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Turkeys and Squash
Researched and Written by Janine Weins
(Posted 10/18/06)

In late summer and early fall when you drive north on Route 10 into Lyme, you'll see hundreds of white turkeys. In July they are tiny birds, but by early September they are chicken-sized fowl. By October, they are much bigger than a chicken. In November, they start to disappear until one day there are no more turkeys in the field south of the sign that says, "Bailey's Turkey Farm."

Bailey's Turkey Farm is owned by Dan and Millie Bailey. Dan raised turkeys as a 4-H project when he was a kid growing up in Lyme. When he and Millie married more than 30 years ago, they raised a few turkeys for friends, family, and their own table. Soon friends and neighbors learned that the turkeys grown by Dan and Millie were exceptionally tasty. As the demand for their turkeys grew, they raised more turkeys—this year Bailey's Turkey Farm is raising more than 600 turkeys. All of these turkeys will be gone before the end of the year, many to customers who ordered their turkeys more than a year ago. Some, as in the past few years, will call too late to get a turkey for this year's holiday dinner. The turkeys are usually 15 and 30 pounds, although some are larger. Last year they had one 42-pound turkey.

Dan and Millie raise Broad Breasted White turkeys. This particular breed was bred for the quality of its meat and not the traditional function of its body. Because of shorter legs and a shorter breast bone, Broad Breasted White turkeys cannot enjoy a traditional "romp in the hay," so they have to be artificially inseminated.

The Baileys get their turkeys in June when they are only a day old. For eight weeks, the little turkeys are kept warm in brooders. After they leave the brooders, Dan and Millie keep the little turkeys in the barn for two weeks. When the barn doors are opened, the turkeys are let out into a large field where they range freely for the rest of their lives.

On a small farm, chores are not distributed regularly. On a sunny June day, everyone who can drive a tractor hays from sun up to sun down and then gets to do it all over again if the next day is also sunny. Because nearly all of the Baileys' customers want a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving, everyone in the family—grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends—gather at the Bailey farm in November to help prepare the turkeys for the oven.

To provide regular income throughout the year, and fertilizer for the field in which the turkeys roam free, Dan and Millie milk more than 50 Holsteins. They sell their milk to Garelick Farms, a dairy farm that was started 75 years ago by two brothers and is now New England's largest dairy.

Picking up a turkey at the Bailey Farm is like going to a farm zoo. In addition to commercially raising the cows and turkeys, Millie has dozens of what Dan refers to as "non-profit animals." When I stop at the Bailey farm, I particularly like to see the goats who seem to never tire of trying to all fit on top of the tires Dan and Millie have planted for the goats to climb.

When I asked Millie why her turkeys are so superior, she said it is probably because in the fall they are fed squash and pumpkins. Those who have eaten wild game and farm-raised animals know that what an animal eats effects the taste of the meat. Bears who eat rotten garbage have what I think is rotten-tasting meat, while bears who have dined on blueberries and blackberries have delicious meat.

If you want a special holiday turkey to complement your holiday meal of squash and all the fixings, I suggest you get a turkey from Bailey's Turkey Farm. But call soon!

The turkeys (the little white dots!) watch the traffic on Route 10 while they gobble and range freely.	When it's time to start placing orders for holiday birds, the Baileys hang out their turkey flag.	The not-for-sale, not-for-oven turkey that greets visitors to Bailey's Turkey Farm.