Video: On Farm Turkey Processing; Turkey Cruelty at Aviagen
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 04:04AM Well, we have finished processing all of our turkeys. As Liz mentioned in yesterday's post, our neighbor's daughter came by during one of the processing days to observe the process. While I know that some people prefer to not see how processing is done, I think it is important to get it out there, as a form;)
of education to show everyone where their food comes from. So today we assembled this quick "how to" video of how we processed our heritage turkeys at Nature's Harmony Farm. Sharing this is an important part of our belief in transparency. And speaking of transparency, after watching our video, watch the second video at your own peril. This horrific video explains precisely why Liz and I farm.
The picture above is of the baby Narragansett turkeys back in May when they were just a month old. That was their first day on pasture. Today, was their last. They had a beautiful life here and filled our days with crazy antics, companionship and friendship. It was an honor to walk them through the final phase of their destiny. As I stated to the Athens Banner Herald last week, the way to preserve these heritage breeds is to eat them. I hope our customers enjoy them on Thanksgiving. I know we will.
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Reader Comments (22)
Dear Tim,
I've just watched both videos that you posted this morning. Thank you for warning me and thank you for having the courage to seek these things out for the purpose of educating the public. You know that I can't bring myself to to research this type of stuff. Most of all I want to thank you for allowing us to farm and raise our turkeys in the humanest way we can. Thank you for running out to help all of those times that I called because a turkey looked like they had a cold or had escaped their area. Thank you for putting up with the long conversations about how we can make the turkey's time with us better and thank you for all the hard work and care you took in processing the past 3 days. I know that you had to hold each turkey as they calmly went to sleep and I know how difficult that must have been. Lastly, thank you for helping me to keep my perspective. You know that I have been worried about the turkey's presentation for customers and was dissappointed that some of the birds were smaller than we had hoped. After watching the alternative, I know that we have done a terrific thing this past year and anyone who is lucky enough to enjoy one of these turkeys should feel the same.
I love you Farmer Tim!
~ Your wife
Just a note to let you know that you are RIGHT ON! I was raised the way you are living now and was as a child involved with the humane processing of our food animals. I would not trade that knowledge for the world. At 54 years I am finally moving back into the sustainable lifestyle that I so dearly miss and while I make the transistion and beyond I will be visiting your blog many times. I may even order food products from you. We do need to stick together and support one anothers efforts to live this life in a quality responsible manner. I am going to add your blog addy to my blogs links list... just to spread the word!
God Bless!
;)S
What an informative video. I must admit that I teared up a little at the beginning. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to spend 8 months with those turkeys and then one day they are gone. But thank youguys so much for all that you've done. I know you are worried about presentation for your customers, but we all know what the alternative is and I think you will be surprised how many of us are just so happy to have a turkey that had such a good life.
Meredith, that comment makes us feel so good. Thank you so much, and we can't wait to see you on Saturday!
Susan, good for you getting back to a sustainable lifestyle. Keep us updated!
Wow, Tim! This video was beautifully done and very informative. We'll have to link to it on our website at www.ournaturallife.com. I also want to share it with Jon's daughter, who ordered a local Maryland turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner. Jon and I are very grateful for all the work you and Liz are doing to make your farm proceedings transparent and showing us that local, healthy, sustainable heritage food is possible. Last night I made a dinner out of pastured turkey gizzards. After watching the video, I had a true appreciation of the work that went into each gizzard! We're looking forward to ducks and geese this winter. Let me know if we need to reserve these now.
Cathy
Great Video. Reminds my why I just skin em. :-)
To be honest, I normally avoid PETA stuff, but decided to watch the clip. I was mortified at some of the behavior. Growing up, we raised our own beef cattle. I have raised chickens and plan to raise meat rabbits. I am a hunter. I was taught to treat the animals we eat with respect. The most disturbing part for me was the guy stomping on the turkey's head and walking away.
Thanks for linking to it. Thanks again for your video. I really appreciate your blog.
The video was great! We are processing ours tomorrow. I have to ask, what kind of bags do you use? They looked like a shrink wrap bag, how great! I have not heard anyone mention these before and I have been all over the web checking out different bags. It looked like you poked a hole in it though. Is it to let air escape and then does it seal? It was kinda hard to see that part. I was a little nervous about processing ours because they are for customers but watching your video brought it all back. It was just a few weeks ago that I was up to my elbows in chickens, literally!
