Paper short abstract:

Heritage breed farmers have complex, interdependent relationships with their animals, who they often regard as kin, yet routinely kill. I look to Indigenous ontologies in making sense of the complexities of loving and killing animals to sustain breed and bloodline diversity on heritage breed farms.

Paper long abstract:

Indigenous Australians have long counted both native and domestic animals among their kin, with care for country and its inhabitants—including respectful killing—the corollary (Bird Rose 2012; Musharbash 2017). By contrast, the economic imperatives of settler-colonialism have transformed large swathes of Indigenous Australian country into sites of agricultural extraction. Intensive breeding programs have increased the productivity and profitability of a small number of modern commercial livestock breeds, which has in turn resulted in the homogenisation of bloodlines, and the extinction of numerous heritage breeds. Perceptions of farm animals are increasingly polarised among non-Indigenous Australians, with livestock treated as expendable commodities by agribusiness, while animal rights activists condemn all forms of animal death.

Between these two poles, Australian heritage breed farmers persist with their less profitable breeds, as they value their unique qualities and histories, and contributions to agrobiodiversity. While selling animals for meat underpins these farmers' livelihoods, living interdependently with their particular breeds, often over generations, means that many farmers love their animals and consider them kin. In this paper, I look to Indigenous ontologies in making sense of the complexities of the life death conundrum on heritage breed farms, and the role of kinning, killing and love in the conservation of rare and heritage breeds.