"Turkey day" is all year round for Minnesotans who farm the bird
Thanksgiving is a big day for the farmers who raise the centerpiece of Americans' dinner tables on the last Thursday of November.
But in Minnesota, the nation's top turkey producer, the work doesn't stop once the national holiday ends.
For sixth-generation farmer Eric Sawatzke in Kensington, Minnesota, 17,000 of her birds are served on Thanksgiving. But that flock does not differ much from all the rest: she raises 135,000 turkeys year-round.
"We get them on our farm at the beginning of August, and then when they go to market, it'll be within a couple weeks or a few days of Thanksgiving," she said. "And so that flock is really special to us, although they get the same amount of care."
Sawatzke is among the 600 turkey farmers in the state, according to the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. Together, they produce roughly 40 million turkeys annually. Thirteen Minnesota turkeys have gone to the White House since the presidential turkey tradition began nearly 80 years ago.
So how did Minnesota climb the top of the turkey rankings?
"Years ago, there were so many people that saw that there was kind of this gap to grow turkey. And so they just started building an infrastructure and here we are today," Sawatzke said. "Then you have growers like myself that have a lot of pride for what they do, and it's been in their family for a very long time, so it's pretty important."
But the profession doesn't come without unforeseen challenges like the weather, predators and viruses that can wipe out a whole flock.
In the last decade, a tornado has leveled Sawatzke's farm, and two years ago, she and her family lost a barn full of Thanksgiving turkeys to the bird flu.
Input costs, like feed for the animals, are also on the rise, making profit margins tighter.
"So you just work together to plan for those as best as you can and look where you can save, and maybe save some money or differently because things change all the time. Nothing stays the same," she explained.
There is new technology helping to keep turkeys healthy as influenza stubbornly sticks around: lasers.
The lights work to keep ducks and geese — top carriers of bird flu — at bay. Jake Vlaminck, president of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, told WCCO in a February interview that in the previous two years, poultry farmers installed 100 lasers across the state.
"We've been able to cut our mortality down in about half, and I want to attribute a lot of that to these lasers," Vlaminck said at the time.
The cost, though, is steep — $17,000, according to Sawatzke. And for some, that may not fit the budget if farmers are fighting to stay afloat depending on the year they had.
But no matter what they persevere, committed to keeping Minnesota in the top spot. That means 26,000 jobs and $1 billion in economic activity, according to the growers association.
And like millions of families across the country on Thanksgiving, the Sawatzkes have a turkey on their table, too.
"Sometimes we go to the grocery store and buy one also," she joked. "Just depends on how organized we are."