Which is the most self sufficient and yummy turkey breed?

[Farmfresh]

I actually prefer the Broad Breasted Bronze for a table turkey.

I know. I know.

But really HOW they are raised makes a world of difference. They just grow much faster and are positively friendly compared to the heritage birds. If I wanted a sustainable flock I would probably take a few very healthy active BBB hens and top them with either a Royal Palm or a Bourbon Red tom. That cross should result in a much more sturdy farm turkey for the long run.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I actually prefer the Broad Breasted Bronze for a table turkey.

http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/uploads/266_can_i_help_turkey.jpg
I know. I know.

But really HOW they are raised makes a world of difference. They just grow much faster and are positively friendly compared to the heritage birds. If I wanted a sustainable flock I would probably take a few very healthy active BBB hens and top them with either a Royal Palm or a Bourbon Red tom. That cross should result in a much more sturdy farm turkey for the long run.

You could process the BBs earlier too, right?
I mean, who has roaster pans and ovens big enough for full weigh on them?

Wonder what cost breakdown is between breeds?
Anyone have a resource for numbers?

 

[Farmfresh]

I recorded my last turkey project on this thread How to Clean a Turkey.

The Broad Breasted Bronze I raised that time on pasture were 19 weeks old and weighed 14 1/4 to 15 1/2 pounds finished weight. Much faster and with less feed than the Heritage birds. Of course they have lost the ability to reproduce (I should say mate - since they still will lay eggs) , but since I am raising all of my birds for the table at this point, that does not matter to me.

Another point to bring up is that the Bronze is a left behind strain of commercial bird. The BB White is the "bird of choice" commercially and are much more genetically altered these days. The Bronze usually finish much smaller than the Whites.

 

[steve_of_sandspoultry]

There is a night and day difference in the taste of a BB type vs a heritage. But what is your goal? Are you feeding an army and want as much meat as possible in the shortest time that is right up the BB's alley. You are also talking alot of freezer space since you get them as poults and raise them to slaughter at the same time. I like the heritage varieties since I like turkeys and also like to eat turkey. I can set eggs from the first laid, in the middle and at the end of the laying cycle and have 3 different ages growing out year round.

Steve

 

[steve_of_sandspoultry]

yay Steve! thanks!

How deep is the snow up there OFG? Not to worry sping will be there in what June or July? it's 70's here today!

Steve

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

70*!!!?!?!?

*slaps forehead and passes out*

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

@Steve,
Our goal is to have turkey meat as close to wild as possible, without the gluten based injections, due to allergies.
Cost is killing us though with the BB, Slate and Black that we have.
In the long run, are midgets more cost effective?

Oh, and the size makes them not able to live with the chickens.
Inadvertent physical harm occurs.
No issues with blackhead here thank goodness.

 

[savingdogs]

Well I'm sure getting my turkey education, thanks everyone! What a wealth of resources we have here.

I was really hoping to keep the costs down so I think I do need to buy some of the white turkeys and not grow them out fully. It just wouldn't be cost effective for me to winter over too many. I have almost unlimited forage in the spring, summer and fall, but next to nothing all winter.

I do care about the finished taste but I guess we are going for a lot of MEAT as our primary goal. My family is extremely carnivorous and we go through a lot between my hubby and sons. I also have a couple families interested in me growing a turkey for them.....is there anything I could buy in the spring that would be ready to harvest by November? Or am I already too late for that. I'd have about nine months and from what I'm reading here, that doesn't seem like that will be long enough.

 

[patandchickens]

I started out two years ago by "testing the waters" with three BBB poults from the feedstore, and they were wonderful, SO personable and friendly. Raised semi-free-range with plenty of room (and reason) to move around, they were pretty athletic (well, once the tom got to about 4 months, he wasn't really flying anymore, and they were never exactly Olympic prospects )

HOWEVER what Steve says is an important point -- you don't necessarily have a whole lot of latitude as to when to butcher them, I kept mine til about 6 months of age but really I would not have wanted to keep the tom much longer than that as he was starting to labor when walking around, although the hens were ok, plus which the hens dressed out at, I forget, I think about 25+ lbs each, and the tom dressed out at a bit over 40 lbs and that's *without* skin or giblets or wingtips (had to be disassembled for freezer and oven).

And I would say that the coupla my heritage-breed turkeys I et this year at 6 months old were significantly tastier than the 6 month old BBBs, although the latter were still MUCH better than storeboughten turkey and obviously vastly meatier than the heritage birds.

I have seen feed conversion and economic analysis numbers on various turkeys but cannot remember where, perhaps Steve would know? Basically it's like with chickens, nothing even comes CLOSE to touching the economic efficiency of commercial BBW or even BBB.

But boy, the less efficient ones taste mighty good

Pat

 

[savingdogs]

Well, and the trade off of having something to breed next year....that is certainly more self sufficient, which was my goal. However I don't want to be self sufficient at the expense of investing way too much into these new poultry....I can eat store-bought turkey just fine and found some great deals on some right after the holidays, so it is a toss up.

It is almost like all the warmer months it feels like a waste to NOT be raising my own meat here, free ranging, and then in the winter it feels like the opposite, when I'm buying all their food bagged.

We probably eat more turkey than any other single meat we buy however except possibly hamburger, so it would go a long way towards supplying our needs.