I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English
Agriculture Report.
Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving Day this Thursday. The holiday
tradition includes eating turkey. Some of the birds will be fried in oil
or barbecued over hot coals. Most will be cooked in the oven.
Most
farm-raised turkeys grow quickly. In 14 weeks, a female turkey weighs
seven kilograms and is ready for market. Hens are usually sold as whole
birds. Male turkeys, or toms,
are usually grown for 18 weeks. They weigh more than 14 kilograms. Toms
are processed for meat products.
Some farms have started to raise what are called heritage turkeys.
These more traditional kinds of birds take longer to raise and require
more care. Some can be ordered over the Internet. The meat is at least
four times the cost of other turkey. Often, heritage turkeys are raised on
organic farms, where no chemicals are used.
Under federal law, turkeys and other poultry cannot be given hormones
to increase growth. But they may receive antibiotic drugs to fight
infection and improve weight gain.
Turkeys once were served mainly during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now
people have a wide choice of products served all year.
Over the years, growers have developed turkeys that have more meat on
their chest. These farm-raised birds are very different from their wild
relatives. They cannot even reproduce without assistance. They are
fertilized through the artificial
insemination process.
Two-thirds of the cost to raise a turkey is spent on food. Farmed
turkeys eat a mixture of corn and soybean with added vitamins and
minerals. It takes about 36 kilograms of food to raise a 14-kilogram bird.
About 8 percent of turkeys raised in the United States are exported.
Mexico is the top importer. American turkey production is valued at 3,000
million dollars a year.
Turkeys are native to North America. In the 1700s, Benjamin Franklin
wanted the turkey, and not the bald eagle, to be the national symbol.
But today it does have a place in national politics before Thanksgiving
Day. Last week President Bush "pardoned" two turkeys in a ceremony at the
White House. The National Turkey Federation, an industry group, started
this tradition in 1947.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario
Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen. |