he traditional subsistence farm kept several kinds of animals to meet different needs.  The farm raised feed crops for its animals and spread the animal waste on the fields in closed cycles. Each variety of animal was suited to the local climate, pasture conditions and food sources.  As family subsistence farming has been replaced by industrial monoculture the variety of livestock breeds is being lost.  In 1900 there were about one hundred varieties of milk cows on American farms.  Today a third of these are extinct while ninety percent of milk cows are of a single breed.  Breeds used in industrial monoculture are biologic dead ends.  For example, industrial turkeys are incapable of mating, requiring artificial insemination.  On Beau Chemin Farm we raise several heritage breeds; some endangered and some not.  In the process we preserve some genetic diversity, and maintain sustainable ways of caring for animals and the land. 

Menu
  Soay sheep
  Shetland sheep
  Leicester longwood sheep
  Suffolk Punch draft horse
  Oxen
  Donkey
  Buff Orpington chickens