If turkey is part of your Thanksgiving tradition and you haven’t secured your bird yet the clock is ticking! Nothing would put us in a fowl-er mood than realizing we waited too long and missed out on our annual turkey fix. We might be biased but we think Ontario turns out some pretty great turkeys to gobble up over the holidays. So here’s a breakdown of some Ontario Turkey farms with on-site retail stores where you can grab your Thanksgiving turkey straight from the source.
Lakeview Turkey Farm
Lakeview Turkey Farm is located about an hour south west of Niagara Falls near the shores of Lake Erie. This is a family run operation that has been in business since 1968 and offers up frozen, free run, antibiotic and hormone free turkeys and chickens in their retail store. They also have a selection of meat pies in the store if this isn’t a turkey year for you!
Hayter’s Turkey Farm
A ten minute drive from Grand Bend and you’ll find yourself at the Hayter’s Turkey Farms, another family affair with three generations running the show. They say that they “mother hen” their turkeys, basically taking care of their birds with ample walking space and ventilation like a mamma bird would want to take care of her young in order to keep the birds happy and healthy. In addition to whole turkeys you can purchase ground turkey, breasts, thighs and turkey bacon at their on-site retail store.
The Turkey Shoppe at Oegema Farms
Oegema Farms is an operation that runs out of Talbotville which is about 15 minutes west of St. Thomas. They’ve been in business since 1958 and opened The Turkey Shoppe, their on-site retail store, in 1992. These guys have all of your turkey needs on lockdown. Online ordering makes getting your bird and arranging a pick up from one of three location choices a cinch. If you do venture in to the retail store they make it worth it with a long list or turkey products. You can even get your stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy here if you want to take all of the stress out of this holiday dinner. As an added bonus the farm derives 25 per cent of their energy from a wind generator that they had installed in 2006!
Franz Turkey Farm
Located in Petrolia, a half hours drive from Sarnia, is Franz Turkey Farms. Started in 1960 Franz Turkey Farms sells frozen birds during the off-season and fresh birds during the holidays from their on-site retail store. All of their products are antibiotic free and fed locally grown vegetable grain without any by-products. This is another family operation with several generations and their spouses working together to keep the farm going. If turkey isn’t your thing this year this is the farm you want to head to, their store also sells pheasants, geese, partridge, guinea fowl, chicken and duck!
If you’re looking for a turkey farm closer to you check out the Turkey Farmers of Ontario website!