16-17.9lb | - Turkey Whole

If given the chance, turkeys will eat about 40 percent of their diet in grass.

  We buy our poults (baby turkeys) from hatcheries and start them in a brooder for warmth and protection from the elements.  After 3 weeks they go outside on pasture in order to encourage foraging.

  Using electrified poultry netting, we move them to new paddocks every couple of days to keep them on a fresh pasture salad bar.  Because they are heavy, meaty genetics, they can’t fly and therefore we can protect them from predators and soiling their own area with the portable electric netting and portable shelter called a "Gobbledygo".

  Birds don’t have stomachs like we do; they have a crop, gizzard, and intestines.  The crop is a holding sac where everything ferments before going into the gizzard, which is a grinding organ.  With a thick protective lining, the gizzard contains rocks the turkey eats.  As the gizzard massages its contents, the rocks literally grind everything into liquid that then goes into the intestines.  Because grass is harder to ferment than grains, we offer our turkeys plenty of rocks so they can efficiently metabolize the non-grain components they find in the field.

We feed a non-GMO locally-sourced ration.  At about 16 weeks they are ready to harvest.  

  We do not offer fresh turkeys at Thanksgiving because often it gets too cold to have the turkeys on pasture in late November.  The industry soft freezes birds (29 degrees) for months and calls them fresh.  We hard freeze immediately and keep them for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.  This way we raise the turkeys when they are the most comfortable, in the summer time, and they can enjoy the greatest quantity of worms, insects, and lush grass.  The freezer lets us accommodate our holidays.

For best results, we recommend thawing fully and applying a brine (either liquid or dry) to the turkeys 12-24 hours before cooking. Season well and roast in an oven until skin is crisp.