All right, well the Thanksgiving table may be the final destination, but how the turkey actually gets there is a concern of a group of humane farmers in Virginia. CNN’s Louise Schiavone reports on why letting turkeys be turkeys might actually just make them better…
Louise Schiavone: These turkeys have lived naturally on grains and other organic foods grown on their farm. Their home in Virginia’s Piedmont Hunt country, complete with perches and shelters, is protected from natural predators.
Sandy Lerner, Humane Farmer: They have space to run but we also worry and have a great concern about what they’re thinking, that they feel like turkeys, that they do turkey things and that they relax, because that’s where we feel that we get the weight put on the birds without the growth hormones.
Schiavone: From Cisco Systems co-founder to country farmer, Sandy Lerner was a vegetarian until recently. Her country empire includes a restaurant, butcher shop and a 800-acre farm. Ayrshire Farm is raising a thousand turkeys this Thanksgiving, both rare breed and high-bred. It’s such good living for them here on this humane farm that the wild turkeys fly in for meals and protection, too. The wild birds are never slaughtered.
Voice Over: Lerner’s farm is one of 1,600 in the U.S. whose practices are certified humane. None of the animals are caged or abused. Certification means everything up and to and including the inevitable. But the final stage is quiet and clean.
Adele Douglass, Humane Farm Animal Care: The reason we created this program is to get consumers like yourself to demand these products and that, in turn, will change the way animals are raised in the United States.
Schiavone: Operating costs are higher, as the $5.50 per pound asking price shows.
Unidentified Man: Yes. My wife had to brief me on that before I came in. I wasn’t quite prepared for that.
Unidentified Man: This is the first time I ever bought one. It would be cheaper if I bought my wife diamonds, but they’re terrific.
Schiavone: The market for specialty foods like this is growing by 20 percent a year. Americans like it so much that they spent $10 billion just last year. And the turkeys like it better, too.
CNN : Labels: What Lies Beneath
Posted: November 24, 2004 by Certified Humane
All right, well the Thanksgiving table may be the final destination, but how the turkey actually gets there is a concern of a group of humane farmers in Virginia. CNN’s Louise Schiavone reports on why letting turkeys be turkeys might actually just make them better…
Louise Schiavone: These turkeys have lived naturally on grains and other organic foods grown on their farm. Their home in Virginia’s Piedmont Hunt country, complete with perches and shelters, is protected from natural predators.
Sandy Lerner, Humane Farmer: They have space to run but we also worry and have a great concern about what they’re thinking, that they feel like turkeys, that they do turkey things and that they relax, because that’s where we feel that we get the weight put on the birds without the growth hormones.
Schiavone: From Cisco Systems co-founder to country farmer, Sandy Lerner was a vegetarian until recently. Her country empire includes a restaurant, butcher shop and a 800-acre farm. Ayrshire Farm is raising a thousand turkeys this Thanksgiving, both rare breed and high-bred. It’s such good living for them here on this humane farm that the wild turkeys fly in for meals and protection, too. The wild birds are never slaughtered.
Voice Over: Lerner’s farm is one of 1,600 in the U.S. whose practices are certified humane. None of the animals are caged or abused. Certification means everything up and to and including the inevitable. But the final stage is quiet and clean.
Adele Douglass, Humane Farm Animal Care: The reason we created this program is to get consumers like yourself to demand these products and that, in turn, will change the way animals are raised in the United States.
Schiavone: Operating costs are higher, as the $5.50 per pound asking price shows.
Unidentified Man: Yes. My wife had to brief me on that before I came in. I wasn’t quite prepared for that.
Unidentified Man: This is the first time I ever bought one. It would be cheaper if I bought my wife diamonds, but they’re terrific.
Schiavone: The market for specialty foods like this is growing by 20 percent a year. Americans like it so much that they spent $10 billion just last year. And the turkeys like it better, too.
Category: news