-
cial white turkeys to totally take over the market. The fate of standard heritage breeds
was left in the hands of a few people who showed turkeys at fairs and exhibitions, and
even in that arena, many poultry shows had no entries whatsoever in the turkey category
of the competition.
We were dangerously close to losing an entire segment of our food supply's genetic
diversity. As I searched university programs that maintained traditional turkey breeds,
I always seemed to be a week, a month, or a year too late; flock after flock located in
these research facilities were being sent to slaughter. Flocks of Chocolates and Auburns
barely escaped destruction; these beautiful, tasty birds came closest to extinction.
MAKE WHAT YOU SEE WHAT YOU GET
Before you consider raising heritage poultry and using the term “heritage” for mar-
keting purposes, familiarize yourself with the guidelines set forth by the American
Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC). These guidelines will help you to determine
if the birds you intend to market as “heritage poultry” are truly that.
