Back in 2001, I read that heritage turkey breeds would be going the way of the pterodactyl if Americans didn’t start raising them for the Thanksgiving market.
Heritage turkeys, the old-time turkeys our great-grandparents ate — such as Blue Slate, Bourbon Red and Narragansetts — are raised on pasture or range; they live longer and grow more slowly than the Broad-Breasted Whites — those familiar supermarket turkeys that represent 99 percent of turkeys sold.
The Broad-Breasted White was genetically developed in the 1960s for its light pinfeathers, light skin and big breast size. The birds also are unable to mate or produce fertile eggs without artificial insemination.
To read the rest of this story please go to: Columbia Daily Tribune
