Did you know that about 23% of the turkeys raised this year, approximately 46 million, will be on Thanksgiving tables?

How do farmers and processors meet this huge one day demand? It takes a lot of planning and the ability to freeze processed birds. Over 88% of the turkeys raised this year are from 13 states. Minnesota is the top producer with 32 million, followed by North Carolina with 28 million. Arkansas comes in third raising 22 million. Ohio ranks eighth, producing six million turkeys annually.

Not knowing much about turkeys, I found out that there are not as many breeds of turkeys as there are chickens.

There are also 13 recognized heritage turkey breeds that are commonly raised in the U.S. The hens range in weight from 10 to 20 pounds, while the toms average 16 to 30 pounds.

The

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