Preserving Agricultural Diversity
Since today’s industrial farms rely upon only a few specialized types of livestock, thousands of non-commercial animal breeds have disappeared, along with the valuable genetic diversity they possessed. Here at the Old Crowe Farm we actively preserve agricultural variety and protect biodiversity by raising “heritage” animal breeds.
Quality pasture-raised American Guinea Hog breeding stock and feeder stock for sale year round featuring genetic stock from the West and East coasts.
These livestock breeds serve as an important genetic resource, and when heritage breeds become extinct, their unique genes are lost forever and can’t be used to breed new traits into existing livestock breeds. By raising heritage livestock breeds, we not only maintain variety within our livestock populations, we also help to preserve valuable traits within the species so that future breeds can endure harsh conditions.
Our Heritage Livestock
Livestock Guardian Dogs
We also raise and sell registered purebred Maremma Sheepdog livestock guardian dogs. Here at the Old Crowe Farm, the Maremma is the only guardian dogs used for livestock protection.
Conservation Priorities
We have selected livestock breeds from The Livestock Conservancy Conservation Priority List. We chose these select breeds needing our support to avoid being lost forever. The specific Conservation Priority for each breed we raise here at the farm is listed at the bottom of each the individual ABOUT pages on our site.
- Critical: Fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.
- Threatened: Fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 5,000.
- Watch: Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 10,000. Also included are breeds that present genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited geographic distribution.
- Recovering: Breeds that were once listed in another category and have exceeded Watch category numbers but are still in need of monitoring.
- Study: Breeds that are of genetic interest but either lack definition or lack genetic or historical documentation.
How You Can Help
When deciding what animals to raise on your farm or homestead, select a livestock breed from the Conservation Priority List. You won’t regret it!
If you are not in a position to buy our livestock but want to support our conservation efforts, we do accept donations. A portion of these donations are forwarded to The Livestock Conservancy (a 501c3 non-profit organization) and the remainder used in the care of our livestock.
