Turkey Burger?

[betkat123]

This is my first year raising turkeys for meat and I'd like to know if anyone can tell me approx. how much turkey burger you can get out of one turkey?

We don't eat beef, so turkey burger is a staple at our house, and I'd like to be able to try to judge how many turkeys we would need to raise to get us through one year.

 

[wingsofglory]

I'd like to know also.

 

[Firemenlovechicks]

I'm no expert, and I will be getting my first turkeys at the end of March, but I will say that it depends on the breed of turkey and if you plan to save the breasts or include them in the burger.......

I would guess that a healthy bird will dress out at approximately 70% of it's live weight. So a 30 pound live bird would dress out at 21 pounds. Figure about 25% of THAT weight is gonna be bone, skin, etc...... I would guess that the thirty pound bird would yield about 15-16 pounds of hamburger.....

Now, the size of the bird depends alot on the breed....... what kind of turkeys are you getting?


Jeff

 

[Randy]

I don't know but

 

[betkat123]

Thanks so much! The only turkey's my local feed store offer are "white" and "bronze" turkeys... I'm a complete novice at turkeys so I have no idea what breed they would be!

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

The feed store most likely has Broad Breasted (BB) Bronze and Broad Breasted (BB) White. Think cornishX. I would agree that you would average about 20# per bird. Maybe more with the BB birds.

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[Cindiloohoo]

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I agree.

I also would like to add you should keep track of how much money goes into feeding them as they grow out to slaughter age....and report back to me as soon as you know

I would think that would be a great deal cheaper than store hamburger or turkey meat for sure especially if you plant them some treats in the garden to supplement bought feedstuffs

 

[betkat123]

Thank you guys for all your help! This will be an experience that's for sure... We'll see if it's a cost savings in the long run to raise them ourselves or buy from the supermarket; but they will certainly be treated much better in our homestead than at commercial turkey farms.

I'll keep track of feed costs, and how much burger we end up getting out of them and report back. We plan on getting 6 and having them all processed into burger (including the breasts) with the exception of one for Thanksgiving.

On a side note, has anyone ever tried to raise turkeys and chickens in the same coop? We are raising chickens for meat also this year and want to get them at the same time as the turkeys and just have them share the coop.

 

[ShadyHoller]

All of the advice already given matches with my limited experience: about half of the live weight is meat. I think BBW have a higher proportion of meat/other stuff. Our 8-9 month-old BRs yielded slightly less than half of live weight.

And, also repeating what other people have said: if you grind all the meat, including the breasts, you would get approx 15 lbs. of burger from a 30 lb. turkey.

My preference is to integrate some of the fat (from around the gizzard or up in front of the breast) into the ground meat. That makes it "self-basting" and less prone to drying out. I also like to grind the heart and liver into the meat, to give it a little more flavor. The only problem with doing that is it means no liver pate and no marinated heart shishkabobs.

Re: chickens and turkeys together: it's suggested that you don't let them mingle, because of the risk of blackhead. Having said that, a lot of people do just fine by keeping them together. If you called a local vet or your county extension service, they might be able to tell you how common blackhead is in your area, and that would help you decide if it's risky in your neighborhood. Blackhead is rare in my neck of the woods; therefore, lots of people keep mixed flocks.

 

[betkat123]

Oh, thank you ShadyHoller! I didn't realize the risks of running them together... I think I'll err on the side of caution on this one and raise the turkeys after I've raised the chickens. Especially since the chickens only take about 8 weeks...

Does anyone know how many weeks it typically takes a BBW to get to the 30lb range?