In their continuing effort to bring awareness to the plight of endangered heritage breeds, Crooked Brook and The Mohawk Valley Trading Company have teamed up to sponsor a t-shirt giveaway to support and promote The Livestock Conservancy.

The mission of The Livestock Conservancy revolves around conserving the genetics of nearly 200 livestock and poultry breeds, ensuring their survival and promoting biodiversity in agriculture. Since its inception in 1977 (as the American Minor Breeds Conservancy, and later, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy), The Livestock Conservancy does research, education, outreach, genetic rescues, marketing and promotion to help ensure the future of rare and heritage breed agriculture.

Heritage breeds are traditional livestock breeds that were raised by our forefathers. These are the breeds of a bygone era, before industrial agriculture became a mainstream practice. These breeds were carefully selected and bred over time to develop traits that made them well-adapted to the local environment and they thrived under farming practices and cultural conditions that are very different from those found in modern agriculture.

Traditional, historic breeds retain essential attributes for survival and self-sufficiency – fertility, foraging ability, longevity, maternal instincts, ability to mate naturally, and resistance to diseases and parasites.

Modern agriculture has changed, causing many of these breeds to fall out of favor. Heritage breeds store a wealth of genetic resources that are important for our future and the future of our agricultural food system.

Many breeds used in large scale agriculture have been specifically selected for intensive production including rapid growth, feed efficiency, continuous milk or egg production, or other targeted production characteristics. Heritage breeds have genetics that are more “well-rounded.” While breeders may select their animals for certain characteristics, they’re not selected so narrowly so as to lose other valuable and biologically important characteristics.

“Heritage breeds were carefully and thoughtfully selected and bred over time to develop these traits”, said Dr. Alison Martin, the Conservancy’s Research and Technical Programs Director. While heritage breeds once plentifully roamed the pastures of America’s pastoral landscape, today these breeds are in danger of extinction.

Membership is open to everyone, regardless of their relation to raising livestock. For additional information about how you can help The Livestock Conservancy, the breeds they protect, or becoming a member, visit their website at www.livestockconservancy.org

Enter to Win The Livestock Conservancy T-Shirt!

This t-shirt is a white, Gildan, G200 6.1 oz. Ultra Cotton® T-Shirt made in 100% preshrunk cotton, taped shoulder-to-shoulder with a seamless collar and double-needle stitching throughout with the image of The Livestock Conservancy logo and URL printed large on the back and small logo on the left front chest.

Although the most popular method of printing t-shirts is screen printing, Crooked Brook t-shirts are printed using Direct To Garment Printing (DTG) which is the process of using inkjet printers to print an image directly onto t-shirts without the use of screens like with screen printing, which requires a lot of setup e.g., creating screens for each color. In addition, DTG printing uses eco-friendly, water soluble ink, unlike some screen printing methods that layer Plastisol (a suspension of PVC particles in a plasticizer) on top of the t-shirt. The only requirement for DTG printing is for the image to be high resolution, resulting in photograph quality printing with no setup fee or minimums for custom t-shirts.

The Livestock Conservancy T- Shirt Value including SHI…$28.00

Terms and conditions: 

• You must be 18 years or older to enter.

• Crooked Brook will ship the prize to the winner within 30 days of contest end. If address is undeliverable or prize is unclaimed and sent back, winner is responsible for re-shipping charges.

• Physical address required for shipping; no PO boxes, US recipients only residing in one of the 48 contiguous states.

Remember, you can enter once a day! Good luck!

For the duration of this giveaway (from 10/01/14 through 10/19/14) you can receive a 20% discount on all Crooked Brook custom t-shirts, button down shirts (embroidered, printed or blank), polo shirts (embroidered or blank), golf shirts (embroidered or blank), sweatshirts (embroidered, printed or blank), hooded sweatshirts (embroidered, printed or blank) jackets (embroidered, printed or blank) or fleece jackets (embroidered or blank) and all Mohawk Valley Trading Company maple syrup, raw honey, beeswax candles and handmade soap with the Coupon Code: “Domestic Geek Girl Livestock Conservancy T-Shirt Giveaway”