Do You know How Much It Costs to Raise A Turkey?

BlogHoliday

May 30

Large turkey outside on the grass. — One of our previous turkeys free ranging.

One year we decided to go in with a neighbor to purchase turkeys to raise for Thanksgiving. They’re not quite as fun to watch as ducks, but they’re amazing to watch as they get older. We successfully raised and butchered our 5 turkeys that year. I’m not even exaggerating a little bit when I tell you that was the BEST turkey I have ever tasted in my entire life. We were asked a few times if we considered raising turkeys to sell and we hadn’t really done the math to see if that would be something anyone was interested in.

We finally did the math and will be offering pastured turkeys for Thanksgiving 2022. We raise our turkeys the same way we raise our chickens. They are in a brooder under heat lamps until they are big enough to go out on pasture. When they are ready, they go into the mobile chicken tractors and get moved daily to new grass.

Since the turkeys grow so fast and are big enough, we turn them loose in the fenced yards when they outgrow the chicken tractor. They are able to roam and scratch for bugs and other treats.

G grinds the feed for the turkeys and gets a mineral specific for turkeys from an organic feed producer near Iowa City called Professional Proteins. Turkeys need higher protein than chickens early on so we can’t just share the chicken feed. Another difference between our turkeys and chickens is that we process our chickens on farm, but due to the large turkey size, they will be processed at a processing facility.

This method of raising turkeys is much more labor intensive than conventional methods, but I argue it tastes that much better…and is worth the increased cost.