Typically when you think “turkey” - it’s the bagged variety that many families enjoy for Thanksgiving and Christmas time - in fact, about 40 percent of all of the turkeys that are raised in America go for the holiday season.
But on a turkey farm for Cooper Farms just outside of Celina, they’re more on the deli meat side of production, raising toms rather than hens - that is, males, rather than females. Usually, this time of year isn’t prime time for Cooper’s deli meat sales, but 2021 has proven to be a little different.
"This year, partially due to COVID, partially due to shortages, we actually have much higher sales for a turkey now than we normally do," said Gary Cooper, chief operating officer for Cooper Farms. "We don’t do any bagged birds, we only do live toms for deli meat, so ours is a little bit different than most turkey farmers who do the bagged birds."
Cooper says that there are 23 turkey companies throughout the United States that raise 7.5 billion pounds of turkey every year, but some of that process hasn’t exactly been smooth as of late.
One major snag this year that has put a damper on certain turkey farms is a supply shortage of feed for their animals. Cooper Farms has been able to dodge that bullet though, thanks to local farmers having a good yield this year.
"We actually buy about 20 million bushels of corn a year, and about 200,000 tons of beans a year, so we’re a big consumer of beans and corn in this tri-state area," said Cooper. "This year hasn't been a problem [for us], but nationwide there was a drought out west, so there was more of a shortage there."
