BUTLER COUNTY — A local turkey farmer is trying to get the word out that turkeys are selling out fast because the inventory is smaller than usual this year due to higher costs.
David Jones has been raising turkeys at his farm in Cabot for three decades. Because of the pandemic, costs on his farm have doubled this year so he had to bump up the price.
“I raised it from $3.75 a pound to $3.99 a pound and if I sell every turkey, I’m going to basically breakeven, which will make it difficult for next year to start up,” said Jones, owner of Jones Turkey Farm.
Jones said a lot of farmers didn’t want to take that risk so they either cut back or didn’t raise any turkeys at all which he says is causing a turkey shortage this year. That’s why he was getting orders as early as August for Thanksgiving.
“When people started ordering that early, that was unusual,” said Jones. “I don’t usually get orders until the end of September or the beginning of October.”
Last year, many families wanted smaller turkeys because they were having smaller gatherings for the holiday. But this year, Jones said several folks plan to have more people around the dinner table, so they now want a big turkey.
The demand is so high, the 25-pound turkeys are already sold out at his farm. He said he’s been getting several hundred orders a day recently. Right now, he has 15-to-20-pound turkeys left but there’s a new order policy.
Last year for Thanksgiving, he said his farm lost thousands of dollars because a large number of people never showed up to pick up their turkeys.
“This year, we are taking a stand where there can be no cancellations after November 1st or you will be invoiced no matter what,” said Jones.
Turkey orders are filling up quick, and Jones expects to be completely sold out in two weeks, so he said don’t wait until the last minute to order your Thanksgiving turkey.
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