We butchered our very mean, 22month old blue slate turkey tom for thanksgiving. When we butchered him, he had an astounding amount of white fat both in his cavity and a big heap of it up on top of the breast. He dressed at 18lbs, and at carving time we were dismayed to find that he had even less meat that we had hoped for, more and more fat ribboned in between and atop of meat. what meat we did get from him was good, but it was sparse.
My turkeys are in a long "flight" style pen, I cannot free range due to predators. I fed Purina flock raiser for most of their lives free-choice, only cutting back to layer during the summer (when they were laying) and back up to flock raiser when they molted last month. Never had a problem with this much fat before. Been raising different kinds of turkeys for 3 yrs. I didn't do any fresh fodder this year. Could fodder make that much of a difference? Bad genetics? Just bad luck? This guy didn't produce a lot of healthy offspring either, for what it's worth. Lots and lots of late term quitters during incubation. My husband wants me to put them on a 2x day feeding regime but I know from experience that has drawbacks too, such as fighting. If you have feed suggestions I'd love to hear them.
I could use opinions on how to proceed with the rest of the flock knowing this now. I have two 22 month old hens and some of their offspring from breeding this year. The offspring are 1 female and 2 males - somewhere around 9mos I'd guess. Cull now? Alter their diet and then cull? I don't plan to keep them for breeding (the aforementioned issues). Any and all advice welcomed.
My turkeys are in a long "flight" style pen, I cannot free range due to predators. I fed Purina flock raiser for most of their lives free-choice, only cutting back to layer during the summer (when they were laying) and back up to flock raiser when they molted last month. Never had a problem with this much fat before. Been raising different kinds of turkeys for 3 yrs. I didn't do any fresh fodder this year. Could fodder make that much of a difference? Bad genetics? Just bad luck? This guy didn't produce a lot of healthy offspring either, for what it's worth. Lots and lots of late term quitters during incubation. My husband wants me to put them on a 2x day feeding regime but I know from experience that has drawbacks too, such as fighting. If you have feed suggestions I'd love to hear them.
I could use opinions on how to proceed with the rest of the flock knowing this now. I have two 22 month old hens and some of their offspring from breeding this year. The offspring are 1 female and 2 males - somewhere around 9mos I'd guess. Cull now? Alter their diet and then cull? I don't plan to keep them for breeding (the aforementioned issues). Any and all advice welcomed.
