This is Charlotte. She is the newest member of the Kitchen Garden menagerie. Charlotte, is a Leicester Longwool–a dual-purpose breed dating from the mid-1700’s. Dual-purpose breeds used to be standard, before specificity and market forces took over. Now there are far fewer breeds, but one specifically for each purpose–lots of lean meat, tons of short staple fiber for carpets, pigs which grow fast and lean, cattle which produce above normal quantities of milk. . . . Because of this, Charlotte and other dual-purpose breeds like her around the world are on rare breed lists, some like the Leicester Longwool are on the threatened list–meaning there are fewer and fewer of them each year, the gene pool is shrinking and the threat of extinction and loss of diversity in our livestock is very real.

Despite the food and livestock industry relying on 7 or so specific breeds to supply the world most of its meat, fiber and dairy, we need dual-purpose breeds. Charlotte here will provide us with two crops of wool each year. Her male offspring will provide not only wool, but meat–the quality of which was once highly sought after and Leicester Longwools were used to improve many of today’s modern breeds. Any ewe lambs Charlotte throws our way will bring us more wool and the chance of preserving the Leicester Longwool. Other dual-purpose breeds supply both meat and dairy, or fiber and milk without a loss of quality to either and a productive quantity which fits perfectly with the small farmer, smallholder, hobbyist or weekend farmer.

I firmly believe rare breeds, dual-purpose breeds–livestock carefully selected and maintained over the past three centuries–deserve preservation. Why should we be so arrogant in the last 40 years to decide these breeds are worthless? I also believe these breeds are better suited to producing meat, fibre and dairy in a far more efficient and less wasteful way than most commercial breeds. This is why, at the Kitchen Garden Company, we are actively preserving the Leicester Longwool, Cotswold sheep, Scottish Highland cattle, and the English Shepherd. You can find out more about rare breeds and the urgency of conservation by visiting the Rare Breed Trust or The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

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