For as long as I can remember, my mother would eat the turkey neck every Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law did, too. Both claimed it was their favorite piece of the bird. I always found it to be a little stringy, but never wasted that turkey neck, choosing instead to simmer it with the giblets, then chop it very finely and add it to the gravy. This year, for the first time, I raised turkeys on our little farm. Getting advice from real farmers, I purchased six babies last spring. Six because everyone told me I would probably lose a few to predators, weather, or just plain stupidity on my part…or theirs. Despite these dire warnings, I ended up with all six, but they didn’t stay babies for long. I learned that turkeys grow rapidly and eat a lot, and by a lot, I mean A LOT. I tried to free-range them as much as I could, hoping they would fill up on grass, worms, and bugs. Around here, in the land of coyotes and foxes and bears (oh, my), animals must be protected. In addition to the free ranging, they lived a happy life in the coop and the run with the chickens. (I can’t vouch for the happiness of the chickens, however.) I didn’t name the turkeys, knowing that they would eventually be dinner. Although I didn’t harden my heart against them, I didn’t treat them as pets, either. They were really fun to watch, and contrary to what I had heard, were certainly not lacking in intelligence. As the days started getting shorter, I knew “the deed” had to be done sooner than later. I had already arranged with my son-in-law to take care of that duty, and my best friend since the first grade, who is always up for anything, agreed to help. We managed to get them cleaned, although I must admit, it was a lot of work with a little bit of sadness thrown in. I’m really not sure I’d want do it again. After sending each of my assistants home with a turkey-and-a-half, one is in the freezer and the others were sent to the local butcher to be made into breast fillets and turkey sausage. I saved the bones and simmered them yesterday with bay leaves, lots of garlic, and a touch of apple cider vinegar to make several quarts of broth which will be good for what ails us in the coming winter months. As I picked the meat off those turkey necks to make soup, I thought about the fast food throw-away world we live in now. Raising your own meat and vegetables is about as slow as food can get. The thought of wasting any part of those turkeys after taking care of them personally would be almost sinful. It took me a while, but I finally understand why our ancestors saved everything and wasted nothing. My life is filled with blessings. I have helpful friends, a warm home, healthy food, and a loving family to share it with. For all these things, and especially for turkeys, I give my heartfelt thanks.
Talking Turkey
November 16, 2014 by The Minnesota Farm Woman
5 Responses
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The Backyard Pioneer
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The Backyard Pioneer
I have been thinking of trying to raise a few turkeys the last couple of years but have still been trying to figure out how to prepare for them. What kind of turkeys did you decide on, and would you raise the same kind again? What kind of feed did you use (I already have a small flick of laying chickens)? Did you have some kind of roosts for them? How soon were they ready for processing? ? ? Don’t know what I don’t know.
Pauline
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I just got the bronze turkeys from the farm store. You can order heritage type, also. I was going to go with a Beltline (a local farmer raises them) next year, but don’t know if I will do it again. The bronze were good..no problems, and cheaper. They did roost, but got too big and broke one, but I had more. I got them in May and we butchered in October. You’ll know when it is time by their size. 🙂 I fed them regular chicken feed since they were in with my chickens, plus, they free-ranged and ate grass, bugs, worms, and frogs. (For some reason, there were frogs all over the place this summer!) Some sources said not to raise them together, because the turkeys could get a disease called “blackfoot”, but I talked to several farmers who said they had no problems, probably because they were small-scale and had clean coops. They were fun, but I was kind of sad with the butchering part. They were very, very delicious!
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We had a gazillion frogs this year also. If we were trying to raise frogs, we would have considered it a bumper crop. I understand about the butchering part, as we have butchered some of our chickens through the years and have also taken them to a processor, once I located one. That is what we would probably do with turkeys but would then have to figure out how to transport them the distance, about 45 minutes from where we live. I had read about the issue of Blackfoot as well but I also read about some, like you, who had raised the poultry together with no problem. It’s a sad task when the day arrives and the deed has to be done, no matter who does it. I made my husband take the chickens to be processed this time when the meat chickens we raised from this Spring were ready to go. An anxious day or two for me when it draws near.
By the way, what weight did your turkeys average out at, after being
processed?
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We had three hens and three toms. We didn’t weigh them, but figured after we processed them, they were probably 15 to 25 pounds each.
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Okay, here I go with another question: did you free-range your turkeys, letting them wander where they would, or did you use an enclosed type chicken tractor?
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