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| Wild Turkey flock outside our Gate |
What have we learned?
Turkeys are the ultimate herd animal. They will follow in a line to cross a stream or driveway. There can be 30 turkeys on one side.. all pushing on each other but they will line up and cross one behind the other. This is especially funny to watch when it is a dirt road in the middle of thousands of acres... you would THINK they could cross as a bunch.. certainly would save time.
But when they are farmed this herding his handy. Free range turkeys move from pasture to pasture to graze and follow the leader. Or the ATV.
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| Bringin in the Turkeys |
Turkeys are social. We rescued a turkey from a local shelter. At the time i suppose we thought we might have it for dinner the following thanksgiving but it became a pet. Since it had free roam of the place it quickly decided to divide its time between the chickens in our yard and wandering out the gate to see what the wild turkeys were doing. And of course given the herd thing we awoke one morning to 70 turkeys who had followed our turkey home for the night and were roosting here and there. If you have read this far that means they were inside our castle walls... and 70 turkeys make a lot of turkey poop.When selecting a turkey for your table. Always get to know your local farmer who raises them humanely and sustainably on pasture. They have a good life and spend a great deal of time getting to weight and being a 'bird'. And take our advice...don't get your own live bird... trust me.. you will have a pet. They live a long time and end up weighing over 30 lbs.. that is the size of a small dog!
Atv photo credit Smith Meadows
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Follow the Castle Gardener. Perfecting permaculture and organic practices that are NO WORK and can be done by a farm girl with painted nails...
