What do you charge per pound for a dressed turkey?

[Arielle]

What do you charge for such a delicious tasting bird? With Thanksgiving just around the corner.

Took the 8 BBW turkeys to be butchered yesterday. A fairly simple ordeal. I was very curious as to the weights as they were very difficult to lift. Hens = 22, 24, 24. Toms = 35 or 36. A very uniform product.

Decided it was best to cook one so we could rave about the tastiness and quality. The bird tasted so good, I'm reluctant to sell them all!

 

[crj]

It depends what suit he is wearing..... LOL! Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

 

[TammyP]

I live in SW Wisconsin and had all I could do to get someone to buy one for $2.50/lb. I know that's considered cheap from what I've read around here but our economy stinks right now and people tend to lean towards the stores 'butterballs' when they can get them on special for .49/lb.

Might I ask how you cooked your bird? I have one in the freezer that I will be cooking on Sunday and have no clue on temp or length of cooking..... This is my first year of turkey raising and I've read that one must cook their homegrown birds differently than the store bought.

Thanks for any info you can share.

~Tammy

 

[Frosty]

Tammy, if it's one of your BBB turkeys I would cook the same as a store bought. If it's a heritage bird I would think about cooking it a bit slower or something since that would be a considerably older bird. Last Christmas I brined my turkey and put it in the smoker but we had to finish in the oven because the wind was cooling the smoker too much. Still it was one tastey bird!

 

[TammyP]

Yes, the one I'll be cooking is a BBB. I let it rest in the fridge for like 4 or 5 days and then froze it. I came across those little plastic pop up temp probey things like the ones in the butterballs so I'm thinking of sticking that into it. They had them at the grocery store for 99 cent a 2/pk.

I also have 3 more BBB's that I will be butchering on the 20th and I will be culling 4 of my bourbon red toms at the same time... I've got Bourbon Reds I'm trying to raise -6 toms and 5 hens.... The toms seem to fight all the time so I figure 2 toms and 5 hens might get me some more turkeybirds next spring without being too much-the rest must go. Sometimes I think my hens are more mean than the toms.....the hens pick on my chickens all the time, not to mention the cat.

My Bourbon reds aren't nearly as big as the BBB's.... I brought home 3 BBB's on June 15th and they'll be 22 weeks.... probably about 16-18 pounds dressed I'd guess and the bourbons are only 26 weeks...got them on May 18th. Like I said, the BBB's are probably twice their size so the bourbons won't be as meaty. I look at it as a very very large chicken size...lol

I'll throw those in the freezer until I figure out how to cook them properly.

Eventually I would like to grind the turkey meat .....wonder if there is any thread around here on that.... hmmm.

~Tammy

 

[Frosty]

Your BR's are still young enough that you won't have to do anything special with them. It's the ones that are a year or more old that could be a bit tough. Even then, a good brine really helps. Be careful with those pop up things, they aren't really accurate. They won't replace a thermometer.

 

[Lagerdogger]

Back to the original question...I sell heritage birds for $4.50/lb and BB turkeys for $3.50/lb. When I sell them, I stress that they are locally grown, truly free-ranged, and that they are expensive. I tell people that these turkeys are not for everyone, and if they are most interested in buying a cheap turkey, that I don't grow their product. In fact, I try to talk people out of buying from me because I don't want someone to show up at the farm and be surprised that their turkey costs $70.

I have always sold out for Thanksgiving, and most of my customers are repeats. I have some that won't be ready until Christmas this year, and I am having a hard time moving them. Oh well, more for me....

It costs me about $3/lb to feed tham and cover purchase of new birds and winter feeding of breeding birds. I also have about $150/year in overhead, plus some trasportation costs for the feed, plus I ask for $1/lb profit. So this year it actaully cost me about $5/lb to raise them. The incresase in feed costs was about 40% this year, and that dug into the profit.