freerangeturke's Journal

Fresh Christmas Turkeys
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a juicy turkey on the table. But too many of us have been stung by the supermarket deep-freezed variety. Battery farmed with no taste and dry meat. Free range turkeys, on the other hand, taste just as a fresh Christmas turkey should.

Free range turkeys only come from the best quality chicks. There’s no cramming as many birds into a dark and dingy barn as possible here. Your fresh Christmas turkeys will have been raised in an environment that is both spacious and disease free. As soon as they are old enough, the turkeys are given access to an outside area in which they can roam freely. This means the farmers are able to raise fewer birds per year, but you are getting a far superior bird and one which know lived a happy life.

Only the fittest chicks are chosen to become your fresh Christmas turkey; some battery farmers are happy to use any old mangy chick, but they only grow up to become mangy turkeys. And no one wants to eat a mangy turkey.

The quality of the turkey is also ensured by only using slow growing strains. Again, some farmers are happy to use fast growing turkeys and while they are profitable and the end product cheaper, the flavour doesn’t even begin to compare. You get what you pay for. Slow growing strains allow the turkeys to develop at a natural rate and retain their flavour. Typically, chicks intended for the Christmas market will come into the farm around the middle of June. This allows for a 22 week growing period, as opposed to the 16 week growing period typical of fast growing strains reared in an industrial environment.

Your low cost, supermarket turkey is likely to have been fed on an array of growth additives and growth promoting chemicals. While there are lots of claims concerning the health implications of eating chemically promoted livestock, the most important point to remember is that it really affects the taste. Additives have their place in farming and livestock rearing, but it ought to be done in moderation; to encourage development, not force it. Do you really want to eat a turkey that in life was pumped full of steroids? The rations fed to the best, fresh Christmas turkeys contain no less than 70% cereal containing no such growth promoters and additives.

Of course,these birds are still being raised for slaughter. But it doesn't have to be cruel. When the time comes, free ranger farms hand pluck the turkeys on the farms on which they were raised, causing minimal stress to the bird.

Environmental Health and the Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association regularly inspect farms to ensure they meet the high standards expected of free ranging farming. Their accreditation means you can be sure the fresh Christmas turkey you are buying was raised in the very best conditions.

No one has greater care and love for animals than free range farmers and they want the turkeys they rear to have the best quality of life. It’s best for the bird and it’s best for the consumer . A healthy turkey is a tasty turkey.

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Morton’s Traditional Taste is run by third generation turkey farmers. For fresh Christmas turkeys raised to the highest welfare standards, get in touch with them now.Morton’s fresh Christmas turkeys