It's time to talk turkey.
I don't know how many of you folks have worked with or around turkeys, but those of you who have, can imagine what a crime it is to lock them inside the trappings of a confinement poultry operation. Turkeys are wonderfully sociable and curious creatures. Much more so than broilers. They are animated, vocal, and will not fail to peck at your shoelaces or the rivets on your back pocket.
Conventional
The confinement turkey farms have absolutely no respect for the personality and expression of turkeys. Their only goal is to create as many pounds of flesh as possible for the smallest dollar. The cleverness of the industry is impressive, even if they only use it to solve the problems they've created with their greed. For example, turkeys have a very structured social order. Because of this, it's very important to provide enough roosting space with varying elevations for the different social classes to maintain minimum aggression.
It's also important that the turkeys have enough room to maintain their personal space. Because the industry wants to pack their barns to maximum density and wouldn't even consider building roosts, they just cauterize the tips of the babies' beaks. So, as the turkeys grow, they can't do as much damage when the density stress makes them cannibalize each other. You'd get aggressive too, if your bubble was invaded for your whole life.
Industrial turkeys don't even dream about natural light, clean air, or fresh greens. Pesticide and antibiotic-laden GMO grains are their unfair fare. Essentially, they're raised in a concentration camp, except they're overfed instead of undernourished, which is never good either.
Certified Organic
The Certified Organic turkey by biological necessity has much better standards. Without the crutch of antibiotics, organic growers must make sure the birds have much better air quality and more sanitary bedding. De-beaking is still a permissible practice although it's seldom used in small scale flocks.
By law, the organic turkey must have access to an outdoor yard, but it doesn't have to have any greenery or roosting space. I'm sure if you've read a couple of these articles, you're picking up on the pattern. Organic certification mandates organic certified feed, and no pharmaceuticals, but it doesn't require any respect for the turkey's natural design.
Organic certification is a standard that forbids poisoning or outright abusing the animals but, doesn't mandate integrity or proper stewardship.
And that is the main thrust of our establishing a much needed standard.
Harvest Haven Certified
Harvest Haven Certified is about the maximum. Turkeys are exceptional foragers. Much more so than chickens. They're able to supplement their grain-based diet with up to 30% salad and 5% bugs if you give them access to pasture. This isn't just an economic incentive. This is the Nature of the Turkey.
Over the years we've allowed our turkeys to range in a huge open yard filled with greens and when they exhausted the yard by the end of summer, we brought them tractor loads of fresh leafy plants. Last year, we created a mobile roosting barn, so we could move them to fresh pastures daily, which means we didn't have to harvest the forage for them.
Turkeys love to range, forage, and roost. They love to use their highly coordinated pointy hooked beaks to hunt for dandelions and grasshoppers. They love to socialize with each other and people. They come when we call and stand by the fence gobbling at us.
Our goal is not maximum pounds of flesh or maximum profits. Our goal is maximum health and maximum happiness. We're confident that if we remain committed to the Harvest Haven standard, that there will always be enough appreciative customers to keep our labors profitable.
I'm sure you've heard it said that a people can't be healthier than the soil their food is growing in. But I would like to extend the adage. I believe that, ultimately, a person's quality of life will never exceed the quality of living they afford to the animals they eat. Think about it.
