Bronze is best for Rhode turkey producers

 The first year Gerard and Paula Lalor decided to embark on rearing turkeys for the Christmas market they had around 50 birds and they had to persuade all their friends to buy one in an effort to offload them all before December 25.

 What started out as a very small enterprise in 1994 on the Lalor's family farm in Ballybryan, Rhode is now a major business enterprise which will see 650 turkeys being sold to families from all over Ireland this Christmas.

“It has been a big transformation from when we first started,” admits Gerard Lalor, whose free-range bronze turkeys are highly sought-after by more and more customers every year, many of whom are prepared to drive long distances to collect their prize bird. He says the main difference between a bronze turkey and the conventional white turkey is the moistness of the meat, which is achieved by feeding the birds whole wheat in a natural environment.

 “We are extremely busy at the moment, and we provide a complete oven-ready turkey for our customers, with all the rearing, plucking, cleaning and preparation taking place here on the farm,” says Gerard, who adds that Ballybryan Farm is licenced by the Department of Agriculture for the killing of all the turkeys they rear on the family farm. “All our processing is done under the supervision of Offaly County Council and with licencing and approval from the department, so customers can be assured of the highest standards at all times,” he points out.

 The Lalors, who have operated a mixed enterprise farm at Ballybryan since 1982, take delivery of their turkey chicks (called poults) during the first week of August when they are approximately five to six weeks old. It takes 22 weeks to finish a bronze turkey as opposed to 16 weeks for white turkeys. As the Lalors grow their own cereal crops, including wheat, oats and spring beans, and also have an vast orchard of heritage apple trees, they have a readymade source of food for their turkeys in the form of wheat and windfall apples, and they also feed them a small amount of ration.

 “The turkeys are allowed to roam freely all day, so they would normally be out from around 8am to 4pm at this time of the year, and they could be out until 9pm in September,” says Gerard, who adds that they come in of their own accord when dusk begins to descend as they are afraid of the dark!

 A typical day for the Rhode couple would start with the morning feed for their 650 free-range bronze birds, followed by cleaning out the bedding in the turkey shed. “We have to keep the turkeys very clean because it makes it easier to pluck them” says Gerard “so we are very particular about keeping the shed clean and dry.”

One of the biggest worries at this time of year is the possibility of an overnight attack by predators. “We have electronic wire all around the shed but every morning when we open the door it's always at the back of our minds that there could have been an attack overnight by either a fox or a pine marten, and that is always a big worry for us” says Gerard.

 In an effort to deter predators, the Lalors leave a radio on in the turkey shed both day and night, with RTE talk radio being the preferred choice for the turkeys! “Thank God talk radio has worked for us so far” says Gerard.

 While Ballybryan turkeys is essentially a family-run business, (the Lalors have two daughters, Rosemarie, who lives locally and runs the apple juice enterprise, and Helen, who lives in Dublin and one son, David, who is in Canada) they do take on around four to five extra staff during the busy Christmas season. They start killing their turkeys around December 12 and finish four days later, and then all birds are dry plucked, fully prepared and left in a cold room at 1 degree, which helps to tenderise the meat.

 Collections takes place on December 23 and 24, with customers coming from places as far away as Kerry, Mayo and Cork. “We sell around 150 turkeys in Dublin every year, so we operate a delivery service and the turkeys can be collected from one central point in the city, so that works well for us,” says Gerard, who adds that the vast majority of turkeys go to repeat customers.

 “The average turkey is around 16/17 lbs, but we do have customers who request a turkey of around 27/28 lbs and they tell us they would be eating it for the best part of a week, as they might get a glass of milk from the fridge and take a bit of turkey at the same time,” he says.

In recent years, the Lalors diversified into making Ballybryan apple juice, an enterprise which is run by their daughter, Rosemarie. “We fell into growing apples almost by accident as we were in the REPS Scheme and we were looking at environmental options so we had a two-acre field and and we planted over 300 apple trees, concentrating on heritage varieties.

 Ballybryan Apple Juice is made by pressing up to 20 different varieties of old heritage apples together and has proved to be a very popular sideline business for the busy farm. “The turkeys go mad for the windfalls (apples that fall from the trees), and we use the apples for the juice, so everyone is happy.” And what will Gerard and Paula Lalor have on the table for their own Christmas dinner? “A Ballybryan bronze turkey of course,” laughs Gerard, “that's if we have any of them left by Christmas Day!”