Turkeys

Back at the farm today :)

It was really cold and snowing! All the turkeys are weighed, boxed up, and labelled to allocate it to a customer then put in the fridges in alphabetical order. The customers come with their ticket and we get the turkey.

Quite a bit of waiting around for people so we got some turkey feed bags, filled them with straw and went up one of the fields and went sledging!

There were 7 of us there in the end and we all got soaked and really cold!

Turkeys

Been back at the turkey farm today, was good to be back :)
It was really cold, it felt colder outside than in the fridges!

I started off de-pinning them, they have little black feather stubs where the feathers grow through the skin, they cook out and aren't a problem but they don't look very good so customers don't really like them.

I was talking to John about waxing ... they have a big metal tank which you pump hot water through the outside, you buy big blocks of wax which melt inside it then you dip the bird in, leave it to cool and peel it off with the stubs and feathers coming away in the wax, then that wax is re-heated and strained/sieved before using again.

They've only used it a couple of times with the turkeys because its expensive and time consuming if you're only doing a few birds ... its better used for the geese they have and apparently works well. Apparently Kelly's (the big turkey farmers) are starting to use it more, recently.

I had to go and get all the turkeys out of the fridges on the racks, bring them in, hang them up and pin them. Chop their heads off with these huge scissors to break the neck, then cut the skin with a knife ... that goes in the bin to be incinerated. When they're pinned you cut their legs off but have to bang them and pull to get the ligaments out.
After that they go to the next person to be dressed ...

Dates

Louise texted me earlier and said I can go to do the Turkeys again this year :)

I don't know what dates we're going yet but will know in a few weeks.
Lucy from lambing might be coming as well, because she'll be back from Uni by then so will be able to come for the dressing and selling.

2009 Turkey Poults

Louise texted me today to say that the turkey poults for this year arrived on Friday and so are all at the farm.

It doesn't seem long since we were there at Christmas with last years lot. It will be good to get back and see them all :)

Turkeys - Selling

Back again to the turkey farm, and today is collection day for the public.
I was with Carlotte and Polly (Louises daughter) and Polly's cousin.
We had a little gazebo and a table with a stuffed turkey on and a few leaflets by the containers, the public then had to come along with their reciept, give us their name, and then we go and collect their turkey from the containers. We'd but some rosemary and a leaflet with info about the turkey and how to cook it, in the box and then they'd go home. We were also selling lamb and goose.
It was freezing cold, and we sat in one of the containers watching the TV waiting for more customers but a had a turkey hat on to keep me warm ;)
There were quite a few people who just turned up without ordering, and some people come to buy lamb, or to order turkey/lamb for early next year. One of the geography teachers from school turned up to buy a turkey aswell :D

There was a Charrolais lamb born today! It seemed a bit strange to see a lamb in December, but it's all to do with the Charrolais having a different start of the year, and the lambs are born early if they are going to be shown so that they are a little bit bigger.
There were also 2 calves born this week - John bought 3 Angus cows to be eaten, he knew one was in calf, and another possible. One was sent to the abattoir, and the other 2 have calfed.
Because of being away, today is the first day where it really reels like Christmas - I think it could be to do with seeing 600 turkeys and having customers wishing you Merry Christmas all day, or it could be the hats we were wearing :P

Turkeys - Dressing

I've been back at the turkey farm today, and they've been dressing the turkeys for a few days, but there's still quite a few more birds to do.
To start off with I helped to organise the turkeys in the fridges ready for the public.After they are dressed, the turkeys are put into cardboard boxes, weighed and a weight written on the box, and then put into another refrigerated container.
We got the orders and found a turkey for each order, and arranged them alphabetically to make it easier to find when the public come and collect them in a few days time.
That took quite a while to do, and then I went and dressed some of the birds.
The head is cut off, and the neck drawn out, the oesophagus is kept for the giblets. You then have to make a cut by the vent of the bird, cut up a bit, and around the vent to be able to get in. You work around the cut, under the skin, separating the fat from the skin, all the way around. Then you grab the piece, and pull it out the hole.
The intestines and everything are all still attached. You place them next to the bird, and cut off the bits you need - the liver (but make sure not to cut the sack of bile) and the gizzard, the rest, you just pull and it comes away. You then feel inside and pull away the heart which is also kept. Then you have to scape away the lungs from the inside. The rest is then thrown into a bag, which is sent off for incineration.

