What Is a Heritage Breed?

“Heritage Breed” is easy to say and tough to define. Heritage is basically where we came from, and heritage breeds reflect that long history of the interactions of place, people, and livestock. These breeds are part of who we are, depending on our own origins.

Local breeds are the easiest to categorize as “Heritage” because the linkage to a specific place is strong and obvious. The link with local breeds is one reason “Heritage” has increasingly become a synonym for “rare” because it is within this group of breeds that breed loss is most obvious and threatening.

English Longhorn Cow

Criolla Saavedreña cattle

It is equally true that selection pressures, short-term goals, and breeding practices have put many other, non-local, breeds at real risk of loss, and these are also “Heritage” and have an essential role in maintaining the genetic variation that future generations of farmers and consumers will need.

The Heritage Shorthorn is a good example of the strange path that some breeds take throughout history. The Shorthorn originated within a fairly limited geographic range, and in that sense is very much a “local” breed, at least originally. Its qualities and characteristics quickly became widely appreciated and acknowledged, leading to the Shorthorn becoming one of the first truly international breeds. It is interesting to contrast the trajectory of the English Longhorn, standardized a bit before the Shorthorn, with the trajectory of the Shorthorn. One breed remained local, the other one pretty much traveled the world.

Shorthorns have been widely used throughout the world, not only as their own pure breed, but also extensively to influence many other breeds across wide portions of the globe. The case can be made that they have been the most influential of all cattle breeds when considering the number of breeds and regions they have influenced.

The fate of the breed then changed, being eclipsed by other breeds. This included the Angus for beef production and the various dairy breeds for specialized milk production. In order to meet the challenges of this changing market, many Shorthorn breeders then opted for adding influences from other breeds in an attempt to enhance the breed for more contemporary demands. It is ironic that what was once a breed that served as the foundation for others now became influenced by so many that its own status as a pure breed became threatened. This is a sobering situation when reflecting on breeds, their importance, and the pathways they can take through history.

Tea For The Tillerman, Shorthorn bull

The Shorthorn, because of its unique position among cattle breeds, can lay claim to being an especially important foundation breed, and one that is therefore important to maintain on into the future. It is one of a few breeds whose genetic makeup is somewhat peripheral to other breeds, which is somewhat surprising given its role in influencing so many other breeds. Its genetic position out there on the periphery makes for an especially important contribution to the biodiversity of cattle genetics.

Fortunately many Shorthorn breeders remained loyal to the original breed despite the various pressures to add this or that into the breed. These breeders have not only continued to successfully breed pure Shorthorns, but have also used frozen semen from decades ago to assure that the broad genetic variation available in the past is brought into the present and then on into the future. This is an important part of the heritage of the breed, and is being conserved successfully and at just the right time.

When we lose a heritage breed, we lose a piece of who we are and of how we interacted with the land and its systems. Saving all these pieces is a way to assure that we can put the puzzle together for future generations to benefit from the genetic wealth that our own ancestors provided for us.

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Author Profile: Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg

Dr. Phillip Sponenberg (DVM Texas A&M University, PhD Cornell University) is a Professor of Pathology and Genetics at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. He teaches pathology, genetic resources, and small ruminant medicine. His interests in coat color genetics include several species, and have resulted in journal articles, book chapters, and books.
Phil’s breed conservation endeavors include being a technical advisor for the Livestock Conservancy since 1977. This work has been pivotal in saving several endangered livestock breeds, with a special emphasis on breeds that are uniquely American or those for which the USA holds the greatest genetic diversity. These efforts are complemented by a personal herd of Tennessee Myotonic Goats in a wide variety of colors. He is also an avid spinner, and appreciates natural fibers and their color array.

Quality Matters!

Conservation of Heritage Livestock is a complicated (and essential) endeavor. No one blanket recommendation can cover all of the situations that range from rescuing rare breeds from extinction to assuring that rare breeds have a good market demand that assures their future. While each situation is unique, they all do share some common concerns.

