Do not salt or brine self-basting turkeys, it could lead to the opposite effect and you'll end up with an overly salted and dried out bird. Kosher turkeys have been individually slaughtered by a trained Jewish butcher, slaughtered according to kosher laws, drained of blood, and salted. It's that last element that makes kosher turkeys popular—they are pre-seasoned and thus tend to be extra flavorful. Don't buy a kosher turkey if you plan to pre-salt or brine your turkey since it will end up over-seasoned.
The label "natural" is, in many ways, somewhat meaningless in terms of overall quality. Certified organic turkeys have been fed organically grown feed all their lives and have never been treated with antibiotics. Wondering why organic turkeys cost so much more? It's simple—organic feed made from certified organically grown grains is often at least three times as expensive as conventionally grown feed. Free-range, according to the USDA, means the animal is allowed to be outside at least part of the time.
For some growers this may be a short time; other growers allow the animals to roam a large area and hunt-and-peck as they like, with access to shelter, as the animal desires. Pastured birds are raised outdoors and are allowed to hunt-and-peck insects and grasses for their food they are often also given feed to ensure nutrients and calories needed to grow to market size. Their varied diet makes them more flavorful, and the active life of a pastured bird makes its meat more developed.
Note that unlike labels such as "organic," there are no certified or verified standards for "pastured. As heirloom is to tomato, heritage is to turkeys. Heritage turkeys are smaller than their commercially bred counterparts which are all Broad Breasted Whites and have a stronger—some say gamy—flavor.
Less breast meat and more highly exercised thighs and wings mean heritage turkeys benefit from longer, slower cooking times. Depending on when you're shopping, it may be too late to score a heritage bird. Growers tend to take orders for them and sell out before actual holidays, but you can always ask with your fingers crossed, hopes high, and taste buds at the ready.
Hens are female turkeys and toms are males. Toms are, on average, larger, so if you're going for a turkey over 18 pounds, you'll likely end up with a tom, whereas if you're looking for a turkey 14 pounds or under, you're likely to buy a hen. Other than size, there isn't a real difference.
Some people claim toms are more flavorful. No turkeys sold in the U. Large-scale farming operations pack in birds that can thrive in such confined quarters, allowing more production for the space. Consumers who purchase heritage turkeys also tend to hold a higher standard to their meat, eschewing additives or antibiotics, which can extend the life of a bird raised in confinement.
They want birds that have been raised naturally and humanely. That means packing fewer birds into a larger area, resulting in less profit per acre. Learn more about pastured turkeys from Acres USA. Keeping turkeys can require more care than keeping other poultry. They can contract many diseases such as blackhead, avian influenza, aspergillosis, and coryza. Because biosecurity is so crucial in a bird that can get so sick, many growers resort to adding antibiotics to daily feed. Organic turkey farms use neither antibiotics nor feed that has not been certified organic.
Turkeys may start out antibiotic-free, but farmers may medicate an entire flock if a few birds get sick. Some growers keep separate flocks, raising turkeys without antibiotics until problems occur then moving sick birds to another pen if they have to medicate. Others must euthanize sick birds to keep the rest of the flock safe. An ongoing argument exists regarding the ethics of using antibiotics. While many farmers have announced that they will stop adding medication to daily feed, they hold that treating sick animals is the most humane way to raise meat.
Eschewing all antibiotics means suffering of the animal, spread of disease, and euthanasia of sick animals before the other livestock can contract the illness. No matter which method the farmer chooses, all reflect in final purchasing prices in heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving.
Meat from a farmer who feeds antibiotics daily will probably be less expensive because it results in fewer veterinary visits, lower labor costs, and fewer dead birds. Most of us are willing to pay more for a bird raised without added hormones, right?
All of our poultry is raised without added hormones. That thick breast meat is the result of selective breeding. The juiciness is because of how the turkey lives, at what age it is butchered, and which additives have been injected before the meat is wrapped in plastic.
In , the USDA first approved hormone use for raising cattle. At the same time, it banned hormone use for poultry and pork. Beef hormones are administered as a pellet behind the ear, a part of the animal which is not consumed.
There are few places on poultry which are not consumed, and implants within those places would probably result in the death of the animal. If industrial poultry grew faster than it already did, it would suffer more health problems and mortality than it already does. Hormones administered through feed would be metabolized and excreted in the same way that corn and soy proteins are, without causing noticeable growth.
Since muscle is built as the animal moves, hormones would be ineffective because broad-breasted turkeys and Cornish Cross chickens rarely do more than flap around a little. All animals and humans have hormones. Those were my dressed weights, btw. If you had a truly heritage turkey it would have taken months to reach slaughter weight.
There would have been so much fat in that bird it would not be dry no matter what. And the dark meat would be DARK. You and everyone else have been duped into spending twice as much on a broad breasted bronze. I chose to start raising BBB as soon as the hatchery made them available.
