How Much Is a Farm-Raised Turkey? A Comprehensive Guide to Thanksgiving Turkey Prices

Thanksgiving means different things to different people, but for a turkey none of it is joyful. At this time of year, the bird’s sole purpose is to feed our families during the traditional feast of thanksgiving. No matter how you slice it, certain birds perform better than others over the holidays, but in general, the turkey gets a raw deal. The lucky ones among them are the turkeys that were raised on pasture on a small farm; at least they had a taste of life outside before they were snatched away from this world. There is a downfall to the pasture-raised turkey: the steep price tag. You’ll pay roughly $30 for a 20-pound commercial Butterball turkey, but it will cost closer to $120 if the bird is raised on open fields.

Despite the financial barrier, the number of small farms has been rising over the past 20 years in an attempt to replace the current large-scale, factory-farm food system. The importance of that shift was demonstrated by the 2011 and 2012 Butterball scandals, which were made public by the animal advocacy organization Mercy for Animals (especially since Butterball supplies the country with approximately 13 4 million turkeys each Thanksgiving) The advocacy group revealed the abuse turkeys undergo in factory farming environments. No living thing should have to endure these horrors, which range from severe physical abuse to living in conditions infested with maggots and, in some extreme cases, being ground up while still alive. These terrifying events are reminiscent of those found in “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, but they are happening now rather than during the Industrial Revolution. Advertisement.

The severe mistreatment of turkeys paints a dark stain on the entire meal. Even though this is a year-round standard, there is a strong sense of significance to small farms during these times where raising animals humanely actually matters. And for that reason, the people of Sudbury, Massachusetts, really appreciate a unique small farm like Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, which has slowed down and maintained its values.

Pete Lowy and Jen Hashley established Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds in 2003, raising chickens exclusively in their backyard for their own personal use. Over time, they started selling their extra eggs to friends. Soon after, they began raising meat birds, or chickens raised for food. Before they knew it, they were raising 90 turkeys for the holiday, as well as rabbit, hog, and capon, and 200 meat birds at a time. Even though the operation might not seem significant in terms of scope, a closer look at the quality shows that it is crucial.

Pete and Jen are having a feast of fresh pea tendrils, the kind of thing a hip New York restaurant would plate with ramps, label as a spring salad, and charge you $18 a head for. They are also feeding their turkeys on pasture. The birds also eat grain, as well as grit (basically, rocks). They roam in an enclosed area with what is probably the greatest salad bar in all of America. After they have finished their salad of fresh greens, the turkeys are moved a couple of times a week to a new area with fresh tall greens for grazing. Take a look:Advertisement.

This is the idyllic many people conjure when picturing farm-raised animals, but this is so rarely the case. Pete Lowy finds it shocking how many small farms deceive people into thinking that their animals are raised on pastures, but it’s a grim reality. Pete recalled how many farmers hide their animals in barns when you visit their property, even though they make claims to the contrary. And then there are the sizable farms that function essentially on the other extreme of the spectrum. Unfortunately, this reality is a result of the many challenges of raising animals in open fields.

It’s incredibly hard to make a living while farming on pasture the “old fashioned way. That’s one of the reasons factory-raised animals are so cheap and have become commonplace. The large fields required for grazing take up more land (and therefore are more expensive) than enclosed barns. The work of moving the birds on pasture requires labor (which costs money). And then there are the predators to watch out for. Electric fences will only deter some animals. Weasels, hawks, and coyotes can easily sneak in and kill fifty birds in one night for small farms, which is a big loss. However, the effort pays off because it costs the customer money and enhances the overall health, flavor, and well-being of the bird.

The steep price of pasture-raised turkey is a problem for many Americans. A few days before Thanksgiving, any local supermarket will easily have a large Butterball turkey for about $1. 50 a pound, but getting a pasture-raised turkey requires planning (all of Pete and Jen’s birds are reserved a month in advance) and a bigger pocketbook. A turkey sourced sustainably can easily set you back $5–$7 per pound, four times the price of a typical grocery store turkey. However, there’s a good reason the bird costs so much, and it has more to do with its adorable little farm aesthetic. Or the fresh diet of pea shoots. The farmers themselves are barely making a profit. Raising a bird on pasture on a small farm scale is just expensive.

