By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

In the 15 years Elmwood Stock Farm has been raising organic, pasture-raised turkeys, the Kentucky Proud farm has attracted national attention.

Elmwood’s heritage breed turkeys were “recommended” in a taste test by Cook’s Illustrated. It was the only organic turkey to receive such a distinction from the national magazine, which described the flavor as “rich without gamy notes” with a “texture like velvet.”

Vogue Magazine called Elmwood the Best Place to Order heritage turkeys. The Spruce Eats listed Elmwood among the nation’s 11 best mail-order turkeys, naming its Broad Breasted Bronze variety the Best for Large Gatherings.

Elmwood’s website also included comments from some of its Thanksgiving customers:
• “The heritage turkey we cooked was the best turkey we have ever tasted.”
• “Everyone commented on how delicious the turkey was. We look forward to ordering more.”

Elmwood’s turkeys have become so popular, especially the 15- to 22-pound Broad Breasted Bronze birds, that they sell out weeks in advance.

“If you want a big turkey, you have to order early,” said Mac Stone, who is the sixth generation in his family to run the Scott County farm with his wife, Ann, and brother-in-law, John Bell.

The Elmwood turkeys’ diets consist of grass and bugs supplemented by organic feed.

“We move the turkeys around the pasture so they’re always on fresh grass,” Stone said. “We give them feed from organic grain farmers in western Kentucky.”

The corn/soybean ration is roasted so fat remains in the beans.

“It helps impart a nice flavor to the bird, which is why ours don’t taste gamy like wild turkeys,” Stone said. “The unique flavor leads to a lot of repeat customers.”

Elmwood’s heritage turkeys are not of one particular breed but made up of a group of breeds. They include Narragansetts, the oldest-known American breed; Slate turkeys; and a few Bourbon Reds, named after neighboring Bourbon County.

“About 15 years ago, we were asked by the Livestock Conservancy to help preserve these heritage breeds,” Stone said. “I told them we’re not in zoo business, but if you can eat them, we’ll raise them.

“It’s fun,” Stone said of raising the heritage breeds. “They have more personality than Broad Breasted birds.”

Unlike the lumbering Bronzes, the heritage breeds can fly.

“It took a few years to learn to get an animal that flies into a cattle trailer,” Stone said, noting he uses netting to contain the birds when loading them.

Elmwood had a flock of 300 turkeys this year for Thanksgiving. The heritage breeds originated from a breeding flock of about 60 hens and six toms. The Broad Breasted turkeys, however, can’t produce offspring, so Stone orders them through the mail.

“They send poults one day old,” Stone said, noting they originate from a hatchery in Ohio. “The eggs hatch on Sunday, and I pick them up on Monday.”

Stone said the young poults are very vocal when they arrive in special ventilated boxes at the Georgetown Post Office.

“They (post office workers) call me and say, ‘Please come get them! They’re driving us crazy squawking!’”