With thanksgiving here, I wonder how turkey farms do around the country? 

 

A worthwhile venture? Or a woeful waste of time farming such birds? 

 

 

I don't know many Thais that celebrate Thanksgiving !!

2 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

I don't know many Thais that celebrate Thanksgiving !!

Or Christmas.................Pak Kapaou turkey!      LOL

My ex-Thai wife would not eat Turkey - said it smelt ! From someone that ate Som Tam I found that hard to believe

Well, obviously there's some demand for turkey, esp. around Xmas, what with the expats and pubs/restaurants which cater to those who celebrate Christmas, but I just don't know how you would go about advertising/selling them. 

 

Last year I bought a deep frozen turkey from Makro (don't remember how much, but do remember it did cost a pretty penny) and Mrs Djayz prepared it for dinner on 25th. Well, I've seldom in my life been so disappointed with a meal as I was with that bird (the turkey, not the missus). Tasteless, dry and as tough as shoe leather. I swore never again... 

Butterball turkeys Lucky Supermarket Cambodia. Fork Thailand. https://www.instacart.com/lucky-supermarkets/butterball-turkey

On a different note, there is a demand for rare turkey breeds. So you could raise them and sell on the poults ?? I only have 2 left out of my original 10 birds... Great things to have around the property just to look at. Them and the guinea fowl ????

Farming turkeys is very hard to make a profit, as mentioned most Thais don’t like the taste of the meat, also it’s far to expensive for most of them compared to there gai ban chicken. We raise some, however it’s a small market. We have a few Thai buyers, mainly teachers. Turkeys need high protein food (21% or more) to gain weight, hence the higher rearing costs. Hard to get good stock birds, mostly they are poorly bred Thai white and bronze turkeys. We have few Norfolk black turkeys, which are different, and have a more game flavour to the meat. Trying to built up our flock of them, as mention there is a demand for rare breeds, especially black turkeys. Very few of them around.  

On 11/28/2019 at 7:20 PM, cornishcarlos said:

On a different note, there is a demand for rare turkey breeds. So you could raise them and sell on the poults ?? I only have 2 left out of my original 10 birds... Great things to have around the property just to look at. Them and the guinea fowl ????

Hope I'm not being too direct by asking where do/did you source your rare turkeys?

I raised turkeys for the Xmas dinner table when I was a teenager ???????????? - loved it until just a few days before Christmas when they had to be plucked and cleaned... ????

4 minutes ago, djayz said:

Hope I'm not being too direct by asking where do/did you source your rare turkeys?

I raised turkeys for the Xmas dinner table when I was a teenager ???????????? - loved it until just a few days before Christmas when they had to be plucked and cleaned... ????

 

Mine are just standard birds, although I did have a couple of nice black ones.. Not sure where to source them apart from local word of mouth.. I know they do sell upward of 5000 baht a pair !!