Special Meals: Buying a Free-Range Turkey for the Holiday Dinner

While Christmas plans are running around your mind, the Christmas turkey is also running around - the pasture. Here on the family farm, Chris Brown has been raising turkeys for 12 weeks now. We all know you can buy your turkey at the grocery store, deli, or even right off the farm. But, soemtimes we need to be reminded that before every turkey basted in our oven, it must first be grown.

Deciding to free-range his flock was a difficult choice for Chris Brown. He had to consider housing, space, fencing, and of course quality. A free-range turkey, when put on your dinner table, will be different than a regular, containment raised bird. How different? Well, according to Brown the difference can be startling.

One major difference is the fat content. Brown's free-range turkeys are leaner than those he has raised in containment. Both flocks eat grain, but the free-range flock also eats pasture. This might be surprizing to you, but yes, turkeys eat grass. If you are the cook in the family, you already know where this is going. A leaner bird means less pan drippings for the delicious, yearned for home-made gravy.

Other customers have told Brown that the lean meat has a stronger flavor; more gamey and well - turkey like. Here is where your personal preference plays out. If you like a stronger flavor and appreciate a more authentic taste, then you would enjoy a free-range turkey. If you, however, are a traditionalist who likes the consistency of containment reared turkey, then Brown would steer you away from the pasture raised flock.

With all the attention cast on the people enjoying a Christmas feast, what about the turkeys? Well, Brown has one word to say on behalf of the turkey - natural. If you were a bird, specifically a turkey, would you prefer scratching and pecking around your own piece of earth? Or, would you want to be confined in a barn, coop, or concrete bunker, where you might be tempted to get picky with your neighbor. Even for those of us who aren't turkeys, it's an easy question to answer.

Finally, technology has played a big part in the way poultry (and other livestock) are raised. Even on the thousands of small, family farms peppered across America, technology can help. On the Brown farm, the turkeys are protected by 5,000 volts of electric netting. This netting protects the birds from predators and keeps the flock together. The netting is easy to move and can be re-routed to follow the covered wagon, which serves as a shelter for the turkeys. Convenience is important because the birds must be moved regularly to keep ahead of parasites and other pests.

Whether or not you want to admit it, planning your special meal connects you to the farmer and the turkey. It is nice staying connected to your food source and learning how your meat is raised. Almost as pleasant (and interesting) as learning how to best prepare it.