Raising Turkeys – 6 Reasons Why You Should Start

Raising Turkeys – 6 Reasons Why You ShouldWhile most that raise turkeys raise them for eating,
Startsome keep turkeys as a pet. This has been known to
Turkeys have been around for a long time. Turkeydestroy their commercial value as Thanksgiving dinner.
history actually starts millions of years ago. Their fossilsAnd some do both, keep some as a pet while eating
have been found in Pleistocene deposits which meansthe others. There are many different breeds of
that they have been around more than twelveturkeys; however there are two varieties, domestic
thousand years and their predecessors go back 50 toand wild. The wild turkey lives and breeds in the wild
60 million years to the Eocene period. Since theand some are kept as pets. It can fly and is said to be
modern domesticated turkey is a descendant of thesmarter than the domestic. The domestic turkeys are
Wild Turkey, it is surmised that ancient Mesoamericansthe type eaten on thanksgiving and they cannot fly.
had chosen to domesticate and raise this speciesThe domestic and wild turkeys are physically different.
rather than the Ocellated Turkey which is found in farAnimal welfare groups such as Farm Sanctuary claim
southern Mexico.that turkeys are bright and social animals that can
Turkeys require most of their care and attention duringmake suitable companion animals. US President
the first couple months. After this time they becomeGeorge W. Bush noted the long tradition of keeping
much easier to care for. Turkeys are friendly andturkeys as pets in his 2001 National Thanksgiving
curious by nature.There are many reasons to raiseTurkey Presentation speech. Bush noted that
turkeys.Abraham Lincoln's son Tad kept a turkey as a White
1) Turkeys as foodHouse pet.
Turkeys are traditionally eaten as the main course of3) Turkeys provide built-in pest control service
large feasts at Christmas in much of the world, as wellTurkeys may have the most varied diet of any animal
as Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada,known. They eat a variety of foods depending on
though this tradition has its origins in modern times,availability, preference, and nutritional needs. All age
rather than colonial as is often supposed. Sliced turkeyclasses eat insects when they are available. In the
is frequently used as a sandwich meat or served assummer turkeys eat large quantities of insects, grass
cold cuts. Ground turkey is sold just as ground beef,seeds, berries, and green leaves. Turkeys eat bugs,
and is frequently marketed as a healthy beefmosquitoes, ticks and flies too.
substitute. Without careful preparation, cooked turkey4) Turkey dung as fuel
is usually considered to end up less moist than otherTurkey droppings are being used as a fuel source in
poultry meats such as chicken or duck.electric power plants. One such plant in western
Wild turkeys, while technically the same species asMinnesota provides 55 megawatts of power using
domesticated turkeys, have a very different taste700,000 tons of dung per year. The plant began
from farm-raised turkeys. Almost all of the meat isoperating in 2007. Three such plants are in operation in
"dark" (even the breast) with a more intense flavor.England.
Turkey is often found as a processed meat. It can be5) Easy hunting
smoked and as such is sometimes sold as turkeyWhy spend hours cold, tired and damp hunting for wild
ham. The white meat of turkey is generally consideredturkeys when you can have your own healthy,
healthier and less fattening than the dark meat, but theorganically raised , easy to catch turkeys
nutritional differences are small.6) Great effective fertilizer
2) Turkeys as petsTurkeys the gift that keeps on giving.