Turkey Standards

[HallFamilyFarm]

All turkeys share a Standard for shape/type. It is the size and color that varies. There are only eight varieties currently recognised in the Standard of Perfection (SOP). Just one reason of many we started the Exhibition Turkey Fanciers. The Auburn, Chocolate and Jersey Buff should had been entered years ago. The Jersey Buff by 1960 or so and the Auburn and Chocolate should have been in the 1874 SOP.

The Standard of the Jersey Buff would be the same as the Bourbon Red, just substitute the Buff in place for the Red. The other colors will need someone better than I to draw up a color standard. But it can be done. And should be done! Issue is, to be a new color in the SOP, they must breed true 50% of the time. Will some of these fancy colors breed true? If not, they may be pretty, but not a variety per the SOP.

Just getting Turkeys to a show is difficult. We were unable to attend yesterday's Pine Bluff, Arkansas show. Turkeys were invited but non showed up. Next month's Eldorado Arkansas show does not accept Turkeys. The May 7 Little Rock show does, but will have few.

Would anyone be interested in developing a Standard for some of the more popular color varieties? If so, please either post that color standard here, or email to me.

Jim Hall
Secretary
Exhibition Turkey Fanciers

ETF: The only breed club for Turkeys!

From http://exhibitionturkeyfanciers.bravehost.com

The American Poultry Association currently recognizes the following varieties of Turkeys:

Black

Bourbon Red

Slate

Narragansett

White Holland

Bronze

Beltsville White

Royal Palm

Other varieties may be shown in exhibition, but can only win AOV: "All Other Variety" if a quality standard recognized variety is present.​

 

[Jake Levi]

Hi Jim

while it is a Bronze color I think that the Wishard should be another variety.

It is a different size, and habits of the Standard Bronze, only the color is the same.

I also think that the Merriams should be a different variety .

Both breed true to their breeds.

Getting turkeys to shows is difficult.

 

[Thomasturkey]

The Wishard bronze is nothing more than a strains (or bloodlines) of the standard bronze turkey. The standard for them is the same. This is what the ALBC says.....

Influential Breeders

Great breeders produce quality birds that are highly desirable. These breeders leave their mark when their strains are valued and maintained by future breeders. Some of these strains continue but others are now extinct. Protecting strains from extinction is not about nostalgia. Rather, protecting the strains ensures the greatest genetic diversity within the population, and therefore the greatest health of the breed. The strains (or bloodlines) are the bedrock on which long-term survival of standard turkeys depends. Knowing, understanding, valuing, and protecting the strains in your flock will help assure their survival and that of standard turkeys.

Below is a list of some of the great turkey breeders. The strain’s name is synonymous with the breeder’s name. The names in parentheses are breeders and/or strains in which the original strains still exists today.

Bronze

1. Bird Brothers, Shelton, PA. Famous for the Goldbanks Bronze,
2. (Norm Kardosh – deceased, Frank Reese)
3. Turkey Ranch Bronze (extinct)
4. Mrs. Martha B. Walker Bronze (Rolla Henry – deceased, Frank Reese)
5. Wagon Wheel Ranch H. P. (extinct)
6. Griffin B B Bronze (extinct)
7. Reiman Turkey Farms Bronze (extinct)
8. Elvin Risbrudt Bronze (introduced into Norm Kardosh flock in 1960s), (Norm Kardosh – deceased, Frank Reese)
9. Rolla Henry Bronze (Norm Karosh – deceased, Frank Reese)

 

[Jake Levi]

I have to disagree, and, your comments appear to differ from your demonstration, as MR Wishard is deceased, yet the variety lives on. A number of breeders in Canada and the US, plus at least one hatchery , Sand Hill Preservation, producing them.

Further, while the Bronze is the origin of the Wishard. or rather, one of anyhow, the Wishard differs in shape and size. I know, I have raised both.

The Wishard is trimmer, has a higher percentage of dark meat, and weighs less then a heritage bronze. The Wishard is believed to have introduction of Wild Eastern Turkeys but that isnot known as a fact by anyone that I know who has them or has had them. I think that they have, I have raised some of them also.

I have never seen a standard for the Wishard, have you? They certainly differ from the official Bronze Standard.

I am curious as Mr Wishard never wrote one. So who would have written it?

The Wishard was developed to be a free ranging, free breeding hardy Turkey for small farms and homesteaders.

Heritage Bronze weigh 25 to 34 lbs for Toms, and 20-24lbs for hens,

Wishard Toms weigh 24-30lbs for Toms and 18-20lbs for hens. They are very good flyers, and roost in trees or barns around the farmstead. They are vigorous free rangers. Much more so then the Heritage Bronze.

The ALBC did have an article on the Wishard in their Newsletter back in the 80s but I am not aware of any on the Wishard since then.

