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San Clemente Island Goat Buck – painted paper collage and gold leaf on panel 60 cm x 76 cmOff the coast of Southern California there is an archipelago called the Channel Islands which consists of eight islands and spans some 250 km from San Miguel Island in the north to San Clemente Island in the south. The Channel Islands are some of the oldest inhabited areas in North America – at least thirteen thousand years – and were continuously inhabited by the indigenous population until the early nineteenth century. The first Europeans to see these islands were Spanish explorers. Juan Cabrillo claimed the islands for Spain in 1542. On some of the islands, these explorers left behind goats as a food supply for the sailors, should they return. And the goats, behaving as goats do, adapted to their arid island home and bred amongst themselves for centuries until there were thousands of them.The Californian Channel Islands (Wikimedia commons)Quite a story, isn’t it? If only it were true.

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Well, most of it IS true, except for the part about the goats.Let’s start again.For a long time, the story about Spanish explorers leaving the goats on the island was believed to be true. Then archaeological research caught up with the mythology about the place and showed there was no physical evidence to support the story. Indigenous people had inhabited the islands continuously until the early nineteenth century, yet no goat remains were found in the middens at archaeological sites.In the early nineteenth century, sheep ranchers from what was then Spanish California began to bring sheep to Santa Catalina Island. The sheep herders also brought along some goats to act as ‘lead’ animals for the sheep since goats will more willingly follow humans around than sheep will.By 1848 the United States had taken California and the Channel Islands from Mexico. Californian ranchers continued to graze sheep on Santa Catalina and San Clemente. Sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, some of the lead goats got loose on Santa Catalina, and, behaving as goats dosoon there were thousands of goats there. But that doesn’t explain how goats got to San Clemente.

The distance between the two islands is about 54 km, and, yes, goats CAN swim, but to swim across 54 km of open ocean? Probably not.Photo of Salvador Ramirez by J. Dixon, 1920.Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkley, California (ecoreader.berkley.edu)In 1920 an ornithologist named Joseph S.

Dixon went to the Channel Islands to study wildlife. During his time on Santa Catalina and San Clemente, Dixon met Salvador Ramirez who had worked on Santa Catalina as a shepherd for many years. In 1875, with permission of his employers, Ramirez introduced a pair of foxes to the ecosystem of San Clemente Island.

And he also claimed to have introduced some goats.J.S. Dixon’s field notes from 1920 showing entry for arrival of goats.Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkley, California (ecoreader.berkley.edu)So it seems that the mystery of how the goats got to San Clemente has been solved. The more interesting question, though, is where did the goats come from in the first place?A 2007 DNA study conducted by the Livestock Conservancy and the University of Cordoba in Spain showed that the San Clemente goats are genetically remote from other extant Iberian breeds. So they are not Spanish goats and are not related to the other goats in the region which are descended from the herds on the mission farms of California. A further large DNA study of several Creole goat varieties (Creole goats are mixed-breed and landrace goats descended from the various goats brought to the Americas by Europeans) was published in 2017 by researchers in Spain, Portugal, the US, and several South American Countries. San Clemente goats were among the goats studied and were found to be both highly inbred and, yet again, genetically unique. The results of the genetic analysis supported the idea that the San Clementes were indeed an old population left in isolation for a long period of time.

But they are not related to any Creole goat variety found in North, South, or Central America. They are also genetically very different from commercial breeds such as Nubians, a breed originally from the Middle-East and North Africa which is widely distributed.

The origin of the goats of San Clemente remains a mystery.The Island of San Clemente was taken over by the US Navy in 1934. Without pressure from predators, the goats proliferated on the island until the 1970’s when their huge number (15 000 +) made them a threat to the island’s rare plants and other wildlife.

To protect the ecosystem, the Navy began an extermination program to eradicate the goat population. (The goat population on Santa Catalina had already been reduced by hunting.) In the 1980’s when some 4000 goats remained on San Clemente, the Navy planned to rid the island of the remaining goats by shooting them from helicopters. This stirred the ire of animal welfare groups, one of whom (Fund for Animals) succeeded in getting a court injunction to stop the aerial slaughter.