As with most of life, the devil is in the details. Issues of selecting heritage livestock for quality varies along a long continuous line. The various stops along the way are each appropriate for specific situations. The challenge for breeders of Heritage Shorthorns is to figure out where their own program and goals fit along that line.

At one extreme of this line is a point where immediate rescue is the most important issue, with expansion of a truly rare population overriding any other concerns. In that situation, selection has to be minimal or the genetic pieces for a sound future are likely to be lost. Very few breeds fit into this category, but certainly the Randall Lineback Cattle did when they were first rescued from that original group of two bulls and ten cows. At that point, anything alive had a contribution to make! Such extreme situations are rare, but occasionally a rare bloodline within a breed might fit into this general category.

Way over at the other extreme are the common production breeds, where quality and productive potential trump just about all other issues. This is taken furthest in dairy breeds, most notably the Holstein, where individual bulls can sire tens of thousands of calves. Intense selection for the desired qualities (milk production) has resulted in very productive cows, but an unfortunately narrow genetic base that is now starting to have consequences in general viability and longevity.

Looking at these extremes can teach a few lessons. At the one extreme (no selection) it is possible to assure decent genetic variation, but usually at the expense of production and overall quality. At the other extreme (high selection) it is possible to have productive high quality animals but for the breed to collapse in on itself through inbreeding depression.

For most breeds, and the Heritage Shorthorn is among these, it is essential to find a point where selection for quality can be balanced against the genetic structure of the population. One way to do this is to always practice selection for quality, but to always balance this with selection for genetic representation. For example, if a calf comes from well-represented family lines, then selection for quality should have a high priority. If a calf comes from lines that are very rare, then it is appropriate in some cases to relax the selection for overall quality a bit, but only for that generation.

There is an important warning, though. There is a category that can be called “rare for a reason.” These are bloodlines, animals, or even entire breeds that are just not all that productive, hardy, or well-made. In the case of entire breeds, this situation puts them at risk of extinction. In the case of bloodlines, there are still some potential strategies that might work to salvage the more positive aspects of their potential genetic contribution. One strategy is to blend a few of these rare bloodlines together, playing off the weaknesses of one with the strengths of another. Success might take a few generations, but the reward is the genetic contribution that comes from having these diverse genetics represented in the breed.

The goal of breeders should always be to have high quality animals, regardless of how rare the breed is. That goal always needs to be undertaken with a view towards the long-term future, and a healthy genetic structure is an essential part of that. When healthy genetic structure of the population goes along with attention to selection for quality, it is indeed possible for the end result to be high quality, sound, productive Heritage Livestock long into the future. Indeed, the Heritage Shorthorn is a great example of just what is possible, over centuries, when breeders pay attention to these very details.

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Author Profile: Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg

Dr. Phillip Sponenberg (DVM Texas A&M University, PhD Cornell University) is a Professor of Pathology and Genetics at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. He teaches pathology, genetic resources, and small ruminant medicine. His interests in coat color genetics include several species, and have resulted in journal articles, book chapters, and books.
Phil’s breed conservation endeavors include being a technical advisor for the Livestock Conservancy since 1977. This work has been pivotal in saving several endangered livestock breeds, with a special emphasis on breeds that are uniquely American or those for which the USA holds the greatest genetic diversity. These efforts are complemented by a personal herd of Tennessee Myotonic Goats in a wide variety of colors. He is also an avid spinner, and appreciates natural fibers and their color array.

What is the Cost of “Get Big or Get Out?”

This article was first published in the Jan. 6, 2020 online issue of “On Pasture”, and it is pertinent to anyone who has an interest in agriculture. Don and his family began their dairy business in 1977, and of the 35 or so dairies in his area when they started, most are now out of business. Today, there are only 3 dairies remaining. This article is reprinted by permission from the author and the online journal “On Pasture”.

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A few months ago, at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, our secretary of agriculture, Sonny Perdue, made a statement that was similar to one made in years past by the then secretary of agriculture Earl Butz, namely GET BIG OR GET OUT.

