Our holiday turkey producer, Jaindl Farms!
Located in the in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, Jaindl Farms is a fourth generation family owned and operated turkey farm. The farm was started by John and Fred Jaindl in the 1930s with five turkeys. Today, Jaindl Farms raises close to 900,000 turkeys per year and employs 122 people.
Jaindl turkeys are humanely raised in spacious, open-sided barns with mesh screening to keep them warm and dry, as well as to keep predators out. When the weather allows, the turkeys have access to outdoor areas for roaming. The inside of the barns are bedded with fresh straw every 10 to 12 days. Aside from providing clean housing, this routine promotes the long-term health of the turkeys because straw absorbs moisture and suppresses bacteria growth. Additionally, the animals are given “enrichments” in their environment- features for the turkeys to perch on and peck at, so that they can express natural behaviors.
The Jaindl business is a fully vertically integrated farm, meaning that they grow and mill their own feed, breed and hatch their own flock, own and manage their turkey growing barns, and process the animals on site. All of this leads to a higher quality product because the Jaindl family is fully invested in all aspects of the farm.
The farm is also investing in a lot of alternative energy projects. They make biodiesel on farm from the soybeans they grow, they just installed a 2KW wind turbine to produce electricity for the offices and feed mill, and they plan to construct an anaerobic digestion system to turn waste into clean methane gas.
All of these features make us feel proud and excited to call Jaindl Farms our new holiday turkey provider.