Michigan State University Club Raises Turkeys As Fundraiser

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A student group at Michigan State University is raising and selling turkeys to help pay for a trip to an annual expo in Atlanta.

Avian Science Club president Kyle Baker said at a recent meeting that the group's 15 members will raise, process and distribute 138 turkeys for Thanksgiving this year.

Group social chair Amanda Hanes said this year's turkeys came from a hatchery in Ohio. The raising process is done by students themselves or through working with the university's meat lab. The birds live in luxury, club members say, with the lighting low and food available almost constantly.

The turkeys were sold for $2.75 per pound, the Lansing State Journal reports. Sales proceeds go toward getting as many club members as possible to the International Production and Processing Expo in January.

Richard Balander, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science, has been the club's adviser for more than three decades. He said he pushed the group to attend the expo soon after becoming its adviser, saying it's a chance for students to meet future employers.

A career working with birds isn't an interest to all club members. Hanes said she joined the group to learn more about breeding quail and other birds at home.

"I don't have an interest in being a part of the poultry industry in a large scale sort of a sense, but I would potentially be interested in being a hobby breeder for different types of poultry at some point," Hanes said.