TerrieMiller.com

Today I helped with “Turkey Transition Day” with Slow Food Russian River.

I like to support the efforts of farmers who are raising heritage breeds of animals. Heritage breeds of livestock are often in danger of becoming extinct, because industrial livestock breeds create a monoculture of animals. Industrial breeds were developed for size consistency or volume of production, but unfortunately many of these breeds are not as hardy and require antibiotics or other measures to sustain them long enough to reach the age of slaughter. Heritage breeds are often sturdier, healthier, and are well-suited for particular niches of climate or other factors which make them great for non-industrial farms. The increased biodiversity that results in having more heritage breeds leads to a great resiliency in the food system.

It’s shocking how different a heritage turkey can be from a commercial breed. Commercially bred turkeys can’t even mate themselves because their chests are so oversized to produce more breast meat…they all have to be artificially inseminated! (Yup, remember that episode of Dirty Jobs?!) Check out this Definition of a Heritage Turkey for more details.

Getting a heritage turkey for our thanksgiving table is beyond our budget this year, but I wanted to be a part of the process anyway. When I was growing up, we kept chickens for both eggs and meat, and one year raised turkeys for meat, too. You might already know my story about George the Turkey; I wanted to see if I’d feel any differently as an animal-loving adult. And I wanted to re-learn how to process poultry in case I decide to do it myself next year.

The turkeys were raised by kids and teenagers as part of their 4-H projects. They were justifiably proud of their beautiful birds:

The turkeys are placed in cones, head down…the cones hold them while their throat is slit, then they’re allowed to bleed-out into the trough below.

The mood was amiable, and everything was very matter-of-fact. There was a spirit of generosity with lots of skills sharing.

Once the turkeys have bled-out, they’re taken to a scalder…now this kind of equipment was new to me:

After the scalder, they’re plucked. I dreaded this part; I remember plucking taking forever. But look — they have a crazy machine to do that now!

After being plucked, the few feathers left are removed by hand, and they move on to the eviscerating table. This is where I helped out:

I was surprised that I remembered as much as I did, but still had to have a whole refresher course on how to gut and clean a bird. I think I did ok, thanks to my teachers; the more experience you have, the better your final poultry looks, of course.

And into the van they go, ready for delivery and someone’s table on Thanksgiving day.

It was a good experience…I’m really glad I went.