There are those who believe that consolidation is inevitable and there is no place for small family farms in modern day agriculture. I am not one of them. While I do not have the literary eloquence of Wendell Berry, or the knowledge and expertise of John Ikerd or other folks who over the years have defended the family farm, I can tell you what we lose when we lose family farms. We have observed and experienced it first-hand with the demise of the family dairy farms in Southeast Louisiana.

Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture under President Nixon from December 1971 to October 1976, promoted policies that favored large-scale corporate farming and an end to programs designed to protect small farmers.

In our case we were relatively new to the dairy business. When we sold out after 13 years, it did not count for much when you realize some of those folks had been milking cows for 3 generations. All were affected, from the grandparents, who watched their life’s work disappear, to the children of those grandparents who realized that there would be nothing left to offer their own children. When the realization that it was over finally became a reality, the hardest to deal with was not the cows being sold, but the disillusionment. We had worked hard, paid our bills, tried to do the right thing and in the end it just wasn’t enough. And all the while producing more and more, for less and less.

It really did not dawn on us exactly what we were losing. We understood selling the cows and believing we were failures. And we understood that we had to find other ways to make a living. But after a while we realized that one of the most meaningful losses was the loss of community, of being bound to other people by the same problems and work load, and belonging to, for the lack of a better word, a fraternity. There was commonality of purpose and if one was in a bind, a call to a neighbor brought help. After all of the milk cows were sold, that was lost. The neighbors for the most part were still there, but most were working day jobs so they were no longer available. We had all assumed different lives. So, after a while the feeling of togetherness finally disappeared.
As we get older it seems that things were just better in the old days. I guess this is why they are called the good old days or, as they were called by Robert Penn Warren, a charade of the past. Yet, I realize that nostalgia can be very dangerous. I find myself getting caught up in all the yesterdays and if I am not very careful I will not pay enough attention to today. But after thinking about this for a while, I reckon it is just selective memory and we are all guilty of remembering the good and forgetting the bad. Truth told, this may be the only way we can carry on.

It has been said that if we do not know our history we are subject to make the same mistakes over and over again. My history tells me that small farmers make important communities. It leads me to ask, if not now, when will be a good time to decide exactly what the point of this society really is? If profits are above people, let’s just put it out there and move on. And make no mistake the corporate goal is to make all of us consumers rather than producers.

In his book of essays and poems, Wendell Berry speaks about the growing gap between people and the land. Though somber, he offers hope, a firm believer in the power of the human race not only to fix its past mistakes but to build a future that will provide a better life for all. If you’d like to read more, it’s available in the On Pasture shop.
As Americans, the work ethic has been a part of our moral sense since the beginning. Today, the majority of us profess to believe that hard work will enable one to attain the American dream, but in reality the system invalidates this belief. It seems that the belief among the get big or get out crowd is that if all of the small family farm folks would just shut up and get out of the way the big boys could take care of everything.
But today there are folks who are open to alternative ways of working and producing and living that may yet beat the get big or get out idea. After all of the analyzing and all of the theorizing is done it seems that the most important question was asked by Wendell Berry: What Are People For?

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Author Profile: Don Ashford

My wife Betty and I live in Ethel, LA. It would be impossible for me to write a bio about myself without including Betty in it. We have been together since high school. I was in the senior class of 1955 and she was in the class of 1957. Do the math. We have raised cattle since 1959 except for a little time that I spent with Uncle Sam. We have grazed stockers, owned several cow- calf herds and custom grazed cattle for other folks. I worked as a pipefitter for more than 25 years. Until we went into the dairy business in 1977 we were as most people down here part-timers or week-end ranchers. Later after we had learned enough about MIG to talk about it so that it would be understood by others we put together a pasture-walk group to introduce it to our friends and neighbors. We belong to more farm groups then we probably should but we get great joy working with other people. What makes us most proud are our son and daughter, our 5 grandkids and our 7 great-grand kids. It has been a hell of a trip so far, but we are not done yet.