Shropshire Star

Shropshire farmers fattening up turkeys for festive fare

It is less than 100 days until Christmas – and that means fattening up time for turkeys in Shropshire.

Published
Andrew Hough, of Harton Farm, with some of his flock of turkeys which are destined for the Christmas dinner table

At Harton Farm, hundreds of turkey poults are being prepared to become the centrepiece for festive feasts.

Andrew Hough's barns are filled with soft chirps and the ruffling of feathers in straw as the black and white birds grow plumper by the day.

It's a familiar sound for Mr Hough, who took over the annual turkey rearing from his father nearly 40 years ago, and will one day pass on the honour at the farm near Church Stretton to his sons.

Four miles down the road in the town centre, his wife Joan and son William are seeing orders for their prized poultry flying in at Hough & Sons Butchers in Beaumont Road.

Mr Hough today explained the journey from farm to feast for his 340 turkeys.

"They arrive on the farm as five-week old poults and I barn rear them on pellets from Wynnstay who have the wheat that goes in them from me," he said.

"They're bedded on straw produced here on the farm and the barns keep the foxes and vermin out but let the air and sunlight in. Once a month we weigh them to monitor how big they are getting so we can adjust the feed if we need to. Some of them will put on 20lbs in 20 weeks.

"We have five different breeds to cater for the different weights people order."

Already bigger than the others, the T10 turkeys, will reach 22 to 24lbs in time for Christmas, easily enough to feed 15.

While the Black Hockenhull Bronze will get to 15 or 16 lbs and the Wirral Bronze 12 to 13 lbs.

"They are all hens because they have more meat in the breast and are shorter on the thigh," said Mr Hough.

"The dressed hen is a much tidier bird for table presentation and that's important to people at Christmas. The stags are more for catering. A T10 stag can reach 40lbs and anything above 20lbs mainly goes to catering and local pubs."

And when the time comes for the birds to become meat it's all hands on deck up at the farm.

"We kill and pluck them by hand here," said Mr Hough, 58.

"We hang them for a week before we dress them to mature the meat, which is what gives them their flavour.

"A lot of the birds in the supermarkets, not all, are killed, plucked and dressed in the same day. We don't want people coming into the shop saying we want a turkey today because they can't have one.

"We have to go through the proper process of hanging them for a week.

"It would be a heck of a difference in taste and I wouldn't want to put my name to it.

"I took over doing them from my father when I was 21 and nothing in the process has changed.

"I will always pluck them by hand. If they go through a machine it strips the bloom off them which is the lovely snowy white layer that is left there solid on our birds which makes them so nice to present."

Mr Hough believes the demand for his turkeys grows year by year because people are more interested in where their food comes from.

"It's all to do with the TV and cookery programmes," he said.

"People are getting more and more educated and they want to know what breed they are having and how it has been reared. People are into food miles and here they are very low as it's only about four and a half miles from the farm to the shop."

And down at the shop Joan's order book is already filling up.

"We have people coming back in January saying that turkey was absolutely beautiful, put me down for another," she said.

"Some people have been coming to us for 20 years and we get our regulars in to collect them. We have some friendly banter and it's all part of Christmas. It's a lovely time to be in the shop."

So what's the farmer's wife's secret to cooking the tastiest turkey?

"I don't do any of these fancy recipes," said Joan. "Mine just goes in the oven with some bacon over the breast for extra moisture. I baste it halfway through and I like to have it out an hour before to rest.

"I don't stuff them because we like to just taste the bird.

"Every year we have a turkey and usually its about 18lbs because Andrew likes to eat it cold with coleslaw and pickles afterwards. And I use the bones for stock."

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