Regular readers will be aware I am a strong proponent of any effort made to protect rare livestock breed genetics.
We have a tendency in the livestock sector to reduce the genetic base down to an ever narrower base. The thinking has merit in terms of marketing to be sure.
As the genetic base narrows it stands to reason the animals hitting market are more generally alike.
The more alike the animals are the more they will respond in a similar fashion to a set feeding regime, the more they can be handled on a production line in a similar fashion, and the more consistent the product should be hitting the consumer table.
If we look at the chicken business the vast majority of frying birds going to market are so genetically similar one might lean toward suggesting they are carbon copies.
But the model relies on the premise things will not change, and we must recognize change is constant, but hardly predictable.
There are always factors at play which are hard to predict.
Again using the chicken as an example, there is certainly a level of pressure to see the crowded barns which have been the norm at the very least modified to the point they are not seen as industrial farm prisons for the birds by at least a vocal portion of the consumer public.
Could that consumer public one day push politicians to enact legislation which could have the fryers of the future running free range across a grassy field.
The chicken which would thrive under free range conditions is going to be genetically different from those which grow well under confinement.
But if the change were to come, will the genetics remain for producers to adapt?
That is the value of maintain the dozens of livestock breeds which have been part of agriculture in a more significant way in the past, but are frankly considered obsolete by the farm sector today.
While rare grains can be protected by the saving of seeds stored correctly, it鈥檚 not quite so easy with livestock. So when numbers get to the point of 小蓝视频 considered endangered steps need to be taken.
There are organizations such as Rare Breeds Canada monitoring livestock breeds, classifying them first at risk, then vulnerable, endangered and finally critical, but it takes a lot of effort to maintain the breeds on the list. There are some 50 breeds on the critical list of the organization including breeds originating in this country, Lacombe hogs, Outaouais Arcott sheep and the Newfoundland pony.
But the good news, there is a recently developed technology which may well be a new tool in protecting such breeds, a good news story which will be covered in next week鈥檚 column.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
