As I write this it is fair time again, and the 4-H and FFA youngsters are busy readying their project birds and animals for competition.

It is a great teaching exercise, and there is no better combination for learning than kids, birds and animals. The one exception to this, I have to believe, is the almost exclusive use of Cornish-X broiler chicks in the meat bird projects.

Simply put, the goal of these projects is to have a single bird or trio of birds ready at a handy market weight on the day of a particular show. They may have been washed, had some handling to prep them for judging, and been penned to protect feather quality, but this is largely a six to eight week project of filling feeders and waterers. As one old hand put it, "raising Cornish-X birds teaches a youngster how to do two things—write checks and bury dead birds."

At its root the Cornish-X bird is a combination of White Cornish and White Rock genetics. Over time, however, their genetic formulation has become ever more complex and rests on the combining of a number of very hybridized breeding lines. Such complex breeding formulation makes them all but impossible to produce anywhere but from within a large, corporate structure.

Heritage breeds like the New Hampshire, Delaware (shown here), Plymouth Rock and some of their early crosses were the bedrock of modern meat bird production in the Twentieth Century. Photo courtesy of Melissa Kirby, Alabama.

Thus the quandary of the range broiler is the quandary of the 4-Her. You rent someone else's genetics for a few weeks and then dump them onto a market before they can succumb from their own ponderous size and mis-shapen body. I sometimes feel like a bit of an ogre, quashing the dreams of newcomers who hold back some Cornish-X pullets and a cockerel to "raise their own broilers" next year.

A few may actually survive to great size or even lay a few eggs, but most pitch face forward or over backward with bluish comb and wattles from heart failure. These birds were truly born to die, and most do depart the scene well before 12 weeks of age.

There is no breeding science to learn here, no real selection skills to acquire, limited fitting skills are needed, and the tasks are basically to pay the feed bill and cope with the dead. It is the role of custodian and not farmer. Poultry meat production wasn't always so and now there is a very real debate as to what a good meat bird really is or isn't.

The Great Debate

The Cornish-X bird was "made" to do many things including grow quickly, produce large amounts of only certain body parts and to consume fairly substantial amounts of grain in the process. It is a feedlot steer with feathers. The controversy around the bird has also grown to encompass all of the many ways in which it is grown out including range production. The lines between colony house and range production are even beginning to blur in some instances.

Poultry meat production has been a big business in the United States for a very long time. It began with breeds like the Java and those bred from it, such as the Jersey Giant. All chickens will fry, but heritage breeds like the New Hampshire, Delaware, Plymouth Rock and some of their early crosses were the bedrock of modern meat bird production as it began to unfold in the Twentieth Century.

The American consumer has long expressed a deeply-held preference for meat birds with a yellow skin and feet. The Europeans, on the other hand, have had an equally long-held preference for white skinned birds such as the Orpington and the Sussex.

Raising birds like the New Hampshire instead of the Cornish X broiler offers growers a chance to capitalize on the growing interest in regional, historic and artisinal food choices. And they are simply more fun on the homestead. Photo courtesy of Orren Fox, Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Now skin and foot color really has nothing to do with taste, but how these breeds were put together and are raised does. Your grandma's chicken did taste different from the chicken widely available now and did so for a number of reasons. For example, testing evidence is just now being developed that shows that there are very real taste differences in the meat from different chicken breeds. They are possibly years away, but it is conceivable that avian versions of certifiable Angus beef could be in the offing.

These earlier birds were truly free ranging, were older at harvest, and ate a richer and more varied diet. Simple ranging about a bit can do much that puts a positive image not only on how poultry meat is perceived but how it actually does taste. With simpler, outdoor systems, muscle tone is improved; the birds receive more sunlight and they can even do a bit to balance their own diets.

It is safe to say that there are still unknown growth and nutrient factors to be determined. A bird exposed to a variety of plant life, lots of sunshine, soil and insects, along with a well-formulated ration receives a finished edge in performance and quality. An older bird at harvest will likewise have improved muscle tone and the time to develop a fuller and truer flavor.

The Cornish-X broiler is, as they say in vernacular, "all about the Benjamins." It can reach a handy market weight in as little as five weeks for some strains and is now being niche marketed to high end foodies in forms such as "baby" chicken and even a "milk fed" bird. Still, this is basically the same bird that comes spewing out of colony broiler houses literally by the millions.

And there are very real questions now about how some of these birds are even being reared in certain range situations. Birds are now being packed as tightly into some range units now as they are in colony housing. Even if the unit is moved twice a day most consumers would feel better buying broilers from a 10' x 10' chicken tractor holding 25 birds than 100. Remember, the range broiler is a "feel-good" purchase, not a cost effective purchase for the consumer.

By their conformation and very nature modern Cornish-X birds are simply not very good candidates for range life. They are very much a hands-on bird that can often need some rather subtle tweaking. One grower of my acquaintance now beds his night housing for broilers with two to three inches of peat moss in an effort to keep the birds from forming breast blisters as they sprawl about near the feeders. For many it has become common practice to lift the feeders from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. to prevent problems with over-consumption of feedstuffs.

It is time, I believe, for the range producer and perhaps the whole poultry sector to come up with an alternative to this bird. The range production sector especially needs something to set itself apart from the confinement sector and give itself an even more distinct identity.

The Cornish-X broiler, as it exists now, is truly the antithesis of all that is sustainable agriculture. It fails the most basic test of nature: It cannot even reproduce itself in kind. Additive free rations, range production nor even organic feedstuffs are enough to overcome the shortcomings inherent in this bird.

Its use in youth project work may just simply condition future producers to cope with their shortcomings and accept them as a cost of doing business. And it is just that, a manufactured bird for the chicken business, something that should not in any way be confused with actual farming.

Europeans have a long-held preference for white skinned birds, like this Buff Orpington, while Americans tend to prefer the yellow skin and feet. Skin and foot color has nothing to do with meat taste, but how they are raised sure does. Photo courtesy of Angela Szidik, Michigan.

The range broiler producer now needs to realize that his or her product has to be much more than mere chicken flavored calories. The range broiler is seen by many as (and certainly should be comparable to) prime sirloin steak. That is the only kind of poultry meat that can continue to justify the kind of prices originally associated with range broilers.

The Original White Meat

There are purebred poultry lines now that will produce dressed birds with yellow skin and legs that will reach a handy market weight at 12 to 14 weeks of age. Their slower growth curve and thus slightly older age at harvest will contribute to a more distinctly flavorful and better textured poultry meat. The purebreds, and they alone, can make range broiler production a truly sustainable venture.

The range broiler now needs to be made into the really, really good stuff: Good to both producer and to consumer. The purebreds are self-propagating, they can be made even better through the years with selective breeding for improved growth and yield, and their producers will be America's agricultural producers of choice...the independent family farmers. There is now virtually no producer or consumer input into what the Cornish-X bird is or will become; it is little more than life form reduced to retail product.

The range or natural producer now should be moving to capitalize on the growing interest in such things as regional, historic and artisinal food fare. Shouldn't New England based producers, for example, be striving to do more with the Plymouth Rock and New Hampshire breeds?