Heritage breeds are traditional livestock that were commonplace on farms of the past. This was before industrial agriculture drastically reduced genetic variety and began breeding for greater output or better adaptation to local environments. Livestock used in modern industrial agriculture are bred to produce lots of milk or eggs, gain weight quickly, or yield particular types of meat within confined facilities. Over the decades as products derived from these mass-produced animals dominated the food market, many heritage livestock breeds veered towards extinction.
Heritage breeds are generally better adapted to withstand disease and survive in harsh environmental conditions, they seldom require medication or chemicals, and their bodies can be better suited to living on pasture. In our opinion, produce from heritage livestock (especially if it’s fresh and local) is more pure, more healthy, and simply tastes much, much better. At Jacobs Heritage Farm we provide tender Jacob lamb meat, raw unprocessed honey from our Italian honey bees, Hungarian mangalitsa pork, farm fresh brown eggs from the Silver Wyandotte chickens like your grandmother might have raised… it’s pure and simple food from happy animals.
