Nope! A few years ago I did a turkey "taste-off" between a Royal Palm and a Red Bourbon turkey. Both were approximate same age, raised on the same food and harvested the same day. In fact - they were brined and cooked in the same manner. Yep - they both tasted like turkey! (I know, a bit anticlimactic) This year, we're going to raise Black Turkeys for Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners - and if we raise two, we mind as well raise a baker's dozen.
There are several turkey breeds on the albc-usa's website that we considered but after a bit of research, we decided on the Spanish Black (or just Black Turkey) because they have the potential to reproduce naturally. If we keep a tom and a few hens over winter, we'd like to see if they breed in the following spring. [it's amazing to realize that so many animals - even the heritage breeds - have the breeding and parenting instinct bred OUT of them. Science is by far more efficient, reliable and controllable than nature. So, science provides a more reliable financial model for farmers at the expense of a few instincts.(I'm not taking sides b/c it's a continual rebalancing)]
Okay - back to my initial question - too early to start planning for holiday dinners? We have started! We placed our order for black turkey poults (baby turkeys) to be delivered in late June - so that they will be ready for Thanksgiving & holiday dinners. We'll post availability and pricing on the calendar - but we plan on harvesting in two batches - right before Thanksgiving and right before Christmas. We're not that organized yet to take reservations, but if you're interested, send us an email.
There are several turkey breeds on the albc-usa's website that we considered but after a bit of research, we decided on the Spanish Black (or just Black Turkey) because they have the potential to reproduce naturally. If we keep a tom and a few hens over winter, we'd like to see if they breed in the following spring. [it's amazing to realize that so many animals - even the heritage breeds - have the breeding and parenting instinct bred OUT of them. Science is by far more efficient, reliable and controllable than nature. So, science provides a more reliable financial model for farmers at the expense of a few instincts.(I'm not taking sides b/c it's a continual rebalancing)]
Okay - back to my initial question - too early to start planning for holiday dinners? We have started! We placed our order for black turkey poults (baby turkeys) to be delivered in late June - so that they will be ready for Thanksgiving & holiday dinners. We'll post availability and pricing on the calendar - but we plan on harvesting in two batches - right before Thanksgiving and right before Christmas. We're not that organized yet to take reservations, but if you're interested, send us an email.