Frank Reese on the Urgency of Heritage Poultry Conservation
"The Bronze turkey is the king of turkeys and the foundation of all other breeds, varieties, lines and commercial modern turkeys of today. My Bronze turkeys have been here on the Kansas prairie for over 103 years and we must not lose them. They are beautiful, strong, healthy, naturally mating, have good immune systems and have proved themselves over the centuries. We have not only lost the numbers of Bronze turkeys in the world but we have lost our breeders. The great men and women who knew how to select and maintain quality Standardbred Bronze turkeys are gone. At this time we have just a few people in America breeding real Standardbred turkeys. Most of the flocks are very small with on average less than 25 hens in a flock. You can not maintain healthy genetics with such small numbers. We must help and teach the next generation of standardbred turkey farmers, the men and women who will learn to love the Bronze turkey with all its challenges and magnificent beauty. If we are going to save them we must keep them at top quality and marketable." — Frank Reese