I really appreciate the time and effort you put into making this a fair trial. Thanks for sharing! I have yet to see birds reach the size this site says they get though. Even at that price the farmers are lucky to just break even on them. Heritage birds have a more pronounced keel bone, much, much smaller breast that kind of flop over like saggy boobs, and are altogether longer in form. Our largest tom gave us a 13lb carcass while the rest of the toms were about 11lbs.
Hank, our 3 yo breeding tom, is 20lbs live weight to give you an idea of mature weight. As a side note, my husband also hunts turkeys and they look exactly the same as heritage birds. Wild turkeys are much tougher so we generally breast them out and the debone the bottom end of the bird and use the meat for sausage and then use the carcass for stock. We just had wild turkey stir-fry last night as it turns out.
But yes, they taste sooooo much better. I prefer light meat, but even the light meat I felt was better tasting on our birds. Thanks Rachel! Rachel, my bourbon red Tom weighed in around 20 s but he was over a year old.
No way can you make money raising a turkey for a year! But he sired many babies so I did end up making money on him in the end. The others dress out around 15 s after 7ish months and wow are they tasty. I do have friends that are farmers and do sell turkeys and are planning on taking a loss on the birds but make it up elsewhere.
The Blues just were no where near as impressive in terms of performance and size finished out as compared the Narragansetts. I had Narragansetts that dressed out at 19 pounds in about 7 months time and the biggest Blue was only around Same access to food and pasture for both. My chicks were a little late last year and the toms only topped out at The biggest problem any farmer faces is the complete disconnect with what the public thinks food should cost vs.
Selling a pasture raised heritage breed bird in the current economy with costs for feed is a losing proposition unless you know people who know the difference in taste and realize the effort involved.
I agree with this regarding for the most part. My primary business is home design. The same is true for farming. The balance will be done tomorrow. Sorry, Rachel Hoff, but those weights and descriptions describe turkey lines that have been poorly bred. As a true heritage bronze should. My hens dress out to around 14 pounds, but had some reach 16 pounds this year. My line breeds naturally. The Sweetgrass and Blackwings which started as sports of my bronze produce the same weights in the same time.
Porter birds are bred for feather production, not meat production. Coupon arrived Monday. Everyone that come to my house only wants white meat, except my mother who eats the dark meat and goes home with the extra dark meat. I only need the smallest turkey as we have so many vegetarians and sometimes vegans.
NO ONE has ever told me oh this or that turkey tastes better. You eat a few slices along with all the other food, I save a few slice for my husband who will take a sandwich over the next day or two. My son the meat-eater takes the carcass and leftover meat to his house to make soup. Renee, properly cooked, your bird will be juicy and delicious. Brine for at least 24 hours all supermarket birds are salt water injected that takes the place of a brine and pay attention to cooking temperatures cooking and internal.
Remember that your farmer has steadfastly raised the birds from chicks that need constant attention to protection from predators and incurred losses to bring the birds to market.
Hens might dress out at 10 lbs and toms lbs. We could do the processing ourselves but my time is worth a lot, too. Producers do their best to educate their consumers and set up realistic expectations. We raised a few Narragansetts last year. It was rewarding to see them grow, but the cost to raise them was amazing. If you can keep them alive long enough, which takes a fair amount of luck, the cost of the feed they plow through will shock you. Even though we only raised them for our own consumption, it was an expensive proposition.
When you try to explain to them exactly why the cost is what it is, they tune you out pretty quickly. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to try to make a living raising and selling these.
Best of luck. We harvested them at 8 months and both toms weighed 20 pounds dressed, which shocked me, since I had heard they would be smaller. Brined a la Dog Island farm , and slow cooked, the meat was falling off the bones! Richer or is it more rich? This year, we had straight Bourbon Reds. Because of a hatchery error, we got them late and had to harvest at 6 months.
These guys were 9 pounds dressed, long and lean. Twice the weight for the same amount of feed.! A couple years ago I bought a turkey from our neighbors — or rather, swapped for him, providing buck service in exchange. Pasture raised, pretty much free range in fact. Also, at fourteen pounds as big as I could get it was slightly too little for my big family. But man, it sure did make some awesome gravy.
Sth, I feel for your situation and understand. We do have two food systems in America. Small farmers are more likely to work with you in barter or trade, especially if they find they have enough other customers willing to pay the higher price to keep them in business.
Debbie is totally right. I know a lot of farmers that are more than happy to trade a box of food for a few hours of work helping out on the farm. There are ways but you just have to look for them.
The US has legislated a subsidies program that rewards the largest agriculture open field factories — calling them farms is a stretch — and allows giant food processors to buy commodity derivatives for a small percentage of what the fair market cost to produce them would be. This undermines small scale farmers, making it very difficult for them to compete when the thumb of subsidy is on the industrial side of the scale. I wish I could print this comment out and post it all over town like some Valiant Valley-Vore version of V for Vendetta.
Love this.
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