Thanks again,
Beth
They are shrink bags. Get them from Cornerstone Poultry in NY (http://www.cornerstone-farm.com/shrink_bags.htm).
Very informative video! It helped to see the whole process. I hate to say we are going to have a grocery store turkey this year, so I won't watch the other video yet. By the time we knew where we were going to be for Thanksgiving it was too late for any other alternative :(.
Your video was great. We are doing the last of our turkeys tomorrow, at our friends. I believe their scalder is an Ashley and the plucker is a PickWick.
PETA's plan sometimes backfires - thinking people seek out farms that humanely raise their livestock instead of going vegetarian.
Thanks for posting it though, I received a nasty comment on my turkey post, and I needed to see the video before replying.
I agree re: PETA. I normally don't like to promote their work, as I don't like the scare tactics they use on people. They are right to stand up for ethical animal treatment. They are irresponsible and wrong to suggest that vegetarianism is the only option, and that animals can't be treated respectfully and even lovingly.
Tim & Liz-
Thank you for posting these videos.
I am sharing them with everyone I know.
A special thanks for all you have done in the past year to raise all of the animals that have blessed our table.
You are truly wonderful.
I found your blog on Susan Catt's site. I want to thank you for doing right by your animals. The PETA video made me nauseous. And not because I am a vegetarian, but because there was no dignity for those poor birds. I became a vegetarian for religious reasons, not ethical ones. It's a way of life for me and my personal choice. I have no problem with others eating meat. I do have much more respect for those who acknowledge it's source. Thanks for making your process transparent. Your birds lead a pretty nice life.
Simrat :)
I just wanted to thank ya'll for such a well done video. I sat down with all my children, ages 1, 3, 5, & 12 to watch it, (after watching it myself first). They asked a lot of questions and I know they came away with a better understanding about their food. Every time I read your blog, I anticipate more and more the day I get to start raising my own meat and eggs. Thanks again.
Daniel,
You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it. Today we processed some ducks...always something here. Good luck on getting going with your own meat/eggs!
Tim and Liz,
Thank you for posting the video. My family and I are trying our luck at raising our own
animals, and videos like this really help us. We just finished some meat chickens this
past weekend and wished I had seen your video with the bags. What a great way to seal
them. It is a lot of work raising your own animals, but it surely gives me a better peace of
mind that the animals were treated properly and the taste is also a lot better than store bought. Again, thanks for the great video. I will surely follow all of the video when processing our turkeys in the fall.
Brian,
You're welcome. Good luck!
Aloha!
You made a really informative video on processing turkeys.
I helped Shane and Christie Fox at Fox Farms (outside of Hilo, Hawaii) process their pasture-raised 80 broilers last Saturday. The technique of processing turkeys and chickens are very similar. Where did you get your labels printed?
I gotta admit, I have equipment envy: love your large capacity chill tank and the HUGE walk-in freezer!
Tim,
Fantastic video. If you have not already, I would suggest posting that to the meat section of the BackyardChickens Forum. That is by far the best how-to I have seen, and I am sure it would answer lots of questions that many first timers have.
We are backyard growers for personal use only and love that we can maintain our flock to our own standards. We are processing our first pair of Bourbon Reds, and a pair of Eastern Wilds this morning. We will try to have chicks this year.
Thanks again.
I guess if it HAS to happen, your way is the best way. I think If more people saw just how animals are factory farmed and processed, there would be a lot more vegatarians and of' course our governemnt can't have that so people are kept in the dark as a rule. Just one thing I don't agree with you on is sugar-coating the death experience with the term "going to sleep". They are not going to sleep, they are dying....I mean, you ARE showing your way of processing which I agree is the lesser of two evils, so just say "dying". I commend you on the raising of these animals though, It's obvious they have A LOT better life than most but I also believe this should be the normal way it's done, as I'm sure you do...again I blame our government for that for not holding higher standards on animal cruelty. In any case, thank you for being honest and informative and for showing that in the way you do it, you are hiding nothing.
God Bless.