Swindon farmer Chris Rumming, feeding his free-range bronze turkeys, says the birds’ welfare always comes first
SWINDON farmer Chris Rumming has been feeding his free-range bronze turkeys in the fruit orchard at Lydiard Turkeys a few days ahead of their slaughter.
The hand-reared turkeys arrived at the farm – which has been owned by the same family for over 100 years – when they were a day old in June. This weekend, they will be slaughtered, dry-plucked and hung there before being collected by customers just before Christmas.
According to Mr Rumming, slaughtering the birds at the farm improves their welfare by eliminating unnecessary stress from travel, meaning the meat tastes better.
Traditional bronze turkeys all but disappeared in the 1960s and 1970s, replaced by the faster-growing white variety. However, some producers felt this was at the expense of flavour, so a few farms have reverted to the slower growing, more expensive to keep, bronze variety.