Christmas Turkeys

Gael23

When are you sending them off to the factory?

3 the square

Gael23 wrote: »

When are you sending them off to the factory?

Where is the factory??

Gael23

3 the square wrote: »

Where is the factory??

Do you kill them yourself?

gozunda

Gael23 wrote: »

When are you sending them off to the factory?

Are you looking to buy a Turkey or?

Jb1989

gozunda wrote: »

Are you looking to buy a Turkey or?

Would you have any idea on price?

Gael23

gozunda wrote: »

Are you looking to buy a Turkey or?

Have ordered one already. Just curious to know if it’s still alive or not.

Genghis Cant

We kill our generally on the 19th or 20th Dec. Chances are your lad is still walking around.

memorystick

Genghis Cant wrote: »

We kill our generally on the 19th or 20th Dec. Chances are your lad is still walking around.

Is there much work with them? Is there a market for them live?

Genghis Cant

memorystick wrote: »

Is there much work with them? Is there a market for them live?

We only keep a small few. Around 20 this year. Plenty of work and no money. Like a lot of farming 😀
We keep a very traditional breed , single breast and reared outside. They taste like no other Turkey!

memorystick

Genghis Cant wrote: »

We only keep a small few. Around 20 this year. Plenty of work and no money. Like a lot of farming 😀
We keep a very traditional breed , single breast and reared outside. They taste like no other Turkey!

If a lad reared 50, would a butcher buy them live? I’ve a son with DS and he loves his hens and pigs. Trying to diversify 😉

Genghis Cant

memorystick wrote: »

If a lad reared 50, would a butcher buy them live? I’ve a son with DS and he loves his hens and pigs. Trying to diversify 😉

I don't know. But I'll hazard a guess that a butcher will only want them New York dressed. That would be dead, plucked and ready to chill.
There'd be a nice bit of work turning out 50 Turkeys NY dressed. It all has to happen in a fairly small time frame.

memorystick

Do I need a license for that? Or maybe your man in Kildare with the poultry abattoir on the farm might do.

Genghis Cant

memorystick wrote: »

Do I need a license for that? Or maybe your man in Kildare with the poultry abattoir on the farm might do.

You certainly have to be registered with the Dept. Outside of this requirement I can't advise you. I'm not at that level here so I don't know.

kerryjack

They are handy enough reared and were good for the cash flow around Christmas. we used keep 100 in the sheep shed a couple of barrels on truck tyres halved a few drinkers and fresh straw every couple of days. 2 people would process 20 a day at there ease and customers would order and call to the house to pick up the bird. We packed it up over 20 years ago, we got lazy.

Stationmaster

kerryjack wrote: »

They are handy enough reared and were good for the cash flow around Christmas. we used keep 100 in the sheep shed a couple of barrels on truck tyres halved a few drinkers and fresh straw every couple of days. 2 people would process 20 a day at there ease and customers would order and call to the house to pick up the bird. We packed it up over 20 years ago, we got lazy.

Any idea what you'd make per bird ding a 100 or so?

Thinking of doing it here next year. Had a few this year to see what they're like and was pleasantly surprised. Can't beat the taste of them either.

Was told by another farmer that does around 100 turkeys and geese that he gets them killed and prep'd etc somewhere in Galway for €9/bird.

kerryjack

Don't think there is a great market for large turkeys any more family's are smaller That was our USP. People want small turkeys now that will be done quick and eaten quicker and you can buy them for 20 quid.

Gael23

Do most farmers kill their own turkeys or are they sent to
meat processors?

kerryjack

It's an important life skill here to be able to kill and clean out a chicken or a turkey same as a fish. I could do sheep and pigs too if I was left.

Sillycave

We used to do between 100-150...plucking was the slow job, cleaning them out was quick enough but by jaysus your hands would be falling off ya and ur feet too...gave it up after the real hard freeze as it was a bloody nightmare...used to do card game for birds at the start which was great craic....used to boil a huge pot of spuds outside and mix barely when cook...the smell was unreal and the turkeys would eat you to get to it

Base price

Gael23 wrote: »

Do most farmers kill their own turkeys or are they sent to
meat processors?

Anyone keeping/rearing any types of fowl must be registered with DAFM - Dept of Agriculture.

AFAIK if you sell turkeys to the public they have to be killed, plucked and eviscerated/cleaned out at a DAFM licenced butcher/abattoir.
You can rear your own turkeys for your family and friends but they cannot be sold to the public.

Stationmaster

Aldi selling turkeys this year for as little as €8.99......

_Brian

Stationmaster wrote: »

Aldi selling turkeys this year for as little as €8.99......

British turkeys last I checked.

average_runner

_Brian wrote: »

British turkeys last I checked.

According to their website, turkeys are Irish.

Lime Tree Farm

has anything changed ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/aldi-under-fire-after-wild-salmon-is-revealed-to-be-farmed-1.2912063

average_runner

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

has anything changed ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/aldi-under-fire-after-wild-salmon-is-revealed-to-be-farmed-1.2912063

2016 that was. We gotten our turkey from there for last 3 years since our butcher closed down. Have to say it's really good.
Veg will come from our allotment so that's the hard part left for me:)

kerryjack

Ya a turkey is a turkey at the end of the day hard to tell the difference between 100 euro turkey and a 20 euro turkey, of course we don't know what they are feeding the 20 euro bird I can only imagine the junk they are being fed.

average_runner

kerryjack wrote: »

Ya a turkey is a turkey at the end of the day hard to tell the difference between 100 euro turkey and a 20 euro turkey, of course we don't know what they are feeding the 20 euro bird I can only imagine the junk they are being fed.

Wouldnt pay 20 or 100 for a turkey.
I would want all the paper work to prove the turkey had the best diet possible if spending a 100 on it. Only feeding 4 adults and two kids that won't eat it.

Gael23

I would pay more than the frozen Tesco ones but not top of the range either. Would go free range more for animal welfare reasons

_Brian

average_runner wrote: »

According to their website, turkeys are Irish.

100% the fridge I checked was full of nothing but British turkey and goose.

Maybe they have changed since, that was 6th Dec, Aldi in Cavan

memorystick

Are many lads here selling turkeys? I remember there used to be live auctions in Maynooth years ago.

Donald Trump

Auctions are gone more than 10-15 years.