Fund for Animals proposed trapping and relocating the goats instead and volunteered to remove all the goats from the island. They were able to remove about 3000 goats between 1985 and 1986.Many of the goats were adopted as pets. Many males were neutered because Fund for Animals actively discouraged breeding the goats. Fortunately a few small herds were saved and there is now some renewed interest in the breed, particularly since their unique genetics have come to light.San Clemente Kid at Rarefield Farm, Dalkeith Ontario (Photo © Judith Sevigny )San Clemente Island goats are small, although they are larger than dwarf breeds.

The males weigh around 45 kg, the females closer to 35 kg. They are fine boned and are often described as deer-like in appearance. Their coat colour is mainly reddish with a black ‘cape’ on the shoulders and neck, and black markings on the face, legs, and tail. Both sexes are horned, with the horns of the bucks often becoming very large. The does give birth with ease and are excellent mothers. They are much loved for their docile temperament. Both males and females have ‘low odour’.

Although they are small, San Clementes are considered a dual purpose breed, used for both meat and milk. The milk is especially desirable because it is largely free of the ‘goaty’ smell which many people find objectionable. Additionally, their unique genetics make them an excellent option for crossbreeding with other commercial breeds.

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There are currently a few farms raising the goats both in Canada and in the US, the largest of which is a herd of over two hundred San Clementes located in Nebraska. The Newfoundland pony stands out as remarkable amongst other rare breeds, and is a growing favourite of world renowned geneticists and rare breed experts.

It remains an “unimproved” landrace breed in a world where very few remain.“What is a Newfoundland Pony?” Jan. 08/2018 www.newfoundlandponies.org/blogThe Newfoundland Pony – 60 cm X 70 cm painted paper collage and gold leaf on panelThe Island of Newfoundland is rocky, windy, and isolated. The soils are thin and the climate is harsh. Anyone, or thing, that lives there needs a certain hardiness to survive. The very first inhabitants of Newfoundland were indigenous peoples. The Vikings had a settlement there around the year 1000 CE, but gave it up.

Not for another five hundred years would any European colony be established on that rocky island in the cold North Atlantic.Fish is what eventually drew Europeans to the shores of Newfoundland. In 1497 Henry VII of England sent John Cabot on a voyage of discovery westward to explore the Atlantic, with the goal of finding a trade route to China. Cabot did not find China, but he found cod. By the early 16 th century, the British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese all fished for cod off the Grand Banks and had small, impermanent settlements along the coast. The British formally took possession of the island in 1583, although the French continued to claim fishing rights near Placentia.

The fortunes of Newfoundland passed back and forth between the French and English until the Treaty of Utrecht ceded the Island to the English in 1713.Plaque in St. John’s commemorating the acquisition of Newfoundlandby Sir Humphrey Gilbert on behalf of Elizabeth I of England.

(Wikimedia Commons)Colonisation happened slowly because the primary interest of the British was acquiring fish and not establishing a colony, so at first only temporary fishing settlements were allowed. Initially women were not even permitted to live in Newfoundland so as not to tempt fishermen to settle there permanently. Eventually, though, the settlements did become permanent. As the number of colonists increased so did the need for lumber for building and the need to grow at least some crops. It wasn’t long before horses became a necessity.But the horses which would come to Newfoundland could not be just any horses. They had to be sturdy, thrifty animals that could make do with limited forage and survive the tough conditions of life on the island.

The Moorland ponies of the British Isles were already known to thrive in similar conditions, and so these hardy ponies were the first ‘horses’ sent to the nascent Newfoundland colony.As early as the 1680s, the colonists were in need of draft animals. The island’s British administrator placed an order for horses specifying that they be selected from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales because they needed to be hardy enough to live in the woods in the winter.

These horses and subsequent shipments from southwest England tended to be moorland ponies, such as the Dartmoor, Exmoor, and New Forest, and the now extinct Galloway horse. In smaller numbers, Welsh, Connemara, Sable Island, and Acadian horses were introduced to the island.(Janet Vorwald Dohner, The Encyclopaedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds p.389)Map of Newfoundland made by Captain James Cook, 1775.

Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland.By the nineteenth century there were some proper horses in Newfoundland; they were mainly used in towns where there were roads. But the isolated outport communities on the rest of the island relied on pony-power. A coastal community might be inhabited from spring through to autumn, during which time fishing would be the primary occupation.