Pete informed us that the price of the baby turkey, or poult, is normally approximately 5% E2%80%9310% of the retail price, or $6% E2%80%9310% per poult. But when you factor in the possible (and likely) loss of birds while trying to care for the young, vulnerable birds, that cost goes up even more. While raising birds, less than five percent of the total cost should be lost, but many farmers encounter unanticipated issues. Ducklings may pile on top of one another in the cold, and farmers may lose a lot of them in a single night owing to a cold snap. Trying to keep them warm with heat lamps is an option, but that hikes up the electricity bill. This is all just to keep the baby birds alive. Then there’s the feeding, which is where it gets really expensive. Advertisement.

Organic grain is about two times the cost of commercial grain. Grain expenses alone can account for as much as 20-30% of the retail price; a single bird costs $40 in grain. Because they feed their turkeys on pasture, Pete and Jen also need to cultivate the pasture forages, which raises their costs (those pea sprouts don’t just appear out of nowhere). And then there’s the grit that turkeys eat for digestion. Pete said that their 90 turkeys consumed 10 bags of grit this year. At $12 a bag, it adds up. And now comes the trickiest part: processing the bird.

Processing the bird is industry talk for slaughtering the turkey. This is actually trickier than it sounds for small farmers — and not in the emotional sense. For small farmers, getting their birds processed legally presents a challenge; the cost of processing them, in any scenario, is typically 15% of the retail price per bird. They can pay for transportation and processing at the nearest USDA poultry plant, which is one of the few in Eastern Massachusetts, or they can process the birds on their own farm. Each option has its own set of downfalls. Having another party process your bird means paying out even more of your already small profits. But making the decision to process your own bird means serious labor — and lots of paperwork too.

We had a conversation with Sam Anderson, the manager of the Mobile Poultry Processing Unit for Eastern Massachusetts. The MPPU was founded to provide small farmers with an authorized means of processing and selling their chickens on their own land. It serves as a mobile licensed slaughterhouse. He said that getting the paperwork in order is hard for farmers. It involves getting permission from the local boards of health, which they’ve found aren’t always so agreeable. But that’s not even the hardest part. Sam says that on processing day, “something always goes wrong and you have to be ready. Managing the logistics, monitoring the bird’s temperature, allocating responsibilities to individuals, and maintaining the cleanliness of the entire equipment are the most challenging tasks. ” It’s a lot of work. Certain farms, like Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, are fortunate enough to have volunteers show up and take part in the process. But for those who don’t, labor becomes another cost in processing. When the profit margin is as narrow as it is in these small-scale farms, these kinds of costs are essential. And they in turn add to the price of the pasture-raised turkey. Advertisement.

Pete sums up the situation perfectly: “When you add it all up, a $100 turkey at retail could easily cost us $80.” And then, just before the turkeys are killed, a coyote nosies by and steals ten of the birds, costing you a significant portion of the money you had made from raising them over the preceding four months. Farming is great!” (Did you pick up on that hint of sarcasm?).

The fact that some customers simply cannot afford the high costs of animals raised on small farms and pastures is another depressing reality of our current food system. And others don’t feel like the price is justified. The flavor will make you glad that the birds ate so many pea shoots, though, if you can afford to pay the extra. Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds customers attest that their birds taste far better than anything you could buy at the grocery store. And because it’s more expensive, they just eat less poultry. It’s one of those “less is more” cases.

The first step in promoting ethical farming practices is to buy a pasture-raised bird from a small farm; you also need to find farms that adhere to their own policies. In a world where food labels are nearly meaningless, it’s disheartening to hear a small-scale, sustainable farmer lament the mislabeling among his own peers, as Pete did. Pete’s advice: Go visit the farm. There’s no way for those of us who have spent our entire lives away from food production to trust what we buy. Visiting the farm and seeing firsthand the conditions of the animals is the only way to ensure that the food you buy is produced ethically. And if you can’t visit the farm, look for pictures. Many farms these days have websites, blogs, or even tweet images; Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds do all three. Look for green fields, happy animals and recent photos, advises Pete, because the proof is in the pasture.

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Thanksgiving means different things to different people, but for a turkey none of it is joyful. At this time of year, the bird’s sole purpose is to feed our families during the traditional feast of thanksgiving. No matter how you slice it, certain birds perform better than others over the holidays, but in general, the turkey gets a raw deal. The lucky ones among them are the turkeys that were raised on pasture on a small farm; at least they had a taste of life outside before they were snatched away from this world. There is a downfall to the pasture-raised turkey: the steep price tag. You’ll pay roughly $30 for a 20-pound commercial Butterball turkey, but it will cost closer to $120 if the bird is raised on open fields.

