Raising Heritage Breed Turkeys

Many people who begin homesteading get chickens as a source of organic eggs and meat as well as pest control, but did you ever consider the financial aspects of raising turkeys?

In my area organic turkey is sold for an average of $7.00 a lb and it can go a bit higher during the upcoming holiday season. Like all poultry, turkeys that free range/grass fed can fend for themselves foodwise to some extent and so the net profit of a turkey is pretty substantial. All poultry needs supplemental feed for the best health and quality of meat, however, so there will always be feed costs.

Heritage breeds are key in a small farm operation, in my opinion. Heritage breeds are hardier, breed better, and produce a better quality of meat with less human intervention than is normal for commercial birds. Not only that, but it is important to protect the biodiversity in our livestock and raising heritage breeds is one way to do that.

There ar many places to order turkey poults. It is important to do your research and decide which breed is best for you. Once that is decided try to find a local breeder. Getting poulty by mail is good but getting locally is better and less stressful for the birds.

You will want to have an enclosed and protected area for the poults to live for their first few weeks. You will need a heat lamp unless it is mid summer in Texas- the temperature needs to be 95-105 degrees day and night for the first several days and then you can slowly drop it by about 5 degrees a week. Watch the poults for the best indication of how you need to adjust the temperature. Cold poults will huddle together, even smothering the ones unlucky enough to be on the bottom. If they are too hot they will get as far away from the light as possible and lay out panting, acting listless. Poults that are comfortable will move around peeping quietly or sleeping peacefully.

Make sure there is plenty of starter mash in the feeders, and that the poults have fresh, clean water at all times. The water should be about body temperature to guard against the turkeys getting a chill. Twice a week sprinkle grit over the mash so that the poults can digest their food properly. Watch for pasting up, an ailment in which the droppings stick to the backside of the bird and it cannot eliminate. If this happens gently clean the droppings of with some mineral oil or warm water. All the way through the growth process make sure that the poult has a clean living space and humane treatment.

After about four weeks the birds can go outside to an enclosed and protected area as long as the temperature stays above 70 degrees. Continue making sure that they have fresh water at all times and feed is plentiful.

By the tenth week the poult should be ready to be switched from starter mash to a growth formula. During this time you should change the grit size to a broiler size grit and continue giving it with the mash two times a week. The turkey will also need greens and other foods added to its diet.

It is important to understand the difference between pasture raised or grass fed turkey and free range turkey, and this goes for all poultry. A few years ago when consumers decided they wanted animals that were treated more humanely, organic, and grown in a natural environment the market came out with a catch all phrase, " Free Range". consumers eagerly embraced free range poultry, imagining plump, healthy birds strutting around a pastoral farmyard straight out of Currier and Ives.

Unfortunately the reality is that a free range bird is only NOT a caged bird. It may only have four square feet of range area in a large coop but it can still be called free range. Grass or pasture fed poultry is poultry that is allowed to be housed on living grasses. Sometimes the birds are free ranging in a large pen, often electrified to keep out predators, or in large, movable, bottomless cages called chicken tractors. Either method allows the birds to eat a natural diet of living grasses and plants, bugs, and even mice and snakes. The grass fed poultry will need to get supplemental grain and mash daily for optimum health. For the best profits you want to raise the highest quality birds around.

To completely finish a turkey takes about 24-28 weeks, or until the bird reaches approximately 18 lbs or more, depending on the breed. For the very best quality meat the scratch grains should be at least 70% corn by week 20. You will know that the turkey is ready for butchering when the pinfeathers have disappeared and there is a fine layer of fat covering the body. You will not be able to see the purplish color of the muscle under the skin but the skin will be pale yellow or white underneath. Continue to allow the bird to be on fresh grass pasture throughout the finishing process until the last 18 hours. During the last 18 hours before butchering the bird should be separated, and given plenty of fresh clean water but no food.

You can take the turkey to the butcher and have it killed and cleaned, and have your customer pick it up there in neat freezer bags, or you can sell the turkey live for less money and allow the customer to decide what to do about the butchering. In most areas it is not legal to butcher the animal yourself for sales purposes because of health regulations so check carefully with your local government.

As people try your birds and are rendered speechless by the tender, amazingly tasty meat that you have produced your business will grow by leaps and bounds. The Internet is a great place to sell livestock or promote your homestead's products because it is everywhere, all the time. The website for our farm cost us less than $100.00 a year but has more than made up for that cost in the sales we make. Plan carefully and do your research and you will have organic turkey for your table and plenty left to profit from.