Raising meat turkeys is an adventure on many levels. I’ve had the pleasure of growing a turkey for Thanksgiving for years, starting back in high school. It’s one thing to raise turkeys for dinner, but when you’re trying to turn a dollar, things do get complicated. Let me share some of my experiences with raising meat turkeys so that you can start off on the right foot.
Buying a frozen turkey at the supermarket is a very simple, and very cheap avenue, to a turkey dinner. That being said, like most things in life, you get what you pay for. Just like store-bought eggs can’t compare to your eggs fresh from the coop, supermarket turkeys aren’t the same as fresh-off-the-farm birds. If you want the most tender, most flavorful, and absolute freshest bird for your festivities or dinner, then a bird raised at home is your best bet.
I spent my high school years in a regional agricultural school, and as such, I was a member of the FFA. All members of FFA need what’s called an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project. Some kids did gardening, some had horses, but I raised birds.
As a freshman in high school, I already had experience raising show poultry. I was breeding fancy show chickens and having a grand time, but there was no profit to be found. AgEd stressed the importance of running your project like a business, and my business was buried in the red. I needed a product to sell and somehow turkeys caught my attention.
Like any business, it’s important to watch how much you spend and how much you make. As long as your expenditure is lower than your gross income, things are cheery, as it was when I started in turkeys. However, things changed.
In the early 2000s, feed prices started to climb, and consequently, so did my costs. By the time I graduated college, my farm expenses were exceeding my farm income, which was an issue. Despite that, I did continue the tradition for a bit longer than I should have.
Sometimes you need to take a step back from things and give yourself time to reconsider. Now that I’ve had some time away from raising meat turkeys, I can identify my shortcomings. When I started, my inexperience was offset by low feed prices. The fault in the business’ foundation opened wide when those feed prices climbed.
I was a big fan of big birds. Unfortunately, my success in growing a big, broad-breasted turkey would be my undoing. My customers wanted a larger bird than your standard supermarket bird, but not as big as I was growing. Once I started producing 50-pound turkeys (dressed weight), I should have realized it was time to back off, but I didn’t.
Raising turkeys can be a fun and rewarding experience. Many people choose to raise their own turkeys for the holidays to get fresh, high-quality meat. However, before jumping in, it’s important to understand the costs involved with raising turkeys. In this article, we’ll break down the major expenses so you know what to expect when raising your own turkeys.
Purchasing Poults
The first step is purchasing poults (baby turkeys). Here are some key things to know:
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Most hatcheries require a minimum order of 15-25 poults Turkeys do better in a flock
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Each poult can cost $5-10 depending on breed. Heritage breeds are more expensive at $10+ per poult.
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Factor in shipping costs of $20-50 depending on your location
For example, 25 Bronze Broad Breasted poults at $5 each plus $30 shipping would cost $155 upfront.
Feed Costs
Feed is the biggest ongoing cost. Here’s an estimate per turkey from poult to processing:
- Weeks 1-8: 15 lbs starter feed ($10)
- Weeks 8-14: 25 lbs grower feed ($15)
- Weeks 14-processing: 25 lbs finisher feed ($15)
That’s about 65 pounds of feed total per turkey, costing around $30. For a flock of 10 turkeys, total feed costs would be approximately $300.
Housing and Equipment
Turkeys need:
- Brooder for poults with heat lamp, bedding, feeders, etc.
- Larger roosting spaces since they’re much bigger than chickens (6 sq ft per turkey).
- Fencing at least 4 feet high because turkeys can fly.
Budget $200-500 for basic turkey housing and equipment. These are one-time startup costs.
Other Costs
Other expenses include:
- Bedding like wood shavings or straw, around 5 bags per season at $5-10 per bag.
- Health care supplies like vitamins and electrolytes, about $50-100 for a first aid kit.
- Butchering equipment if processing yourself like cones and a plucker, approximately $300.
- Miscellaneous costs like utilities and taxes, about $50-100 annually for a small flock.
