Homegrown TURKEYS are Terrific

Enlarge Image Image Gallery

Beautiful and fun to watch,helpfulincontrolling pests and delicious on the
table . . .

By Herman Beck-Chenoweth

Turkeys first came here to Locust Grove Farm in southern Ohio in 1991. After a year of living without animals I announced, "Fences or not, I am going to get some livestock." My wife, Linda, said I could if I wanted, but she was much too busy to participate. About a month later my livestock - baby chickens- was delivered. But she took one look at those tiny baby birds, and I could tell from the expression on her face I was out of the chicken picture. So I ordered some day-old turkey poults and be gan my love affair with these beautiful, friendly birds of many colors. After my first taste of flavorful, homegrown roast turkey, I knew I would never go back to bland commercial birds again.

GROWING GOBBLERS

Raising a few friendly, handsome turkeys for your family's use is both fun and worthwhile. If you raise them to eat, you'll have a much more wholesome and flavorful turkey than anything you could buy at the supermarket. Several of the old "heritage" breeds are still available, as well as the "modern" Broad-Breasted Whites.

Heritage poultry specialist Glenn Drowns of Sand Hill Preservation Center in Calamus, Iowa, says the Traditional Bronze and White Holland varieties are well suited for small flocks of under 20, particularly for consumption, and that

Narragansetts and Bourbon Reds are beautiful medium-size birds better suited for foraging and pest control. I also recommend the striking white-and-black Royal Palm for those desiring a smaller (10to 16-pound) turkey.

Frank Reese, a long-time turkey aficionado and breeder from Good Shepherd Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas, also suggests the Standard Bronze and White Holland varieties for meat production. He adds that his Sadie Lloyd strain of Bourbon Reds is an excellent all-around choice and mothers very well - no need to worry that chicks won't be looked after. Other good "setters," according to Reese, are the Black Spanish and small strains of the Narragansett.

OUR NATIONAL GOBBLER

Turkeys are so large, fast and impressive that Benjamin Franklin suggested the turkey as our national bird. "I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country," Franklin wrote. "He is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America."

Most commercial turkeys are raised in extremely crowded conditions and are fed antibiotics, arsenic and tranquilizers. Slower-growing female chicks are often killed and used for livestock feed.