Well I suppose Thanksgiving is in our rear view mirror now. In fact, if it weren’t for the frozen bits still waiting to be rendered into broth, it might not be on my mind at all. Except for the turkeys out in the field still. They were the ‘experimental’ birds. We have been looking for a low input, no-fuss no-muss solution to paying $12 per poult to buy day old chicks and then raise them. We had let some of our hens sit eggs, to see how it would work out. We hedged our bets, and bought poults as well. Cause we didn’t want to come up empty on T day. There are 5 of them, and they will head off to Ice Camp on February 2nd.
This year was our test run year for selling birds. We are in the ‘lucky’ position to be able to fund a small scale grow out experiment, with a low per pound price, for mostly family, and then watched our feed costs and labor inputs. All in all, excluding the cost of the poults (remember the $12 each) we are out about $4.20 per pound, not including the processing costs, poult cost. So you could say ‘feed costs’ were about $4.20 per lb of finished bird. That may sound like a big hit, but when you think about the fact that they were fed 100% organic feed, and pastured it’s a little more understandable. Add to that the fact that they were all heritage breeds. That means that the hens topped out at about 8# and the biggest tom was #16. #16 you say, that’s hardly enough for a family of 5, let alone guests. I assure you that our family, and extended family, who joined us, all ate all they could, and took turkey home with them, and we had a pound or so of left overs in our fridge for a couple of days. In total that was 9 adults and two kids. Yes, food that’s grown naturally does fill you up faster.
Here is a shot of about #125 of turkey, ready to get bagged and head out for local ovens! 5 more will head to the big freezer in the sky at the begining of next month… Stay tuned, as we will be offering organic, pasture raised, heritage birds for tables again this year. Full update with price to follow. Or shoot me an e-mail adam(at)adalynfarm.com
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