Despite the financial barrier, the number of small farms has been rising over the past 20 years in an attempt to replace the current large-scale, factory-farm food system. The importance of that shift was demonstrated by the 2011 and 2012 Butterball scandals, which were made public by the animal advocacy organization Mercy for Animals (especially since Butterball supplies the country with approximately 13 4 million turkeys each Thanksgiving) The advocacy group revealed the abuse turkeys undergo in factory farming environments. No living thing should have to endure these horrors, which range from severe physical abuse to living in conditions infested with maggots and, in some extreme cases, being ground up while still alive. These terrifying events are reminiscent of those found in “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, but they are happening now rather than during the Industrial Revolution. Advertisement.

The severe mistreatment of turkeys paints a dark stain on the entire meal. Even though this is a year-round standard, there is a strong sense of significance to small farms during these times where raising animals humanely actually matters. And for that reason, the people of Sudbury, Massachusetts, really appreciate a unique small farm like Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, which has slowed down and maintained its values.

Pete Lowy and Jen Hashley established Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds in 2003, raising chickens exclusively in their backyard for their own personal use. Over time, they started selling their extra eggs to friends. Soon after, they began raising meat birds, or chickens raised for food. Before they knew it, they were raising 90 turkeys for the holiday, as well as rabbit, hog, and capon, and 200 meat birds at a time. Even though the operation might not seem significant in terms of scope, a closer look at the quality shows that it is crucial.

Pete and Jen are having a feast of fresh pea tendrils, the kind of thing a hip New York restaurant would plate with ramps, label as a spring salad, and charge you $18 a head for. They are also feeding their turkeys on pasture. The birds also eat grain, as well as grit (basically, rocks). They roam in an enclosed area with what is probably the greatest salad bar in all of America. After they have finished their salad of fresh greens, the turkeys are moved a couple of times a week to a new area with fresh tall greens for grazing. Take a look:Advertisement.

This is the idyllic many people conjure when picturing farm-raised animals, but this is so rarely the case. Pete Lowy finds it shocking how many small farms deceive people into thinking that their animals are raised on pastures, but it’s a grim reality. Pete recalled how many farmers hide their animals in barns when you visit their property, even though they make claims to the contrary. And then there are the sizable farms that function essentially on the other extreme of the spectrum. Unfortunately, this reality is a result of the many challenges of raising animals in open fields.

It’s incredibly hard to make a living while farming on pasture the “old fashioned way. That’s one of the reasons factory-raised animals are so cheap and have become commonplace. The large fields required for grazing take up more land (and therefore are more expensive) than enclosed barns. The work of moving the birds on pasture requires labor (which costs money). And then there are the predators to watch out for. Electric fences will only deter some animals. Weasels, hawks, and coyotes can easily sneak in and kill fifty birds in one night for small farms, which is a big loss. However, the effort pays off because it costs the customer money and enhances the overall health, flavor, and well-being of the bird.

The steep price of pasture-raised turkey is a problem for many Americans. A few days before Thanksgiving, any local supermarket will easily have a large Butterball turkey for about $1. 50 a pound, but getting a pasture-raised turkey requires planning (all of Pete and Jen’s birds are reserved a month in advance) and a bigger pocketbook. A turkey sourced sustainably can easily set you back $5–$7 per pound, four times the price of a typical grocery store turkey. However, there’s a good reason the bird costs so much, and it has more to do with its adorable little farm aesthetic. Or the fresh diet of pea shoots. The farmers themselves are barely making a profit. Raising a bird on pasture on a small farm scale is just expensive.

Pete informed us that the price of the baby turkey, or poult, is normally approximately 5% E2%80%9310% of the retail price, or $6% E2%80%9310% per poult. But when you factor in the possible (and likely) loss of birds while trying to care for the young, vulnerable birds, that cost goes up even more. While raising birds, less than five percent of the total cost should be lost, but many farmers encounter unanticipated issues. Ducklings may pile on top of one another in the cold, and farmers may lose a lot of them in a single night owing to a cold snap. Trying to keep them warm with heat lamps is an option, but that hikes up the electricity bill. This is all just to keep the baby birds alive. Then there’s the feeding, which is where it gets really expensive. Advertisement.

