![]() ![]() If you are beginning without customers, this is harder. In reality you will probably notice some divergence between the stated customer preferences and the revealed preferences when they make their purchase decisions, but having some initial survey data will be valuable. If you have a customer base, ask them questions that will help you plan ahead. On our farm we had been raising chickens for many years before we started with turkeys, so when we first considered raising turkeys we surveyed our existing customers. Who are your customers? How many of them want your turkey and will actually purchase? What production values do they want (for instance: pasture raised, non-GMO, Certified Organic, heritage breed, etc.)? What size turkey would they like to purchase? How will you reach the next group of people who aren’t currently your customers? Ask the important questions to understand who we are raising the turkeys for. Most of us prefer to spend our effort on the topics related to the practical details of raising turkeys, but we would be better served by spending more time up front considering our marketing. Turkeys will graze plants that cattle and chickens avoid, such as ragweed.ĭave Perozzi / Wrong Direction Farm Market ResearchĪs a farmer, the single most important thing you can do is to understand your market. With the goal of having a saleable turkey ready by Thanksgiving, let’s discuss the research and planning to do before deciding to launch into turkey-raising. Additionally, people are generally freer with holiday spending, so you may find that customers who balk at paying premium prices for your premium meat during the rest of the year are more likely to splurge at Thanksgiving. We don’t need to stir up interest in turkeys when November comes, people look for turkeys and many want something better than what can be found in a grocery store. Thanksgiving provides a built-in demand for turkeys, which simplifies our marketing job greatly. I would like to write a future article on the idea of growing turkeys for year-round consumption, but to begin things I will focus on Thanksgiving. We have a handful of customers who want a Christmas turkey and an occasional request for an Easter turkey, but these numbers are negligible compared to the demand for Thanksgiving turkeys. Turkey sales are heavily weighted toward Thanksgiving. Any improvements you can make to the forage quality will be appreciated by your flock. But besides weedy plants, they thrive on tender grasses and lots of legumes. They even strip all the leaves within reach from multiflora roses. We have noticed that our turkeys will graze plants that our cattle and chickens avoid. Other than the potential for bare patches next to feeders, we find that turkey pastures regrow more quickly than chicken pastures. They also exhibit less of a tendency to scratch the ground. Unlike chickens, turkeys are not as prone to create ankle-busting dust bathing wallows in pastures. Turkeys graze more persistently, and with their greater size they can eat larger, tougher forage and to graze taller grasses and weeds. The dark meat is richer, and the white meat is more forgiving, so it doesn’t dry out as quickly.Ĭoming from a pasture raised chicken background, I was interested to note the advantages of pasture raised turkeys over chickens. Tasting a pasture raised turkey, one that has had daily access to fresh grass, you’ll know the difference immediately. Turkeys are an American bird, so they are at home in our climate and environment. Turkeys on PastureĬompared to the other domesticated birds raised for meat, there is no bird quite so well-suited to pasture as the turkey. I am not suggesting that anyone dismiss heritage turkeys, but only to be aware that there are some additional complexities involved with raising them. For certain markets, the premium prices for heritage turkeys can provide a great incentive for farmers to make the management changes necessary to raise these older breeds. Heritage turkey breeds can be a great farm enterprise as well, but with their slower growth and their propensity to fly away at inconvenient times, we decided to stick with the standard heavier crossbreeds. Our farm does not raise heritage turkey breeds. Note that most of what I write applies primarily to turkeys of the broad breasted varieties (white, bronze, or black). Anyone with chicken experience will be well served by this background, but there are important aspects where we find a divergence between turkey and chicken habits and needs. While there exists a relatively good amount of information about raising chickens on pasture, the resources are a bit sparser for turkeys. Wrong Direction Farm pasture raises both chickens and turkeys, but the farmer shared that he does play favorites and has found turkeys to be better grazers, among other benefits.
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