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THE STORY of THE TURKEY FARM

Owners Marilyn and Bob Neal and the crews who have worked here over the years built The Turkey Farm into Maine's largest Turkey farm. In 2010, The Turkey Farm entered its 25th year. Also in 2010, Marilyn entered her 68th year and Bob entered his 71st year. Age and health have forced us to reduce the scale of Maine's largest Turkey farm.

Our farm has thrived on repeat business. We have more than 100 sharers in Community Agriculture and we sell year-round at farmers markets in the Brunswick area. At Thanksgiving, more than 80 percent of our customers
return each year. We believe they come back because of the taste and texture of our Turkeys.

And, while we have cut back, the taste and texture of our Turkeys will not change because our philosophy of farming has not changed.

Our 60 acres of farmland have more than seven acres of fenced range, and we rotate ranges so that none is occupied by Turkeys for more than 30 months in 60. For parts of every season, each range lies fallow so the perennial grasses and other growth can rejuvenate after Turkeys have been on the range. We try to populate the ranges at no more than 400 adult Turkeys per acre, about 100 square feet per bird.

The litter from the farm's brooderhouse, where Turkeys spend their first few weeks until their feathers have grown in to insulate them from the weather, is composted and spread on the family's garden and sold to other
gardeners.

Since 2001, The Turkey Farm has used only feed that is certified to be free of genetically engineered grains. To our knowledge, no other farm in New England has taken this step.

Using genetically clean feed is in keeping with our philosophy of walking lightly on the land. We believe that genetic engineering works more to the advantage of the corporations that own the seed patents than to the animals and people who eat the food. And, so far, the yields with genetically modified seed don't surpass the yields of conventional seed. We also fear that not enough is known about such effects as drifting for genetically
modified feed to be assuredly safe. The price of genetically clean feed is about 13 percent higher than conventional feed, and since 2006, the cost of our feed has more than doubled.

We raise our Turkeys as close to naturally as we can, and we operate our farm as sustainably as we can. We give our birds no routine antibiotics, although we will treat sick or clearly threatened birds with whatever
medications appear most likely to help. We last used antibiotics in 2004, at the end of an outbreak of fowl cholera. We never use hormones, which are illegal for poultry.

We get the taste and texture that bring customers back again and again by raising and processing our birds differently from those of big-store growers. Starting with the commitment to free ranging our birds, we stay as
natural as we can. We do not feed our birds any antibiotics routinely, although we will use whatever medications seem necessary when birds are sick or are clearly threatened by a virulent disease. We do not feed hormones, which are illegal for poultry. We have not had to use any antibiotics since 2004.

At slaughter, we add no chemical "flavor enhancers" to the meat. We don't have to. Conventional Turkeys may contain up to 8.5 percent (1.7 pounds in a 20-pound bird) of a chemical broth intended to add flavor.

We are a local business, and we try to buy locally anything that we can't raise on the farm. For years, we cut our own cedar fence posts and firewood, but age has forced us to buy those now from local woodspeople.

The Turkey Farm had its beginnings in 1980 when Marilyn and Bob Neal came to New Sharon, hoping to make their living from the land. Bob had had a 20-year career in newspapers and for the first three years in Maine, he farmed and taught journalism at the University of Maine. Marilyn and Bob have two sons, Robbie, who was 8 when the family moved here, and Chris, who was 4. Both live in Portland, and neither wants to assume operation of the farm when their parents get done. Marilyn worked in records-keeping in the
home-health industry for13 years before joining the farm crew full-time in 2002.

As subsistence farmers, the Neals grew a little of everything, including a full line of vegetables, most of which they sold at farmers markets, and poultry and pork. But subsistence farming is a difficult choice both for the
wallet and the lifestyle - " Do you know how many radishes you have to pull to make a living? " Bob asked fellow back-to-the-landers. After six years of augmenting farm income by working out, Bob reduced the outside workload to part-time and began to concentrate on Turkeys. In 1986, he and Marilyn started 100 Turkeys, 91 making it to market weight, and all sold at the farm for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Turkey Farm was on its way.

The next year, we grew 300 Turkeys and the next, 800. In 1989, we raised the bar too high and raised 2,200, distributing a great many to stores at wholesale prices that turned out to be way too low, and the farm lost
$15,000 (nearly $7 a bird). "Wow," one farmer said, "I thought you had to raise sheep to lose that much money per animal."

The farm cut back to 1,400 birds the next year and then resumed gradual growth until it peaked in 1994 at 4,200. The total flock fluctuated between 3,300 and 4,100 for 11 seasons, then settled in at 3,200 for several years. This year it will be about 2,100.

In 1987, the farm started its food concession, which is perhaps where most people have learned about us. This will be our 21st year at the Fryeburg Fair, where we won the prize in 1998 for best food. We tried more than a
dozen fairs and festivals before settling on Fryeburg as the one major show for our food concession.

In 1989, The Turkey Farm began selling what are called further-processed items to stores, primarily natural food and always locally owned stores The further-processed items (see list) gradually became a major part of the business, and keep the farm in production year-round. We continue to pack the 40 or so further-processed items for sale at retail at the farm and at the farmers markets in the Brunswick area.

A year later, we became the second farm in Maine to offer Community Supported Agriculture (see related page). Under Community Supported Agriculture, sharers pay up-front for their food and then collect (with
interest) as the harvest comes in.

Our farmstore on Route 27 in New Sharon began as the front room of our slaughterhouse, which was built in 1990. The carpenters were finishing in the front room as we began processing Thanksgiving Turkeys in the back room that year. Two years later, using a loan from Coastal Enterprises, Inc., we built a 1,008-square-foot brooderhouse where our birds begin their lives. The house is heated with propane stoves that keep the young Turkeys, which we pick up at hatcheries the day they hatch, warm until their feathers grow in.

Two years later, we added to the slaughterhouse so we'd have more room for processing, and three years after that, we built a 576-square-foot ell onto the plant to be our farmstore.

Our farm symbol came to us in 1998 when our son Robbie painted a mural that we display in our farmstore and at the Fryeburg Fair. From that mural, we took the image of The Versatile Turkey, a Tom Turkey who balances on a rolling ball while juggling plates, rings and ten-pins, and made it our farm logo.

In 1999, we knew we would have to expand our refrigeration, so we bought a refrigerator truck, which we could use for deliveries and for stationary storage at the Fryeburg Fair and at the farm. Three years later, we bought a second reefer truck, which we use at Fryeburg and for cold storage at the farm at Thanksgiving. A third reefer truck joined our fleet in 2006.

Since 2007, Marilyn has been fighting ovarian cancer, and in 2010, Bob suffered a heart attack. Obviously, we had to cut back our farming. For the future, the business will continue to revolve around retail sales here
at the farm and at the farmers markets in the Brunswick area and the Fryeburg Fair. We intend to keep growing Turkeys for at least five more seasons, including 2010.