Tampa man produces turkeys for niche market
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Danny Williamson is one of those people who was in the right place at the right time. He is making it big on producing and selling heritage turkeys.
Right on time for the Thanksgiving holiday, Williamson shipped thousands of the gobblers Thursday from his turkey operation near Tampa.
They will be processed for Heritage Foods USA and sold fresh as heritage turkeys, meaning they were raised free range and on natural feed.
These turkeys command a high price and fill a niche market. They aren't the common, commercially-raised, run-of-the-mill product found in most modern supermarkets.
Williamson raises varieties known as Blacks and Bourbon Reds. Along with six other varieties, they meet the "standard of excellence" set by the American Poultry Association in the 1870s.
Blacks are descended from a Mexican strain which was taken to Spain, then to England, and brought to America as seedstock for the colonists.
Williamson started his own flock 11 years ago with 10 Blacks, producing them for show. At that time, there weren't many in existence and they weren't in demand as poultry meat.
"I couldn't give the extra birds away," he said.
But about five years ago, a market for heritage turkeys began to develop, and Williamson began to produce them for that specialty market.
"People became more and more aware of what they were eating and they wanted to know how they're grown and fed," he said.
Since then, the demand has grown by leaps and bounds. Now, he has a flock of 1,300 Blacks. Those he shipped to market were contracted two months ago at $4.99 a pound. At market weight, hens average 13 pounds and toms average 18-19 pounds.
Three years ago, Williamson began producing Bourbon Reds. He claims to have the largest flock of Reds in the U.S., approximately 1,100 of them. However, he plans to phase out of them in the next year or two and concentrate on production of Blacks.
The production process
The process begins every year in late March, when Williamson starts to collect eggs from his laying hens. They are washed and stored for one week before being placed into incubators for 28 days.
Three incubators hold a total of 1,200 eggs. The eggs are turned automatically every four hours.
At the end of the 28 days, the eggs are placed into a hatcher for hatching. Approximately half the eggs are not fertile and are thrown out.
The newly-hatched chicks are kept in the hatcher for 48 hours to dry, then transferred to brooder rooms to begin eating and drinking in a 28-week long journey to marketable size. When they reach puberty, they are turned out onto the open range.
The production process is repeated three times a season and is labor-intensive.
Williamson's turkeys aren't classified "organic," but they range free in large paddocks to graze on grass, bugs, worms, and grubs, and to breed naturally. They are fed 100 percent vegetarian feed containing no antibiotics.
The biggest threat of disease comes from predators, so Williamson has a series of traps or cages set around the boundaries to keep them out.
Each year, some young hens are kept as breeding stock for the next season. The best producers are kept for three years or more. This fall, Williamson kept back 600 hens. He has about 60 breeding toms.
He said the main differences between heritage turkeys and those raised commercially are: 1) they breed on their own as compared to artificial insemination; 2) they have a longer life span; and 3) it takes 28 weeks to grow them to market weight compared to 12 weeks for commercial turkeys.
The common broad-breasted white turkeys of today were developed over the past 50 years. The breed now is a bird that cannot run, fly, or mate. They are artificially inseminated, fed pelleted feed, and harvested young. The process produces a bird which is dry and is injected with water to give it more moisture.
When Williamson submitted several of his processed turkeys to a taste test back East, he said his birds beat the commercial and wild turkeys.
Williamson and several other growers produce heritage turkeys with Frank Reese, a poultry breeder at Lindsborg. Known as the godfather of American poultry, Reese is pictured on the front cover and featured in the November 2006 issue of Kansas Country Living.
Williamson's interest in raising turkeys was sparked when he went to work for Reese, CEO of Good Shepherd Ranch. Reese encouraged Williamson to get into turkey production.
A friend, David Mueller of Tampa, offered to lease him some land on which to locate. The 40-acre parcel now includes an attractive log home in addition to turkey facilities. He calls it Windmill Ranch.
Williamson has been showing turkeys for years and has earned numerous grand champion and reserve champion ribbons.
He is licensed as a judge with the American Poultry Association (APA) and travels all over the country in that capacity.
He said he is the only member of the APA who has a Master Breeder designation in Black turkeys.
Williamson has a fondness for Blacks. He said once in a while a special tom or hen becomes a pet, gets a name, and stays on the farm until it dies.
Looking out over his operation he said, "I didn't think it would get this big.
"It may sound like I'm against commercial turkeys," he added, "but I'm not because I know not everyone can afford to buy heritage turkeys."
They often sell at retail for $10 or more a pound.
Williamson is a member of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, which seeks to preserve classic breeds of animals.
According to a conservancy spokesman, "We've got to eat them to save them. To restore populations, we've got to put them back to work in a serious way."
To find out more about various kinds of heritage foods, visit www.heritagefoodsUSA.com.
