Poultry

November is here and Turkey Day is just around the corner. Just the leftovers alone should make us thankful that turkey has become the traditional meat for our Thanksgiving day feast. I will always remember the huge turkeys that my mother made when I was a small child to feed the twenty, or more, people that gathered around our table.

Today's Thanksgiving turkeys are probably smaller than the ones that some of us that are forty-something, remember. The turkeys from our youth were probably toms and hens that were placed in barns as day old poults in April or May and produced almost exclusively for the holiday market. Most of the whole birds that we get for holidays, today are hens, that are raised for a smaller carcass to meet the needs of today's smaller families. Toms are reared longer, get even bigger than they did years ago, and slaughtered for the further processed market, and are sold as turkey products. Turkeys are raised all year round, due to year round consumption patterns for turkey products rather than just the seasonal holiday market.

Today's hen turkeys provide a 13-17 pound carcass at about 15 weeks of age. Toms, kept for the further processed market, will provide a carcass of over 30 pounds at 20 weeks of age. It takes about 75 pounds of feed to raise a market tom turkey.

Turkeys are raised in scientifically designed, environmentally controlled barns that provide maximum protection from predators, disease and bad weather. Turkeys are not raised in cages, instead, they roam freely around the barn. Research has shown that to provide less than optimal conditions for growout for a turkey, would be to the economic detriment of the grower. A well-treated turkey will grow to its full potential and provide consumers with a low-fat and high-protein food.

From 1949 to 1993, the price of turkeys dropped approximately 4.5% per year, more than twice the index for all livestock and commodity groups. This trend has continued, making turkey an excellent food value. It's no wonder the per capita consumption of turkey in America is 18 pounds and continues to rise each year.

North Carolina ranks first in the U.S. in pounds of turkey produced each year, but number two (behind Minnesota) in number of turkeys produced. In 2000, over 267 million turkeys were raised in the U.S., with 41.5 million raised in North Carolina. The people employed by the poultry industry in North Carolina provide millions of dollars to the economy of the state. Taxes paid by the industry to the state are significant and contribute to the economic well-being of everyone.

For more information, contact your county office of the Cooperative Extension Service. All Cooperative Extension programs are open to all people regardless of race, religion, color, ethnic origin, age, sex or disability.