Poultry Keeping in the 21st Century

Grant Brereton ponders on the future of pure breeds and poultry shows...

- Grant Brereton

Imagine the feeling, it's 4am of a Saturday morning and you are lying in bed awake. Your alarm is imminent, and you have a few last-minute preparations to sort before people begin arriving at your local community centre - for a day-long course that you are hosting on poultry breeding and genetics. You want to be excited about it, but the week leading up has been frantic and the anxiety and adrenalin have well and truly kicked in; there's so much to remember when hosting such an event. It's too late now! You fumble your way through the introduction, but the looks of sheer engagement and eagerness to learn on the faces of participants reassures you. There's a group of people that seem to be digesting everything you say, and when you consider that they've travelled great distances to be part of a course on chicken genes, you think 'actually, there is hope for the future of poultry and pure breeds.' I have to say, I got lucky - there were 18 places booked and just a great bunch of people on the day. I wanted to host one last event, because I am keen to share the knowledge of poultry genes gathered over the last 25 years of breeding, listening, experimenting and learning. Like past events, there were props, exercises, pictorial examples of breeding results, Q&A, prizes and general discussion. Everyone who attended said they got lots out of it and had enjoyed the day!

APPLYING IT TO THE PRESENT DAY