In winter people often moved inland to escape the winter storms and would spend the season cutting firewood and hunting game. The tough little ponies were the draft animal of choice and were absolutely essential to the life of the Newfoundlanders. The ponies ploughed gardens and fields, hauled seaweed for fertilizer, pulled hay wagons, and dragged timber. Some also worked in the mines. The ponies were a means of land transportation in both summer and winter, for both every day and special occasions such as weddings.Newfoundland Pony hauling wood.

Newfoundland Pony Society historical photo.Newfoundlanders traditionally practiced a low maintenance version of husbandry where the ponies were concerned. Hay was expensive and good pasture hard to find. The ponies which were worked were mainly geldings, and while there was work for the ponies to do, they were kept close at hand. Mares, stallions, and foals were generally left to run free. As the work the ponies were expected to do was usually seasonal, even the geldings spent part of the year at liberty.“Some knew enough to come home,” says Cliff. “Herb March would turn out his pony each spring when he went fishing up to the Labrador. He’d come back in the fall and a few days later his pony would show up.

It might have been 10 miles away but somehow it knew to return.”From the Newfoundland Pony by Suzanne Robichaud, Saltscapes MagazineThe isolated pony population adapted so well to the local conditions that the ponies became a recognizable type with little-to-no human intervention, but through evolutionary pressure alone. In this fashion, the Newfoundland Pony became a landrace. The strongest ones, the ones who could adjust to the harsh conditions, survived to breed and pass on their genes.As the Newfoundland Pony is a landrace and not a breed, there is no true breed standard for the pony and quite a lot of variety in appearance is permitted. According to the Newfoundland Pony society, a Newfoundland pony:.

Has a good temperament, is docile and easy to work with;. Is a good winter animal, being all around hardy;. Is sure-footed;. Has a structure that can vary from fine-boned types to larger stocky types;.

Has a height that can vary from 11.0 to 14.2 hands;. Has a coat colour of bay, black, brown, chestnut, dun, grey, roan and white. Piebalds and skewbalds (pintos) are not acceptable;. Has a heavy coat which sometimes changes colour and character seasonally;.

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Has a thick mane and tail;. Has a low set of tail;. Has feathered fetlocks with hair extending below fetlock points;. Has flint-hard hooves;.

Typically has dark limb points. White or light colour on limbs is acceptable;George, the first Newfoundland Pony born in Quebec. Previously owned by Nathalie Durocher of Thetford Mines, currently residing at Villi Pony Refuge in New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of Nathalie DurocherNewfoundland Ponies remained fairly common until the 1970’s when tractors, snowmobiles and the like finally eclipsed them for farm work and transportation.

Municipal by-laws made it difficult to own ponies as pasture was no longer readily available, and the owners were encouraged to geld their stallions. Now-useless ponies were shipped by the hundreds to Quebec where they were slaughtered for meat destined for Europe. There were approximately twelve thousand Newfoundland ponies in the mid-1970’s. Ten years later there were fewer than a hundred left.In the fall of 1979, a group of concerned citizens got together and formed the Newfoundland Pony Society with the objective to preserve and protect the now endangered pony. In 1997, the government of Newfoundland passed the Heritage Animals Act of Newfoundland and Labrador which attempted to stem the losses by providing the animals with legal protection and making it illegal to transport ponies out of the province without a permit.The Newfoundland pony remains endangered. The Newfoundland Pony Society estimates approximately 250 animals of breeding age remain.Sources:Environment, Climate, and the 19th-Century Economy of Newfoundland (www.heritage.nf.ca)The Canadian Encyclopedia, Online Edition (www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca)The Newfoundland Pony Society, www.newfoundlandpony.comGenetic diversity and admixture among Canadian, Mountain and Moorland and Nordic pony populations.

Prystupa JM, Juras R, Cothran EG, Buchanan FC, Plante.(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed)The Newfoundland Pony, Suzanne Robicheau, Saltscapes Magazine (Pony Farm (Vorwald Dohner, Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds, Yale University press, 2001. Berkshire Pig, painted paper collage and gold leaf on panel, 60X76 centimetresThe beginnings of most rare breeds are obscure.

