Rare livestock breeds are both a source of heritage (such as my favorite Canadian Horse, http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/canada.html) and of valuable genetic diversity in an increasingly reduced and uniform selection of livestock. They're also a useful investment for the small farm, which has to work harder to sell its product and stay competative.
The American Livestock Breed Conservancy website is here:
http://www.albc-usa.org/
and Rare Breeds Canada is here:
http://www.trentu.ca/rarebreedscanada/
Rare livestock breeds are both a source of heritage (such as my favorite Canadian Horse, http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/canada.html) and of valuable genetic diversity in an increasingly reduced and uniform selection of livestock. They're also a useful investment for the small farm, which has to work harder to sell its product and stay competative.
Melissa "MelSkunk" Drake