Maine turkeys: Heritage and Broad Breasted Whites

Reading this in Maine and want a turkey?
emmas.family.farm@hotmail.com
or call 207-445-2141

November 1 and the countdown to Thanksgiving begins. We have raised
heritage and broad breasted white turkeys for sale commercially since
2004. Each year we gather ourselves to deal with each facet of
completing the "turkey process" and the stresses that go with each
segment of completion.
1. Prices will have been determined all ready and the factors of
pricing include many variables. The least controllable variables are
potential wildlife damage, weather events and diseases. As November
arrives we worry about each one and do everything we can to prevent
damage and mortality; these are issues that determine what our season
looks like in the profit or loss column.
2. Our personal health and physical fitness are important factors as
well. Various fall maladies are always around now and we must take
care to keep ourselves healthy so that our flocks can be well
maintained, watched, picked up at the appropriate time, loaded and
processed, and finally, distributed to our customers. Poor health of
any farm member makes more work for the others.
3. Processing on Time. It is a certainty that our customers want their
turkeys on a specific date, usually Thanksgiving. If there is some
hitch in the system and things don't get done on time, we stand a
chance of not having turkeys ready.
4. The customers want their needs met. Although we work to get our
customers to order early (as mentioned here previously) there is
always a crush of calls and e-mails, needing the "perfect" turkey for
Thanksgiving. It seems hard to make potential customers understand
that there are only so many turkeys available, that others have
ordered earlier and planned ahead, and that we can't manufacture a
turkey to their exact required weight.
In years past, we have worked to smooth out the wrinkles in our
operation so that things can go more smoothly but the stresses still
remain, the factors listed above will always make this a stressful
month for us as long as we raise turkeys. Some time between the
Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and dinner on Thursday, we must
unwind enough so we can enjoy our own Thanksgiving dinner --- yes, of
course we eat turkey!
Each year, we look forward to Thanksgiving day with the hope that we
can give thanks for making it through another turkey season and
knowing that our customers have enjoyed a premium quality bird for
their dinner. Later, as we evaluate profit and loss, measure effects
of the stress and think about what we enjoy as farmers, we plan for
the year to come and decide whether there are more turkeys in our
future. Our decision is often based on what happens during November,
the month when Thanksgiving occurs

posting from Emma's Family Farm,
Windsor Maine;
Steve Hoad
See what we're doing on the Farm at
http://twitter.com/TheHoads