This is largely due to the fact that livestock breeding as we know it today is a relatively recent development compared to our history of animal husbandry which stretches back nearly ten thousand years. The systematic improvement of livestock by selective breeding and livestock record keeping only started in the late eighteenth century.

Before that time, it was pretty much anything goes as far as livestock was concerned. Consequently, for a long time, there was a great deal of variety within regional domesticated animal types.Map of Berkshire circa 1911 (Wikipedia)The exceptionally flavourful pork from pigs kept in the Berkshire region to the west of London was famous as far back as the seventeenth century.

There is an apocryphal story about Oliver Cromwell’s troops being stationed in Reading, near London, where they had occasion to eat the delicious bacon served in the inns there and remarked upon the tastiness of the meat. It is difficult to say if this story is true, but as an army marches on its stomach, it seems likely that Cromwell’s men would have been glad of good bacon whenever they could get it. Perhaps that bacon came from Berkshire pigs.The earliest descriptions we have of the Berkshire pig are of a type of big pig that came in a variety of colours and shapes:In early nineteenth-century agricultural records, several differently appearing hogs were called Berkshires. Some were large red or sandy-colored stock, often with black spots.

Others were colored black and white or spotted. Both prick and lop ears were seen.(Janet Vorwald Dohner, Historic and Endangered Livestock and poultry Breeds, p. Yale University Press, 2001 )A Berkshire Pig as it appeared in the Canadian Farmer, 1866Somewhere in the Berkshire’s history – probably in the late eighteenth century – genetics from Neapolitan pigs were brought in. These small, black Neapolitan pigs were likely derived from Asian – probably Chinese – breeding stock. It is from the introduction of these Neapolitan (Chinese) pigs that the Berkshire developed the characteristics, i.e. Black colouring and dished face, by which we recognize it today.

In 1825 a breed registry for the Berkshire was begun in England, establishing the breed standard and making it one of the earliest recognised breeds. An official breed society formed in England circa 1883.The Berkshire is a medium sized black pig with white points, which is to say white feet, tail, and white markings on the face. They are short-legged and compact pigs, with prick (upright) ears, a ‘dished’ face and a medium-length snout ending in a slightly upturned nose. Boars weigh approximately 280 kg. Sows weigh a bit less at around 220 kg. The breed is also known for its strong mothering instincts and milk production, its hardiness, and easy-going temperament. The Berkshire matures early and is ideal for meat production.

It does well in confinement, but is also an excellent pig for the outdoors. Due to its dark skin, it does not sunburn as easily as white pigs. Berkshire pork is fine textured, well-marbled, a deep, rich pink in colour, and is exceptionally flavourful.Berkshire piglet belonging to Brent and Janet Tolhurst, St-Chrysotome, QCBerkshire pigs were exported to the US as early as 1823 and to Canada slightly after that. The breed was hugely popular in the nineteenth century – Queen Victoria herself once owned a Berkshire boar called The Ace of Spades – until the mid- twentieth century when changes in pork production and in food ‘fashion’ made the Berkshire unpopular due in large part to the its dark skin.

Consequently, the Berkshire’s numbers plummeted, and for many years the animal was considered critically endangered.The Berkshire’s status has improved somewhat. The slow food movement in North America and Europe has helped to re-establish this excellent breed for what Berkshires offer the palate that modern industrial breeds do not: flavour.The breed has also enjoyed long term popularity in Japan. Yes, you read that right- Japan.

Sometime in Meiji era of the mid-nineteenth century, shortly after the breed standard was formally established in England, the Berkshire pig went back to Asia and found a home in Japan. In Kagoshima Prefecture, one may find the famous Kagoshima Black Pigs which produce pork of excellent quality that is highly sought after and commands high prices. Kagoshima Black Pigs are the result of crosses between those nineteenth century Berkshires and indigenous pigs. The Japanese continue to import Berkshire bloodlines from Canada, the US and England.Japanese advertisement for Kagoshima Black PigsRare Breeds Canada lists the Berkshire as vulnerable as of the 2016 Conservation List.Additional sources: Rare Breeds Survival Trust (www.rbst.org.uk); Lawrence Alderson, The Chance to Survive, A.H. Jolly (Editorial) Ltd, 1989 revised edition, Wikipedia Japan (kindly translated by Tad Mitsui. Thanks, Tad!).

