From Todays Email I am wondering why you are overall raising smaller Turkeys than you have in the past? Would it not make more sense to raise the larger broad breasted Whites or Bronzes that grow faster and finish in the 20-26 pound dressed range? I am curious as to your reasoning and am planning on raising 10-15 turkeys next year as a toe dipper. Any advice you have is very much welcome and appreciated. From an economic stand point it would make more sense as the broad breasted varieties do finish in a much shorter time and at much greater weights than heritage breeds. In our set up however the broad breasted breeds just dont work. They are very poor foragers and require a lot of feed to get to those higher weights. Heritage breeds on the other hand will finish much lighter but will feed themselves with minimal feed and supplment. 9-15 pound dressed birds that take 6 weeks longer to finish. I do raise a couple dozen broad breasted for folks that want the big 20-25 pound birds and the cost per pound to raise them is signifigantly higher than the cost of raising heritage breeds. The heritage breeds are very adept and skilled survivors in semi wild conditions. They avoid the predation that can wipe out a entire flock of broad breasted in one night, simply because they roost in low tree limbs. They are more resistant to disease. However 22.5 pound average dressed weights VS 13.7 pound average dress weights of heritage breeds on the surface would appear to be a no brainer. If you are planning on feeding a lot of grain in a small area the Broad breasted are the safe bet and will yield the greated volume of meat but will cost more per pound to produce. The heritage are a better option if you have the acerage for them to forage undistrubed and the patience to herd them to a holding pen in the fall. Back to the economics it cost me .119 cents per pound to raise a 14 pound heritage bird, I have $1.66 cents into the feed cost of each 14 pound bird. For a broad breasted I have a $13.47 feed cost into a 20 pound bird. The rest of the cost are static, we dont use a inspected plant for processing, instead process on farm in our own processing facility the processing equipment has a estimated 30-35 year life span and was a $7,000 investment, the cost of that equipment is broken down into each turkey and chicken to have the equipment pay for itself over a six year time frame. I calculate the value of my time and expertise at $15.00 per hour in the regular inspecting of the birds, the processing etc. Then I calculate on the other overhead electricity for the poultry freezers, cost of the building that houses the freezers, water used in processing, fuel cost to transport and deliver the dressed birds and market fees for where the bulk of the birds are dropped off at. When it is all said and done it works out to an average cost per pound of turkey produced at $1.49 Before I pay myself. 2014 we processed 263 birds and sold 263 birds 3,603 pounds of dressed Turkey at a base feed and overhead cost of $5,368 the sale price of those pounds is $9,908. THe ledger shows I spent 167 hours caring for and processing those birds for $2505 that I will pay myself and $2,035 that goes back into the farm. If I raised only broad breasted commercial turkeys the cost per pound would be more, IMO the quality and flavor of the birds lower and the bottom line much reduced. As it is now there is a very good balance our folks who want a big birds can get them, the folks that want 14-15 pounds birds get them and the people that want 10-13 pound smaller birds get them.. The overhead is covered, I make a fair wage and the farm gets paid so that it continue on its course. Turkeys are not the easiest thing to raise I strongly advise getting your first birds from a reputable Hatchery where they will be disease free and healthy chicks from the git go. We run about 15% Mortality with hatchery chicks sometimes a lot less other times near 30% but there are a lot of variables that play into the chick mortality rates and those variables vary from year to year. Once you get the chicks to 6 weeks old you pretty much have it beat. If you do self propagating heritage birds, we see a mortality of 3%-5% in the naturally nest hatched eggs and 90% egg fertility and hatching rates. Broad Breasted cant reproduce, they try but they are simply too big to get the job done. To myself and the T5R sustainability if the primary goal and the broad breasted are simply not sustainable if they cant reproduce naturally. That is your personal call to make and should be based on your own morals and ethics. But atleast be honest and dont call an unsustainable breed sustainable when you market the dressed birds ;) People will respect and trust you so long as you are always honest, trust me not all of your fellow producers will like you or your honesty :) Just pee in their cheerios and move on, its not about them. Its about you, your farm and your customers. If Your customers are happy, you are happy, if you are happy the farm is happy and all goes well except the usual headches of things breaking and there never being enough hours in the day :) Best of luck to you Tom in your first turkey raising adventure and anything I missed or can help you with feel free to drop me a email or call and I will give it the best shot I can. I should be up that way around Christmas time and will stop by and we can see what your 2014 apple hooch taste like :) Thanks Mike Hammack Owner T5R Farm. President Thunder 5 Ranch Inc. Director of Regional Producer Farmers Markets Master Manure Relocation Engineer
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 00:52:25 +0000
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