Our Best Thanksgiving Turkeys

The Grand Champion – Jaindl

If you could slice David Jaindl’s property into neat rectangles, you’d have nearly 10,000 football fields of land. It’s a massive plot for a farm that raises turkeys, which raises the question: How much space do birds really need? It turns out, they need a lot—especially when you’re a soup-to-nuts operation that grows and mixes your own feed, breeds and hatches your own turkeys, and then prepares them for distribution.

“We maintain total control of the process,” says David. “There’s not another turkey operation our size in the world that does that.” Jaindl’s tenacity pays off with some of the most consistently tasty birds in the world.

The farm has carried a blue ribbon from the National Turkey Federation since 1954, and for half a century, it has provided the main course for the White House Thanksgiving dinner. For 30 years, Jaindl has supplied turkeys to Wegmans, and for more than a decade, it’s been producing Wegmans’ conventional and organic private-label turkeys. Jaindl Farms currently produces 750,000 birds a year, all raised on a diet of locally grown Jaindl grain. To prevent stress from overcrowding, the farm relies on 2.5 million square feet of covered housing. It’s a big operation, to be sure. But a look backward reveals humble roots.

David Jaindl keeps a close watch on his flocks

Luke Jaindl, 3rd generation turkey farmer

Open-air shelter raises healthier turkeys

The trophy room celebrates Jaindl’s finest

It Started in 1933 with 5 Turkeys

The Jaindl story began when David’s grandpa purchased five turkeys for David’s father Fred at the Lancaster County Fair in 1933. At the time, the family ran a 60-acre cattle farm, and they figured turkeys would be good company. “It was really just a hobby at first,” says David. By 1945, Fred’s flock was 2,000 turkeys. Twenty years later, the Jaindls were raising 200,000 birds a year. Fred wanted to grow the farm without compromising quality, so he built his own feed mill and processing plant, which allowed him to oversee everything from growing and mixing corn and soybean feed to sending the turkeys out for delivery.

David Jaindl was just 8 years old when he began doing his part. “I’d do what a kid can: make boxes, pack turkeys, things like that,” he says. David’s dad passed away in 2004, and the next year, David bought the business. Today, his five children all work full-time on the farm. The family of farmers could make their lives easier by contracting out some of their operations. But David knows that by keeping everything in-house, he can guarantee the quality of his birds. “Control is what really makes us different,” he says. “And we plan to keep it that way.”