Dan Ahern, organic turtkey farmer.
Dan Ahern, who farms organically in Dungourney, Co Cork, started rearing turkeys for this year's Christmas tables six months ago. He charges between €60 and €70 for a turkey, but is keen to highlight the additional labour that goes in to rearing them organically.
"Organic turkeys are about twice the age of commercial ones at the time of slaughter," he says. "We use an organic feed which is about 70 per cent dearer and because they are outdoors more, they eat more. We are also rearing them for longer, so that means they take more feeding in the long run. It's very labour intensive - because turkeys aren't natural rangers, you have to encourage them out for a few hours and then bring them back in." This results, he says, in a vastly superior meat. "You get a far healthier bird when they have been out in the fresh air and the exercise is very good for the taste of the meat."
Ahern and his brother JJ went organic in 1999 and now supply poultry to farmers' markets in Cork, and a limited number of supermarkets under the Born Free label (which won an award from Euro-toques last year). "There was crisis after crisis with agriculture and we were looking around at what opportunities were out there. We started with beef and tillage and then progressed to keeping chickens, hens for eggs, turkeys, geese and ducks. At the time it was a purely commercial decision, if I'm honest. We just couldn't make a living the way things were going. But the longer we do it, the more we see the difference in the meat we produce."
Of the 900 turkeys that Ahern rears, approximately 600 will be sold directly from their farm, with customers arriving a day or two before Christmas to collect their bird. The balance will be sold at farmers' markets in Cork and Dublin, and via the meat counters at Fallon & Byrne on Exchequer Street in Dublin and Ardkeen Foodstore in Waterford. "Commercial turkeys start at about €50 this year, so there's not much of a price difference." Meanwhile, after the busiest week of the year, Ahern is looking forward to a quieter time of it post-Christmas. "There's always plenty of work to do here," he says, "but it will be quieter when they are gone alright."
In conversation with Michael Kelly.