At Greenfire Farms, we use modern technology to rescue the most ancient of breeds. It is our goal to provide you the most authentic animals that reflect with fidelity the fundamental attributes of their breed.  Various organizations, particularly the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, have a system for rating the rarity of a breed. On our family farm, we emphasize breeds on the ‘Critical’ list—the most endangered category where the entire global breeding population usually numbers in the hundreds and, sometimes, numbers no more than a few dozen animals.

Then, we only select breeds that are well adapted to our climate. We want animals that remain comfortable and healthy without artificial alterations to their environment.

We begin our breeding programs with the best seed stock we can find. That means we choose animals that are true to breed standards and, if a registry exists, are also registered. In some cases, finding the best breeding stock has meant searching around the world, and we have imported animals from as far away as Sweden, Germany and Australia to add valuable bloodlines to our breeding stock.

We house the animals in large, well built pens or let them free range. We also supplement their foraging diets with high-quality feeds. We virtually never administer medicine, including antibiotics. To reduce the potential for our livestock being exposed to disease, visitors must schedule farm tours in advance and disinfect shoes and hands before entering the farm.

Animals and their pedigrees are tracked using Zooeasy software designed for breeding programs in large zoos. We plan matings in advance to emphasize sought-after characteristics and to increase the genetic diversity of our breeding colonies.

Only the best offspring are kept for breeding or sold as breeding stock to others. We rigorously cull inferior animals. “Cull,” like “harvest,” is a euphemism for slaughtering, butchering, and eating the animals that don’t make the grade. What can I say? The ghost of Charles Darwin is a frequent visitor on Greenfire Farms.

This process results in superior animals and improvements to these breeds. It also costs a lot of money. Land isn’t cheap, and large pens require a lot of land. Fencing large areas isn’t cheap, either. Nor is high-quality feed or the skilled labor required to intensively manage these animals. So our prices for livestock are higher than you’ll normally encounter. But rest assured, so is the quality.