Light Sussex Hen, 30 x 24 painted paper collage on panelChickens were first domesticated in Southeast Asia some ten thousand years ago and from there spread to nearly every part of the world. They reached the borders of Europe around 3000 BCE and arrived in Britain sometime during the Iron Age around 500 BCE.

But chickens did not become truly popular there as food until the Romans arrived a few hundred years later, and then chickens became VERY popular indeed. One of the oldest handwritten documents ever found in Britain was a shopping list given by a Roman commander to his slave instructing him to buy twenty chickens at the market and “if you can find nice ones, a hundred or two hundred eggs, if they are for sale there at a fair price.” 1The Vindolanda Tablets, found near Hadrian’s WallThe British Museum, UK. Photo by Michel Wal ©2008 (Wikimedia Commons)In the southeast of England – Sussex, Kent, and Surrey –there were regional varieties of chickens which were commonly found on the small farms and in the villages of that area for a very long time. The Sussex breed of chicken was developed in the early nineteenth century from some of these very old varieties of chickens. The Sussex was initially developed as a meat bird, with crossbreeding to Dorking, Brahma, and Cochin to produce a chicken that would fatten readily in order to supply the ever expanding market of urban nineteenth century London. The demand for Sussex chickens was so great that they even had their own train to the city!Although the Sussex was acknowledged as a breed in the first half of the nineteenth century, no formal breeders’ club formed until 1903.The very first poultry show, held in England in 1845, recognized these native birds: the Dorking, the Surrey, and the Kent or Old Sussex Fowl.

Although the original Sussex Fowl was probably speckled, several color varieties were already developed, including the Red. The Sussex was mainly used as a table bird. 2The Light Sussex was one of the first three standardized colour varieties, the others being the aforementioned speckled and the red. The Light was developed as a dual purpose bird by cross breeding with prolific egg-laying Mediterranean breeds, and is thus prized both for its table weight and good egg production. A hen from a productive line can lay more than 250 eggs per year.Light Sussex Hen and Rooster, owned by Kevin MacFarlaneThe Light Sussex is a stocky bird with soft feathers. Its plumage is mainly white with an attractive black pattern on the hackle feathers at the base of the neck.

The wing tips are black, and so is the tail. The bird’s skin colour is white. The legs are pale, as is the beak, but the comb and wattles are bright red. Roosters can weigh up to 4 kg (9 lbs). Hens are a bit smaller at approximately 3 kg (7 lbs). The birds are good foragers and do well in free range situations, but also adapt to confinement.The Sussex came to Canada with settlers from Britain in the early nineteenth century.

It is reputed that they were exported to Canada in large numbers at the behest of British bankers who were fearful of losing their investments when Canadian grain farmers suffered hard years and mass foreclosures on farms were a very real threat. Once the wheat crop had been removed, the Light Sussex chickens gleaned the harvested grain fields. Sometimes this second chicken ‘crop’ brought in more money than the wheat. For a time, the Light Sussex was the most popular dual purpose breed of chicken in both Canada and England. The Light Sussex never did take off in quite the same way in the United States, except on those farmsteads along the Canadian border. Its lack of popularity in the U.S. (and to some extent also in Quebec) was due to its white skin – the very reason it was prized by the British.

3The Light Sussex was particularly popular in Canada during the 1940’s when large numbers of the birds were imported to the country to be raised here in order to supply the desired white-skinned birds for the British market during Wartime. The Light Sussex, along with the Rhode Island Red, were the most significant commercial birds in Canada until the transition was made to modern hybrids in the mid-twentieth century. The Light Sussex is still used in the creation of some commercial hybrids. But the Light Sussex’s status as most popular breed has long since gone and it is now found on the watch list of many livestock conservation groups, including that of Rare Breeds Canada, and what Sussex chickens remain are of limited genetic lineage.1. Andrew Lawler, Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? 117, Atria Books2.

Janet Vorwald Dohner, Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds, p. 427, Yale University Press3. Correspondence with Emily Robertson of True North HatcheryAdditional Sources:The Cambridge World History of Food (by K.F.

Ornelas, Cambridge University Press); Rare Breeds Survival Trust (www.rbst.org.uk).