After Hours - Thanksgiving Day Special
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
155.09692
Summary
Lynn Ferguson runs Ferguson Family Farms, a turkey farm. She grew up as a city girl, with a medical school background, and decided, screw it, I don t like any of this. I want to be a turkey farmer. So she went all in on it.
Transcript
00:00:48.000
So you grew up as a city girl, med school construction background, and you decided, screw it, I don't like any of this.
00:00:56.000
So when you were a kid, you were thinking white picket fences.
00:01:01.000
Gonna marry the doctor, you know, everything's gonna be pretty, roses, you know.
00:01:06.000
And what I realized that later down the line, dad got prostate cancer, mom came down with lung cancer, and what I started realizing is something's wrong with their food system.
00:01:19.000
I told her, you're not gonna eat meats, eggs from the grocery store.
00:01:24.000
I said, I'm gonna figure out how to raise this for the family.
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So we had layer chickens, and then we went to meat chickens.
00:01:33.000
And then we went to, I was buying other meats from local farms that I thought was sustainable, pastured outside.
00:01:42.000
And I took a turn from there and realized one year the turkeys weren't quite tasting like what I remember.
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We bought that turkey year after year after year and realized that we're not getting the same turkeys.
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You tasted when your turkeys were going into confinement.
00:02:01.000
As soon as you're eating the turkey, if you know what that food is supposed to taste like, you can taste an all-natural, gets hit all the keywords, all natural turkey from a turkey that has lived outside.
00:02:14.000
Because they're getting bugs, they're getting weeds, they're getting, you know, grasses and stuff like that.
00:02:21.000
Because that term's kind of been bastardized, organic.
00:02:26.000
But you do the initial meaning of the word, which is they can move all over the place.
00:03:03.000
When they're together, they can be pretty big carnivores.
00:03:09.000
Yeah, so if they decide they don't like you, you know, it could be one out of this flock.
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You guys will notice after you do a line, you get real chatty.
00:04:31.000
Don't you think it's strange that you get free food?
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It's called Thanksgiving and the whole family's there.
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It's sort of like this, but much more civilized because we're better than you.
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Like, how much does it cost you per turkey to raise?
00:05:04.000
You're looking at about $25 in fee, especially on the bigger ones.
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And the processing is another $20 plus dollars.
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So the smaller birds, if you've got a 12-pound bird, you're most likely breaking close to even.
00:05:31.000
But I have the smaller birds because my customer base, some want small turkeys and some want big turkeys.
00:05:38.000
You're making your profit selling the bigger turkeys.
00:05:40.000
I grew up in Canada and I was surprised when I moved here in the 90s how important Thanksgiving is to Americans.
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It's like the whole country shuts down that entire week.
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They really, it's almost bigger than Christmas in a way.
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So Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day, not Christmas.
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You've got trucks, you've got manpower, you've got trailers, you've got boxes, you've got sorting, you've got refrigeration, and you hope it all comes together.
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So these birds will push 18 to 20 pounds, 24 pounds at the highest.
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Most of these are hen turkeys, so what you're seeing.
00:07:01.000
I didn't realize, I always thought turkeys is five years old or something, but you get them as babies, what are they called?
00:07:10.000
In the spring, and then you sell them by Thanksgiving.
00:07:13.000
They come in and get a whole new turkey farm every year.
00:07:23.000
The manure composts, and the spring it comes up green again.
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I mean, even vegetarians, they probably go, you did have a pretty good year.
00:07:33.000
You got to hang out with your friends and eat food.
00:07:40.000
I take them to a USDA processor, and the USDA processor basically kills them.
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Hi, how would you feel about me picking you up?
00:08:11.000
Now while Gavin has her, you notice the beak isn't cut off.
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Oh, the male, he's strutting his stuff saying, hey, ladies, I want to see you.
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Well, all that, I want to see you usually makes him not eat as well if you look at him puffing up like that.
00:09:06.000
Yeah, I think in the human world this year, that's frowned upon.
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So that's why we want to eat all hen turkeys this year.
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We're strong, we fatten up, we can get the job done, and we taste great on the plate.
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I hate to tell you this, but us girls do like the male around once in a while.
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We don't want to confess to that, but it makes for a better culture, both in the chicken world as well as the turkey world.
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The girls are calmer when there's a male presence.
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So if the feminists get their way and we get rid of the males, it'll be a much more dangerous society.
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Well, I hate to say this, and I got to agree with you.
00:09:59.000
When the tire goes flat on your vehicle, who do you call?
00:10:37.000
Why don't you try lifting that and feeding the cows?
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Just drop it right there and see if we can get them to come out and talk to you.
00:11:08.000
You're telling me you didn't bring a knife to a farm?
00:11:41.000
So they are close to usually $6,000 to $20,000 for one breeding cow.
00:11:50.000
So she would be sold with a, pregnant, with a cow, it's called a cow calf.
00:11:57.000
So amazed, as you take us around this farm, how much work you do.
00:12:01.000
Why did you choose such hard work over city life?
00:12:06.000
I mean, the grass is growing, the climates are, the environment is changing all the time.
00:12:12.000
There's always something new and exciting going on.
00:12:14.000
Either a new calf, you come up here and a new calf is born, or, you know, Ferdinand Jr. has got a boo-boo on his foot.
00:12:26.000
If you want fun, you come out and you become a farmer.
00:12:31.000
Not to mention the fact, if you get back to the main purpose, is you have a mission.
00:12:36.000
So the idea is that these guys are healthier ways of eating.
00:12:40.000
And I'm thinking I'm doing my part to accelerate that process.
00:12:48.000
Make people eat healthier, give them a resource.
00:12:50.000
So if they call Ferguson Family Farm, they can buy quarters or cuts of grass-fed beef, no grain whatsoever.
00:13:16.000
And Thanksgiving is a time where your family gets together and gives thanks.
00:13:22.000
As we say in the Selkirk Grace, there's some ha-meat that can eat and some ha meat that want it.
00:13:32.000
And I think in this divisive times, we tend to get lost in the weeds in the city and forget the big picture and forget that a tweet or a social media post or even a president is temporary.
00:13:48.000
So let's reinvite our disinvited guests and come together this Thanksgiving and see the Lord be thanked.
00:14:18.000
That's right, we believe in pro-America, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-things, everything patriotic, because that's who we are, and that's what we stand for.
00:14:27.000
So if you'd like to hear the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, whether it hurts your feelings or not, you might want to check out my show Rant Nation.
00:14:35.000
Because for those who can't, I'll say it for you.