Turkeys - Killing and Plucking 2

Back to the turkey farm today.
I had a go at killing a few today and then plucking them.

You have to go into the shed, choose a bird and then carry it into the back of a converted livestock trailor which we used to dispatch all the birds in. The birds head is put into a cone, with its back facing you. It looks like a big upside down traffic cone, but with a wider hole for the neck to come out of, and it is made out of metal, they come in different sizes to cater for the different weights - from 9lbs to 53lbs! The birds head then comes out the bottom.
You hold on to the turkeys neck, and then get the electric stunner. You hold the stunner in your hand, and there are 2 prongs coming of the side, with pads on the end. The pads need to be touching the turkeys head, and then you press the button, which stuns the bird. You count to 15, while still holding the button and holding the pads to the birds head, and you can feel the neck and the head relax. You then take a knife, push it into the neck and cut towards the bone, which hits the artery and then the turkey bleeds into a bucket.
The worst thing for me was going into the shed and choosing who would be killed next. For me it wasn't the fear of actually killing something, it was me thinking that I could do something wrong and harm the turkey. I wastched a few be dispatched, and once I'd done the first one I was ok and knew that it hadn't gone throught too much pain and suffering.
Next the bird is carried into the container, plucked and then hung in the refrigerated containers for two weeks.
I feel better now that I know I'm able to dispatch of an animal and that I can cope with all the emotions and things like that.

Turkeys - Killing and Plucking

I went back to the turkey farm today, and its their 3rd day of killing the turkeys, they have 600 birds, so it takes a while to get them all done. They have been raised from day old chicks and now is the time when they are killed and plucked.
There was about 6 of us all in a container with a rail running along the top, with hook things on. The turkeys legs are put into either side of the hook, and hung up, and then you start to pluck them. The wings should be done first because if the bird starts to go cold they are hard to pull out because the fat that is holding in the feather turns into a solid. You just hold onto the wing and pull the flight feathers up, they are quite hard to pull out, and sometimes you have to use pliers to get them out. Then you start on the back of the wing with the smaller feathers, onto the breast and up to the legs. The feather 'pins' left behind from some feathers need to be pulled out aswell. Once that is done the bird is unhooked and taken to the big fridge containers and hung up on the racks I painted a few weeks ago.

The feathers are just thrown onto the floor of the container, and then bagged up and sent for incineration as they're classed as industrial waste!

The birds are hung there for a few weeks to let the muscles relax, which gives a better flavour and texture to the meat.

I didn't kill and today, but I think I'm going to tomorrow.

Turkeys

I've been up to the turkey farm today, and I havent seen them since they were a few days old, and the change is (obviously) massive.

Turkeys in the barn (click to enlarge)

The different breeds have now been more obvious apart from the colour, because they are still different colours, and they are different sizes now.

The males have a bigger wattle under their chins, and they are generally bigger birds.

They are all free-range turkeys - they are let out in the morning and put themselves to bed and then locked up at night, so that they are safe from foxes.

John + the turkeys

Free ranging in the field

Turkey Poults!

Me + Mom have just been up to the Turkey farm to see the turkeys!
Young turkeys are called "Poults". These ones were hatched in big incubators in Wednesday, and delivered to the farm on Thursday and there are just over 650.
Already they've had quite a few die, because of "vent pecking" - chicks have a natural instinct and they peck at things which are red (which is why chick feeders and drinkers are red), the vents are red and when they peck at them they get even worse and can pick up infection which can be fatal. At the moment the poults are being kept in brooders, they are big round pens with gas fired heaters in them to keep them warm so that they use their energy to grow and grow feathers. They are round because in square brooders the chicks all try to get to the corners and all pile up, which suffocates and squashes the chicks on the bottom.
There are 4 different breeds (Super Mini, Roly Poly, Wrolstad, Plumpie) of turkeys which will all grow to different sizes so that there will be different weights later on in the year. There are also males and females of the breeds which will result in even more weights - with males being generally bigger and heavier.

They are eating high protein Turkey Crumb at the moment.
It seems strange to think that they will all be eaten at Christmas, and that I will be involved in killing and preparing them. John asked wether I think I'd be able to do it at this stage, but I'm looking forward to learning how it's all done.



In a few weeks time they will be switched onto Growers pellets, and start to be let out into the field next to the shed, and brought back in during the night to protect them from foxes and rats.