Organic grain is about two times the cost of commercial grain. Grain expenses alone can account for as much as 20-30% of the retail price; a single bird costs $40 in grain. Because they feed their turkeys on pasture, Pete and Jen also need to cultivate the pasture forages, which raises their costs (those pea sprouts don’t just appear out of nowhere). And then there’s the grit that turkeys eat for digestion. Pete said that their 90 turkeys consumed 10 bags of grit this year. At $12 a bag, it adds up. And now comes the trickiest part: processing the bird.

Processing the bird is industry talk for slaughtering the turkey. This is actually trickier than it sounds for small farmers — and not in the emotional sense. For small farmers, getting their birds processed legally presents a challenge; the cost of processing them, in any scenario, is typically 15% of the retail price per bird. They can pay for transportation and processing at the nearest USDA poultry plant, which is one of the few in Eastern Massachusetts, or they can process the birds on their own farm. Each option has its own set of downfalls. Having another party process your bird means paying out even more of your already small profits. But making the decision to process your own bird means serious labor — and lots of paperwork too.

We spoke to Sam Anderson, who is in charge of the Mobile Poultry Processing Unit for Eastern Massachusetts — the MPPU is essentially a licensed slaughter house on wheels that aims to provide small farmers with a legal means to process and sell their birds on their own farms. He said that getting the paperwork in order is hard for farmers. It involves getting permission from the local boards of health, which they’ve found aren’t always so agreeable. But that’s not even the hardest part. Sam says that on processing day, “something always goes wrong and you have to be ready. The hardest stuff is lining up all the logistics, monitoring the temperature of the bird, lining up who’s working and cleaning the whole unit down.” It’s a lot of work. Some farms, like Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, are lucky enough to have volunteers come out and be part of the process. But for those who don’t, labor becomes another cost in processing. When the profit margin is so narrow as it is in these small-scale farms, costs like this really matter. And they in turn add to the price of the pasture-raised turkey.Advertisement

Pete sums up the situation perfectly: “When you add it all up, a $100 turkey at retail could easily cost us $80.” And then, just before the turkeys are killed, a coyote nosies by and steals ten of the birds, costing you a significant portion of the money you had made from raising them over the preceding four months. Farming is great!” (Did you pick up on that hint of sarcasm?).

Some consumers just simply can’t afford the steep price tags of pasture-raised, small-farm animals, and that is another unfortunate reality of our current food system. And others don’t feel like the price is justified. But if you can afford to pay the difference, you’ll be rewarded with a flavor that will make you grateful for all the pea shoots those birds ate. Customers of Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds have said that their birds taste way better than anything you could buy at the grocery store. And because it’s more expensive, they just eat less poultry. It’s one of those “less is more” cases.

The first step in promoting ethical farming practices is to buy a pasture-raised bird from a small farm; you also need to find farms that adhere to their own policies. In a world where food labels are nearly meaningless, it’s disheartening to hear a small-scale, sustainable farmer lament the mislabeling among his own peers, as Pete did. Pete’s advice: Go visit the farm. There’s no way for those of us who have spent our entire lives away from food production to trust what we buy. Visiting the farm and seeing firsthand the conditions of the animals is the only way to ensure that the food you buy is produced ethically. And if you can’t visit the farm, look for pictures. Many farms these days have websites, blogs, or even tweet images; Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds do all three. Look for green fields, happy animals and recent photos, advises Pete, because the proof is in the pasture.

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Get Started with Turkeys: Everything You Need To Know

How to raise turkeys on a farm?

To raise turkeys on your farm, you need to prepare their living space before the birds arrive. You should provide shelter, food, and water, heat lamps, bedding, and feeders. Turkeys need more space than chickens; the coop, the nesting boxes, the run are all bigger. A large pen or small barn works well for turkeys.

How much feed does it take to raise a 38 pound turkey?

On average, it takes 75-80 pounds of feed to raise a 38-pound tom turkey. Feed ingredients account for roughly two-thirds of the cost of raising a turkey. Modern production methods have shortened the time it takes for turkeys to reach maturity.

How do I start a turkey farm?

Be sure to research the equipment, both for raising and processing if that’s what you want to do. Find a processor before you even order your birds or volunteer to help a local farmer process their turkeys before you try it on your own. Find your local feed mill too, and research what feed will work best for you.

Is raising a Turkey a good investment?

It’s a good investment if you want to be serious about raising meat turkeys, but the cost may scare off some people. Raising meat turkeys with a flock of chickens can work, but it’s not ideal for production flocks. There are a few interesting breeds out there available to you, such as the Royal Palm turkey and the Midget White.