Our Turkeys
Why chose one of our turkeys over one from the supermarket? Its a fair question.
We believe our turkeys are so different from one you can buy in the supermarket, that they are basically a different product! Here's why...
Fed on home grown grain
We grow all of the grain we feed the turkeys on our farm in Suffolk. Wheat, Barley and Oats provide carbohydrates, with Peas and Beans for protein. We then add in dried grass meal because it provides lots of vitamins and fibre.
We believe that this whole grain diet that we grow, mill and mix on the farm is much better for the turkeys than commercially produced food. It is less processed and provides a more interesting diet, we can also change it as the birds grow to suit their changing needs. We are the only producers in East Anglia that we are aware of still producing our own turkey ration.
Here you can see the difference...
Can you identify the ingredients in our Turkey Food?
Wheat (Carbohydrate)
Peas (Protein)
Barley (Carbohydrate)
Beans (Protein)
Oats (Carbohydrate)
Grass Meal (Fibre)
Free range
Free range turkeys are not a new concept to us, as Chris says, 'it's the way we've always done it.' We have grassy paddocks for our turkeys to run around in, and spacious straw filled barns at night. We believe in free range for a lot of reasons, the turkeys deserve to have the chance to run around with the wind in their feathers and exhibit their natural behaviours. This not only provides them with a happy life, it also makes them healthier and more vigorous.
Traditionally prepared
The tractors may be bigger and the women may be wearing trousers these days, but much of how we rear and prepare our turkeys is the same as when we started in 1934. This means putting care and respect into every aspect of the process.
Grown slowly
We get our turkeys in as day old chicks in early June which means they have plenty of time to grow slowly and naturally (double the time intensive farms use), this makes them healthier and happier. It also means they develop a small store of fat that prevents the meat from becoming dry when you cook it.
Dry plucked
We pluck our turkeys on the farm, using the traditional dry pluck method, this is slower but it allows us to hang our turkeys after plucking, to develop a fuller flavour. Large scale intensively reared birds are usually wet plucked, meaning they are plunged in hot water to loosen the feathers, this is done to reduce production costs but can have a negative impact on hygiene standards and taste.
Game Hung
This is a very traditional practice, forgotten by large scale intensive farms, it means that we hang our turkeys at a low temperature for two weeks before dressing and preparing them for your oven. This process develops the flavour and relaxes the meat allowing it to be less tough. It also means it cooks much quicker, so is less likely to dry out.