They are no more a variety of the Bronze Turkey then the Midget White is a variety of the Holland White.

 

[Thomasturkey]

When you read the standard of perfection for bronze turkeys, what do you have a problem with? http://books.google.com/books?id=ho4aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA251&lpg=PA251&dq=standard+of+perfection+bronze&source=bl&ots=EWqjYkWnw7&sig=t2FGczYtFT6gGZ7opsdwqoqYw4I&hl=en&ei=4_iITYi2IYa6sAPY_PGNDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false


Are you mixing up your terms when you are referring to a bronze turkey? Heritage bronze turkeys, unimproved bronze and standard bronze are the same? The Wishard Bronze turkey is a heritage turkey, standard bronze, unimproved bronze turkey.

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy's
Definition of a Heritage Turkey
All domesticated turkeys descend from wild turkeys indigenous to North and South America. They are the quintessential American poultry. For centuries people have raised turkeys for food and for the joy of having them.

Many different varieties have been developed to fit different purposes. Turkeys were selected for productivity and for specific color patterns to show off the bird’s beauty. The American Poultry Association (APA) lists eight varieties of turkeys in its Standard of Perfection. Most were accepted into the Standard in the last half of the 19th century, with a few more recent additions. They are Black, Bronze, Narragansett, White Holland, Slate, Bourbon Red, Beltsville Small White, and Royal Palm. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy also recognizes other naturally mating color varieties that have not been accepted into the APA Standard, such as the Jersey Buff, White Midget, and others. All of these varieties are Heritage Turkeys.

Heritage turkeys are defined by the historic, range-based production system in which they are raised. Turkeys must meet all of the following criteria to qualify as a Heritage turkey:

1. Naturally mating: the Heritage Turkey must be reproduced and genetically maintained through natural mating, with expected fertility rates of 70-80%. This means that turkeys marketed as “heritage” must be the result of naturally mating pairs of both grandparent and parent stock.

2. Long productive outdoor lifespan: the Heritage Turkey must have a long productive lifespan. Breeding hens are commonly productive for 5-7 years and breeding toms for 3-5 years. The Heritage Turkey must also have a genetic ability to withstand the environmental rigors of outdoor production systems.

3. Slow growth rate: the Heritage Turkey must have a slow to moderate rate of growth. Today’s heritage turkeys reach a marketable weight in about 28 weeks, giving the birds time to develop a strong skeletal structure and healthy organs prior to building muscle mass. This growth rate is identical to that of the commercial varieties of the first half of the 20th century.

Beginning in the mid-1920s and extending into the 1950s turkeys were selected for larger size and greater breast width, which resulted in the development of the Broad Breasted Bronze. In the 1950s, poultry processors began to seek broad breasted turkeys with less visible pinfeathers, as the dark pinfeathers, which remained in the dressed bird, were considered unattractive. By the 1960s the Large or Broad Breasted White had been developed, and soon surpassed the Broad Breasted Bronze in the marketplace.

Today’s commercial turkey is selected to efficiently produce meat at the lowest possible cost. It is an excellent converter of feed to breast meat, but the result of this improvement is a loss of the bird’s ability to successfully mate and produce fertile eggs without intervention. Both the Broad Breasted White and the Broad Breasted Bronze turkey require artificial insemination to produce fertile eggs.

Interestingly, the turkey known as the Broad Breasted Bronze in the early 1930s through the late 1950s is nearly identical to today’s Heritage Bronze turkey – both being naturally mating, productive, long-lived, and requiring 26-28 weeks to reach market weight. This early Broad Breasted Bronze is very different from the modern turkey of the same name. The Broad Breasted turkey of today has traits that fit modern, genetically controlled, intensively managed, efficiency-driven farming. While superb at their job, modern Broad Breasted Bronze and Broad Breasted White turkeys are not Heritage Turkeys. Only naturally mating turkeys meeting all of the above criteria are Heritage Turkeys.

You might also want to read a little history. http://www.goodshepherdpoultryranch.com/historybronzeturkey.html

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Per the Standard of Perfection, ALL Turkeys are of the same shape and type. Color and weight varies. There is only one breed standard for Turkeys. Each color variety may vary some from the color and the weight. The Wishard is a strain, not a variety. Thus it has a standard: the Bronze. Not to disagree with anyone, but if there are certain differences, then a new Standard should be written. However, as rare as the Wishard strain is, it is doubtful if the Wishard will ever be entered as a separate variety.

We need someone to write a Standard for the Jersey Buff, Chocolate and Auburn. These are the most popular of the oldest varieties.

 

[chickendales]

Quote:

it seem like all i show now days is aov
choclate slates here i come

 

[Randy]

Where do these fit in? Looks like a different breed of turkey to me.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
I would say a roasting pan. Would not want to breed from one with so many "bumps".

 

[mbnewby]

dose that turkey have herpeis?