Gabriel Jimenez and Tamita Brown faced a steep learning curve when they started raising turkeys at Caribe United Farm in 2019.
The biggest obstacle was perhaps the most important — health. Brown said she and her husband lost many turkeys early in their farming days due to the birds’ poor immune systems.
“They’re very susceptible to diseases,” Brown said. “They could get sick one day and just die. You need to have a cool, dry place. If you don’t have enough space, it can be a challenge.”
Jiminez and Brown worked to accommodate their turkeys by building and modifying chicken houses for them at their property in Crawford. The houses serve as places where they have room to spread out and live without being clumped together with their fellow birds.
Now, four years later, Brown and her husband get up as early as 5 a.m. to start feeding and watering their 350 turkeys. For the remainder of the day, the birds forage for themselves, eating grass, bugs and other critters.
Caribe United isn’t alone in navigating the difficulties of turkey farming, especially during the Thanksgiving season.
The U.S. raised 217 million turkeys in 2021, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s more turkeys than the entire human population of Brazil, and it amounted to nearly $6 billion in profits.
Shaun Terry of Grateful Pastures Farm in Mansfield, Georgia, is also loading up for the Thanksgiving turkey rush.
He and his wife have run Grateful Pastures Farm since 2015, serving the Athens area. They run their poultry farm similar to Caribe United, allowing the birds space to roam and explore.
He said one of the biggest challenges of raising turkeys occurs as a result of the Thanksgiving turkey boom.
“There’s so many people (buying) turkeys for Thanksgiving that it’s hard to get turkeys later in the year,” Terry said. “Even the hatcheries don’t have turkeys after Thanksgiving.”
Brown agreed, saying Caribe United raises turkeys for Thanksgiving, specifically, and offers home delivery to customers in the Atlanta and Athens areas.
This year, though, Brown said turkey sales have been slow.
“We only raise the birds for Thanksgiving,” Brown said. “But this year has not been very good. (We’ve sold) much less than we did last year. With the way the economy is going right now, people aren’t spending a whole lot out there right now.”
The turkeys aren’t Caribe United’s only source of income. She and her husband also raise other wildlife, such as ducks, pigs and chickens.
But as far as Thanksgiving goes, Brown makes sure to save a turkey to celebrate the holiday with her family — adding traditional Caribbean cuisine in keeping with their roots.
“I’ve only ever done a whole turkey once,” Brown said. “There are only two of us, and turkey is a lot to eat, because it’s a big bird — but I normally take a cut and cook it in my style. I sometimes curry it, I may sometimes bake it in the oven or fry it sometimes, but of course, I always have to have my curry goat and some oxtails on the side.”