Mission & Terms

Mission Statement and Terms

This website exists to provide information and breeder directory for breeders selling Heritage Livestock which is suitable for small farming.

We are not competing with the Livestock Conservancy, but providing an alternate service more geared toward the needs and budgets of small farmers and backyard flock and herd keepers. We also have a stronger emphasis on natural and organic rearing and feeding methods, and on breeding to preserve utility traits.

We believe that the preservation of Heritage Livestock is important, but we also believe that small breeders and backyard flocks, when properly managed, can be the most valuable breeders in preserving the traits of good heritage livestock. Breed TRAITS are the vital element requiring preserving, and backyard breeders with small flocks and herds are more able to track and observe less obvious utility traits.

We therefore allow participation in our programs by small breeders with unregistered animals. Buyers seeking livestock are encouraged to seek breeders whose philosophy most closely matches their own, and whose livestock exhibits those traits which enabled the breed to be listed here. We also require that breeders refrain from listing animals as heritage breeds that are not truly heritage breeds - for example, listing Broad Breasted Bronze Turkeys as Standard Bronze, or white faced Jerseys as Heritage Jerseys. Animal breeds NOT listed on this website MAY be listed in our directory.

We do require that all animals claiming specific heritage be from lineage that is known to be free of out-crosses, and that crossbred animals be listed specifically as such. We also require that all animals meet breed standards, both for characteristic appearance, and utility traits. Any animals which do not conform to this standard must be listed as such - defects must be clearly communicated to the buyer.

Buyers are responsible for assuring that the animals they are purchasing conform to breed standards. HeritageLivestockBreeders.com and Firelight Heritage Farm are not responsible for misleading listings on this site. Buyers may use this site at their own risk, and use of the site constitutes agreement to those terms. Sellers with provable violations of our terms will be removed from the site.

Our directory is established to allow breeders to provide more information about their farming and breeding methods and philosophies than other directories allow. We feel that it is more important to allow breeders to state their methods so buyers can judge, than it is to impose a method or philosophy upon them.

Small farm authors may contact us regarding publication of your ORIGINAL and UNIQUE articles or essays, reviews, or reports. We do not currently compensate with cash for content.

The funds produced by this website and through memberships are used for the following purposes:

  • Maintaining the website and expanding the knowledge resources.
  • Funding of research regarding Heritage Breeds, genetics of Heritage Breeds, and preservation practices.
  • Funding of breeding programs to overcome problems with specific breeds, to improve their utility characteristics without cross-breeding.
  • Funding of research and trials for addressing breed problems using nutrition, space and housing adaptations, forage improvements, and other natural methods.
  • Funding of sustainability research and protocols.
  • Production of instructional resources for establishing research farms.

Why are we not a .org?

The history of Firelight Heritage Farm began long before we took on the name of a farm. It began with many years working with many business structures as a online business development specialists. We worked with non-profits, government entities, educational establishments, corporations, LLCs, and a vast number of sole proprietorships. We also began a non-profit organization of our own, which we abandoned due to limitations imposed by the nature of the structure.

Through the course of this experience, we learned that when a worthy goal needed to be met, it could be met by a non-profit entity, or a for-profit entity, but that in ALL cases, a FOR-profit entity had MORE flexibility to accomplish the goal, and was able to accomplish it more quickly, and with much greater cost effectiveness. That's right. It is LESS EXPENSIVE for a for-profit company to achieve a goal than it is for a non-profit.

  • In either case, we offer a service, and our members pay for it.
  • In either case, we carry out the work of preservation and sharing of knowledge.
  • In either case, we are legally able to retain a portion of the proceeds for our own needs, in the form of salary or wages for the work we do, so we are ABLE to afford to do the work.

But...

As a FOR-profit entity, we can proceed without the assistance of costly legal counsel for issues pertaining to operation of a non-profit (which issues are NOT applicable to a for-profit entity), and we are spared the expenses of meeting requirements for government reporting and compliance (which is also very time consuming, and costly). We are also spared the necessity of fundraising, grant writing, and of seeking funds through other sources. It invariably takes MORE TIME (and more personnel), and is therefore FAR more costly to seek "free" money than it is to simply provide a service that is wanted, and to charge a fair price for it.

We are not a non-profit, because we can provide you with a membership for the same price with better value if we are NOT a non-profit, and we can profit from it sufficiently that we need seek no other sources of funding to keep the project rolling. We can focus on the work at hand, and not have to bother with the mess of trying to keep it legally listed as a non-profit.

Funds raised by this website will benefit the membership first, and the world second. Results of our research will be published free for our membership, and released for purchase to the public, or released in advance to our members and later released to the public.

Copyright © 2011-2012. All Rights Reserved.