"Riverview" is home to a number of endangered domestic farm animals and poultry. The collection of endangered domestic animals was driven by the desire to preserve these animals and birds from the past and to actively promote and secure their role in the agricultural future.
Many pictures and references of endangered domestic farm animals are now mainly found in childrens story books. Domestic farm animals possess a certain appeal and for those that are rare and endangered this appeal is strengthened even further. Rather than lament the demise and extinction of endangered domestic farm animals and birds it was decided to actively seek out and be involved in their promotion and breeding and thus contribute to the continuing presence of these animals and birds in Australia. The endangered domestic farm animals and birds currently at “Riverview” include the Wessex Saddleback Pig, Black Leghorn Poultry, and Brown Leghorn Poultry. The Bronze Wing Turkey is not endangered but is worthy of inspection due to its magnificent plumage and quiet nature.
Wessex Saddleback Pigs
The Wessex Saddleback Pig is a striking looking black pig with a large white belt, which includes the shoulders and front legs. This breed is a very hardy, prolific and docile breed, producing good sized litters of piglets and is a good outdoors pig. It was bred originally from the New Forest area of England, but after 1914 was mainly bred in the south and west of England as a specialist bacon producer. A Wessex Saddleback breed society was formed in England in 1918. The Wessex Saddleback Pig were imported into Australia in 1931. In Great Britain, the Wessex and the Essex Saddleback Pig breeds were amalgamated in 1967, and became the British Saddleback. Its current status is that it is listed as Rare, Importation Early and Overseas Rare.
Black and Brown Leghorn Poultry
This beautiful breed of poultry originated in Italy and was called the 'Italiana'. It was later renamed 'Leghorn' after the Italian City on the Ligurian Sea where it was first shipped. The Leghorn was first imported into America in 1835 and then later to England. It has an excellent feed to egg ratio.
They are lively and alert birds and can be prone to flightiness. They have large, flopped over combs and wattles which give them a beautiful and characteristic appearance. They are becoming much more popular for small scale poultry keeping.
The hens are good layers and produce medium to large white eggs. The main commercial breed of egg layers was the white Leghorn crossed with other breeds. The Black and Brown Leghorns are rarer breeds.
Bronze Wing Turkeys
Turkeys are magnificent birds. The Bronze Wing resembles most closely the wild Turkey. The Aztec Indians of Mexico were the first to domesticate the turkey and Spanish explorers were responsible for bringing it back to Europe in the fifteenth century.
This breed of turkey is not endangered as it is the worlds most popular breed but they hold a special place at "Riverview". It has magnificent body plumage, very hardy, has good leg strength and is good at foraging.
This turkey is a large bird with males weighing thirteen kilograms for a mature gobbler and eight kilograms for a mature hen. They possess extremely placid natures.
