Processing Turkey: Real Life Farm to Table


**WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. BLOOD AND ANIMAL BUTCHERING.**



If you have been following our farm long you know that we had been keeping 5 turkey with the end goal of processing them into meat to feed our family. These turkey had been a fun addition to our homestead- they all had funny personalities and we enjoyed having them around. We had two toms and three hens. They had a pretty fantastic life with a lot of attention (and treats).



Alas, the time came where they got a little TOO big and Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Today we met with a relative, Jesse, who had two Turkey to slaughter. We transported the turkey to his house. 

When we first got there we started boiling a huge tub of water. The first "tub" was much too small and the first (small) turkey didn't fit in it at all. We had to switch out for a larger tub which took very long to heat up. We had to wait for the temperature to be over 140 degrees Fahrenheit! 


First, we did Jesse's turkey. They were smaller and fit into the cones designated for turkey slaughtering.


First, we slit the neck. The ruptures a main artery. The turkey will die very quickly.

  Once it is dead, we hung them up to let them bleed out.


Now with our turkey they were too big to fit in the cone (uh oh!). We had to slaughter them standing up, hold onto them when their muscles spasm (which is a natural response to death), and then hang them by the feet to let them bleed. This was a HUGE workout.




Jesse and I were NOT laughing because we killed the turkey- this one was my favorite guy. I noticed that there was a perfect snowflake that had landed and looked absolutely beautiful contrasting to the crimson blood. Jesse thought it was funny that I was pointing out beautiful snowflakes during such a morbid scene.

Things got a little messy.


Next, you "scald" the turkey. This means swishing them around in that hot tub of water for about 40 seconds. This will make it possible to remove the feathers easily.

After it is scalded you pluck it. Jesse had this handy dandy plucker (designed for chickens). It did the job well but it was definitely hard to hold those heavy turkey for so long! 



Next you remove the innards. We set aside all of the gizzards, livers, hearts, and necks for future use. I was showing Wyatt and Braylee what each of the organs were as I was cleaning it and they were totally fascinated. They were such big helpers!



Go home, rinse off the turkey, and now you're done! 
Fill your freezer, take a nice warm shower, and pat yourself on the back.



Meat Totals: We brought 5 turkey. One we set aside for thanksgiving, the rest we put into the freezer. The DRESSED weight averaged out at 26.56lbs per bird- our largest weighing out at 36.2 lbs and our smallest being 19.8lbs. We ended up with a grand total of 132.8lbs of meat! 



We are so thankful for the turkey that gave their lives to provide food for our family. They had such a lovely life and such a quick death. I will definitely not be looking at store bought turkey the same way ever again! 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DIY Natural Vibrantly Blue Eggs

Image
At Blue Hollow Homestead, we love all things blue. Naturally when we learned of an easy to make all natural blue dye last year, we were all over it! We figured out a method that resulted in vibrantly blue eggs every time.  How to Make Vibrant Blue Eggs 1. Boil 1 qt of water, a whole shredded red cabbage, 2tbs of vinegar, and one 1tbs of salt.  2. Once it reaches a boil, cover and let it simmer for 30 minutes.  3. Strain and keep the liquid for dying.  4. Place hard boiled or blown eggs in the dye. We found that if you use colored eggs you will get a large variety of shades of blue. 3. *IMPORTANT* Let it sit in the dye overnight. If you just dunk it in, you will get a pale color. If it stays overnight it will turn an absolutely beautiful, vibrant blue that lasts a long time. Blue, Brown, Green, Tan, and Speckled Eggs from our Chickens White Duck Eggs
Read more

Processing Chicken: Real Life Farm to Table

Image
**WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. BLOOD AND ANIMAL BUTCHERING.** If you follow our farm, you know that we have been raising 50+ meat birds with the end goal of providing humanely raised, all natural meat. Last year we made a post documenting the process of processing turkey and this year we decided to show how our chickens go from pasture to plate and teach you a little bit about how we do things. First we will briefly explain how we raise them and then I will show and explain how we process them (complete with detailed pictures and a video!) and end with a cost analysis.  This is a great read if: you want to process a bird, you are new to meat birds, you are experienced with meat birds, you want to be aware of where your food comes from, you eat meat, or if you just want to see how chickens go from farm to table in something that ISN'T a factory farm setting. Note: this is just how we do things. There are many methods, and after much trial and error we find this is
Read more