Midwest AGNet - Your Source for Everything AGMinnesota leads nation in turkey production
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Minnesota has 250 independent turkey farmers who raise approximatley 49 million turkeys this year. So this Thankgiving, many people will be eating locally without even realizing it.
A trip to the University of Minnesota Outreach, Research, and Education Park in Rosemount showed us the steps these birds go through from birth and beyond.
Zimmerman says, "A breeder hen can lay an egg every 28 hours. Now in the wild, a turkey will have 8-10 eggs, maybe seven will hatch, maybe five will survive. Now on an egg-laying farm, those eggs are taken away and that breeder hen can lay an egg a day for 100 days, basically an egg a day."
Male turkeys, or toms, are raised for about 20 weeks and weigh about 40 pounds before they head to market.
With Thanksgiving just days away, turkey farmers are hoping for an economic boost after a sluggish 2008.
Turkey Breeder John Zimmerman says, "Feed is obviously more expensive, but feed is still available, we're just paying more for it. Our bottom line has shrunk tremendously from last year.
Jordann Ojanpa asks, "Will you make that up on the other end?"
Zimmerman says, "No. It's hurting the hog industry too. A lot of meat is getting dumped at the marjet, so right now ham is very cheap, so when people go to Sunway they're buying a ham sandwhich instead of turkey, so we have to work through this excess of meat before we're profitable again. Hopefully that occurs early next year."
Jennie-O Turkey Stores are located in five Minnesota cities, with one in Wisconsin as well. They are the world's largest producer of turkey. Jennie-O handles nearly one point three billion pounds of turkey each year.
Last year americans ate 690 million pounds of turkey during Thanksgiving. A person will typically eat around 17 pounds of turkey a year.
So when you sit down at the dinner table this Thanksgiving, chances are, you could be having one of these guys for dinner.
