age at slaughter

[kywest]

Is "old turkey" (over a year old) like "old chicken" - long slow cooking necessary? Could I start poults now for thanksgiving '11?
Sorry for so many questions. I'm an unabashed omnivore, but I really like the idea of saving as many animals as possible from factory farms. And I love turkey!

 

[OmaBird]

My experience with older turkeys is they get better with age. I think they are alot more juicy and tendar when they are over a year and even 18 months is even better. It is almost like good marbled beef. It takes time to get the fat to develop throught the meat. It is not cost effecent to keep them that long, but if you allready have them that age, they are great.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
Omnivore myself here. At over a year they aren't going to be as tender as an 8 month old bird but if you are used to home raised food it's not a problem. We eat alot of turkey here, about once a week. We started cutting the birds up when we process them so you aren't eating turkey for days on end. I'm here to tell ya the breast fillets are great on a smoker grill.

Steve