11/24/05 Turkey facts

As we prepare to dig into that Thanksgiving feast today, and offer thanks for the blessings we have been bestowed in our lives, let's remember the offering made by the noble bird many of us will dine upon in celebration of the holiday. The turkey a noble bird you say? No greater a man than Benjamin Franklin offered the suggestion that the turkey be the national bird of the United States. But the point made is that the turkey is a multi-faceted creature. And those fun facts are what we will share with you today as a way to remember what the turkey has to go through. Take for instance, while the bird prefers to reside within hardwood forests with grassy area, it can adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Now the wild species of turkey is a fascinating creature. It has a 270 degree field of vision. You couple that with its speed of 20 miles per hour in a dead run when spooked, and the ability to fly short distances in accelerations of between fifty and fifty-five miles per hour, and it is no wonder that it alludes hunters. But it makes one wonder if that fact about turkeys being able to drown by looking up when it's raining makes them seems seem, well, not so smart. Male turkeys make more effective, and more annoying, alarm clocks then their poultry cousins, the rooster. Toms start gobbling in the morning and continue their sounds through mid morning. The turkey hens however make more like clocks, making a clicking sound instead. Turkeys can also get big & fast. It only takes eighteen weeks from hatching to maturity for one bird to reach thirty pounds in weight, the desires goal of turkey producers. The world record holder as far as turkey size came in at eighty six pounds. Think about the size of a large dog. Now what about the culinary aspects of the turkey? Well for starters, a fifteen pound bird usually has about seventy per cent white meat, thirty per cent dark. But that doesn't cover the average annual consumption of turkey meat in the U.S. Americans eat seventeen pounds of turkey. As you can guess, Thanksgiving is the big turkey consumption day, more than double than what is eaten both on Christmas and on Easter. But what to do with all of those turkey leftovers? In order, the average use of turkey leftovers are as a sandwich, stew or soup, salad, casserole, and stir fry. It might be time to change the subject for fear the turkey might get & well, excited & meaning the bird is the focus of dinner. When a turkey gets excited, their head changes color. But even more convicting of the turkey's excitable nature, they can have heart attacks. This may be a conspiracy in the making but the U.S. Air Force is blamed for causing fields of turkeys to drop dead while conducting tests runs. Apparently the sonic boom from breaking the sound barrier was the culprit. This has been the Line on Agriculture. Have a happy, safe, and blessed Thanksgiving from all of us at the Northwest Ag Information Network.