Total Costs
The total cost to raise 10 turkeys works out to around $1,450, or $145 per turkey:
- Poults: $150
- Feed: $300
- Housing and equipment: $500
- Bedding and health care: $100
- Butchering: $300
- Misc costs: $100
Of course your costs may vary based on specific factors like feed prices and housing needs. Heritage breeds may cost a bit more to raise as well.
Is It Worth It?
At retail prices of $1-2 per pound for a whole turkey, raising your own costs $145-290 each. So financially, it often makes more sense to just buy a turkey.
However, by raising your own birds you get:
- Control over how they are raised, processed, and fed.
- Satisfaction of providing your family’s holiday turkey.
- Access to heritage breeds not found in stores.
- Farm fresh flavor and quality.
For many small-scale turkey farmers, those benefits outweigh the higher costs. With proper planning and budgeting, raising a small backyard turkey flock can be a very rewarding experience!
The key is setting realistic expectations on costs and being prepared for the time and work involved. But for many people, having their own naturally-raised turkeys is well worth it.
Feed and Water Equipment
Turkeys can eat just fine out of a chicken feeder, but regular chicken water nipples are a no-no. Turkeys require a much higher flow rate for nipple valves to work for them since they’re such a big bird. Turkeys drink a lot of water, much more than you would expect. Manually filling water dispensers will become the bane of your existence, so I highly suggest an automatic water system.
Automatic bell waterers are a simple solution to the issue, but there are high-flow turkey nipple valves on the market. If you decide to try using turkey nipples, be prepared to buy a commercial style watering system. It’s a good investment if you want to be serious about raising meat turkeys, but the cost may scare off some people.
There are a few interesting breeds out there available to you, such as the Royal Palm turkey and the Midget White. If you’re raising turkeys with chickens for fun, then by all means, try some cool heritage breeds!
If you’re looking for the best bang for your buck, you can’t go wrong with either a Bronze or White Broad Breasted turkey. These giant birds are king (and queen) of feed conversion, which is how much feed they eat, versus how much meat they produce. These birds grow fast, are available at most commercial hatcheries and are usually inexpensive compared to rarer breeds because of sales volume.
Point of Diminishing Returns
If you’re raising meat turkeys correctly, your toms should be yielding a dressed weight of about 30 pounds at 4.5 months old. I was growing my birds closer to 6 months old before processing, which was a waste of feed. Most of my customers wanted a much smaller bird, preferably one that would fit in their oven. As such, I had a hard time selling my extra-large birds. Those large birds that didn’t sell constituted significant financial losses for me.
When I started growing turkeys, I began on bagged feed. As prices went up, I found my local feed mill and started buying in bulk. If you have a feed mill at your disposal, use it! Buying bulk feed represented a big cost saving over bagged feed.
As I experimented with raising meat turkeys, I also tried different feeds available through the mill. I found a product that was super high in protein, which made my birds grow fast and big. However, that massive bird was my undoing.
Be sure you’re using the right feed, and if you don’t know which is best, ask. Even though I found a high-performance feed that gave results, those results were more expensive than they needed to be. Had I used the correct feed, I would have seen good, controlled growth in my birds. My feed costs would have been lower and my dressed weights would have been easier to sell.
Raising Turkeys the Right Way | Why it’s Worth the Cost
FAQ
Are turkeys expensive to raise?
It takes about 65 pounds of feed to grow out a turkey. My feed costs are about $30 per turkey. I choose to feed my turkeys the highest quality non-GMO feed.
How long does it take to raise a turkey for slaughter?
It takes about 16 to 22 weeks for turkeys to grow into the appropriate market weight, which is why we only have baby turkeys for sale during a very narrow …
How much does a live full grown turkey cost?
For a 20 pound bird, you can expect to pay around $48. Why then are pasture raised birds so much more expensive at $5 to even $7 per pound? That puts the average price for ONE bird at $100, minimum. Some people will stop right there and not pass go.
How much does a farmer get for a turkey?
ST. PAUL – The farmer’s share of the cost of the turkey that is the centerpiece of many Thanksgiving feasts is 6 cents per pound, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.