Saturday, October 5, 2013

Three Reasons to Alter the ABA Bantam Orloff Standard

     Although some may advocate forming a large-fowl Orloff standard that closely mirrors the bantam standard of the ABA, there are a number of reasons as to why this should not be done. My purpose in this post is to show three key flaws to the ABA Orloff Standard:

1) The ABA Orloff standard does not place enough emphasis on the erect posture required in the Orloff.
    ~ Both the German and British standards--the most reliable standards in existence--specifically call for a bird with an erect posture. For the ABA to ignore this vital part of the Orloff's type is to do a disservice to the breed.
2) The ABA Orloff standard calls for a more erect tail carriage than is proper for the Orloff.
    ~ The Orloff, being a bird with Malayoid ancestry, should ideally have a tail angle that is carried more horizontally and less vertically. The British standard attests to this. Although the German standard does call for a moderately upright tail, this uprightness is balanced by the erect posture of the Orloff, which causes the tail angle to appear less pronounced. I have also seen photos on the German Orloff Club's website that definitely show birds with a less drastically vertical tail angle than the ABA seems to promote. The ABA calls for a tail carriage that does not accurately reflect the Oriental gamefowl bloodlines so integral to the Orloff's genetic history.
3) The ABA Orloff standard seems to place far too much emphasis on color.
     ~ According to the British Orloff standard, type is of primary importance to the Orloff breed. The bird's erect posture, low tail carriage, prominent head, intimidating brows, medium weight, and the like are far more important to its preservation than color is. Focusing too much on color can be detrimental to any breed because it causes birds of hardiness, good type, and disease resistance to be culled unnecessarily in favor of weaker, poorly typed birds that follow the standard's color code. But even if a breeder were to cull good-type birds with "poor" color in favor of good-type birds with "good" color, it still yields an unnecessary waste of birds whose quality and vigor should not be discarded for mere appearance' sake.

     For these reasons, the ABA Orloff standard should not be the basis for an American large-fowl Orloff standard. In all honesty, the ABA standard should be edited, so as to prevent the further pollution of bantam Orloff type.