Made with Xara

Livestock

Hawk Hill is dedicated to the breeding and promotion of heritage breed livestock. We have chosen to do this not only for the global benefit to agricultural biodiversity but to our farm’s benefit of having hardy animals that thrive on low input production methods that improve the environment of our farm. And yes pasturing livestock done right puts carbon back into the soil. We want to be part of the solution!
Introduction Over the years Laurie Maus has bred and raised multiple livestock breeds: Holstein and Ayrshire Cattle, Canadian Horses, North Country Cheviot and Tunis Sheep, Partridge Chantecler and Silver Grey Dorking Chickens. While each of these breeds have their good and bad points, we chose to focus on breeding Tunis Sheep and Partridge Chantecler chickens for the balance of our farming career. Why Heritage Breeds matter? The livestock industry in Canada is dominated by just a handful of breeds: Holstein and Angus cattle, Rideau Arcott, Suffolk and Dorset Sheep, Leghorn and Cornish Cross chickens. In other countries you will find similar domination of the agriculture industries by a few breeds. This is especially true in developed nations. With the domination by a narrow range of breeds, many heritage breeds are being lost and with them the genetic diversity and ability to adapt to changing climate, conditions and diseases as well as changing consumer demands. The Canadian Government recognized that loss of heritage breeds made our country’s food security vulnerable and with most countries worldwide signed a number of international conventions to protect livestock genetic diversity. These conventions included the Biodiversity Convention and the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources. The government has established the Canadian Animal Genetic Resource Program that preserves genetic material through cryopreservation. Despite that program, all the live animal breeding programs in the federal government have been shut down leaving the responsibility to preserve these breeds to passionate individuals like Bob and me. Chantecler Chickens Chantecler Chickens Canadian Horses Canadian Horses Tunis Sheep Tunis Sheep
© Hawk Hill Farm 2003
Made with Xara

Livestock

Hawk Hill is dedicated to the breeding and promotion of heritage breed livestock. We have chosen to do this not only for the global benefit to agricultural biodiversity but to our farm’s benefit of having hardy animals that thrive on low input production methods that improve the environment of our farm. And yes pasturing livestock done right puts carbon back into the soil. We want to be part of the solution!

Introduction

Over the years Laurie Maus has bred and raised multiple livestock breeds: Holstein and Ayrshire Cattle, Canadian Horses, North Country Cheviot and Tunis Sheep, Partridge Chantecler and Silver Grey Dorking Chickens. While each of these breeds have their good and bad points, we chose to focus on breeding Tunis Sheep and Partridge Chantecler chickens for the balance of our farming career.

Why Heritage Breeds matter?

The livestock industry in Canada is dominated by just a handful of breeds: Holstein and Angus cattle, Rideau Arcott, Suffolk and Dorset Sheep, Leghorn and Cornish Cross chickens. In other countries you will find similar domination of the agriculture industries by a few breeds. This is especially true in developed nations. With the domination by a narrow range of breeds, many heritage breeds are being lost and with them the genetic diversity and ability to adapt to changing climate, conditions and diseases as well as changing consumer demands. The Canadian Government recognized that loss of heritage breeds made our country’s food security vulnerable and with most countries worldwide signed a number of international conventions to protect livestock genetic diversity. These conventions included the Biodiversity Convention and the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources. The government has established the Canadian Animal Genetic Resource Program that preserves genetic material through cryopreservation. Despite that program, all the live animal breeding programs in the federal government have been shut down leaving the responsibility to preserve these breeds to passionate individuals like Bob and me.