These days, dining is all about options—from “do you want fries with that?” to “mild or spicy?”—but rarely do you ever get to select your breed. But while for most it might not seem to matter when ordering a side of bacon whether it came from a Berkshire, Hampshire or Yorkshire, such details mean a lot to those raising what ends up on your plate. Should it matter to you?
The history of domestication stretches back thousands of years, resulting today in hundreds of livestock breeds all stemming from only a handful of wild ancestors. Jersey Giants weigh in at thirteen pounds whereas their diminutive feathered cousins, the Bantams, hardly tip a pound. Texas Longhorns flaunt, as you might guess, horns that reach lengths rivaling their own bodies whereas some cattle breeds have been polled, naturally de-horned by selective breeding.
True Grass Farms was founded upon a herd of Waygu cattle of Kobe renown, a Japanese variety bred with a focus on quality over quantity, a patient practice of slow-growth husbandry that results in meat that is densely marbled, high in essential fatty acids, and uniquely delicious.
With that in mind, a few days ago we finished building a brooder for a new flock of chicks that we plan to raise come March and the question arose: with over a hundred breeds, which do we choose?Just a bit of research and after gathering tips from neighboring farmers, we suddenly found ourselves immersed within a heated dispute, the most divisive topic coming down to just one question: to Cornish-cross or not to Cornish-cross? On one side of this debate sit the majority of poultry producers who depend upon this docile, fast-growing breed to sustain their operation within a competitive market. On the other side stand advocates of more robust, better foraging but often less profitable “barnyard breeds,” those like Harvey Ussery to whom the Cornish-cross embodies “the very heart of the industry’s flawed system.”
But if you never know the breed of your chicken caesar or drumstick or mcnugget, why should it matter to those who raise the animal from which it came? Can you taste the difference? How does it effect the overall food system? And what if one breed can reduce the price to, say, your average 90 cents per pound at mega-chain grocery stores while those more suited to small-scale, free-range conditions (like those here at True Grass Farms) might require a price tag nearer to four dollars? When is a chicken just a chicken?
Evan Wiig
www.truegrassfarms.com
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