When John Winand talks, turkeys listen. The truck-driver-turned farmer commands the attention of his feathered tenants with a booming preacher’s voice and steady gait. “When we walk in here, the birds get up. They recognize our voices,” says Winand, as he makes a morning visit to his barns. “It’s amazing. You can have all this technology, but time spent with the birds is your number-one performance.”
FEATHERED FRIENDS
“Chickens are like cats, but turkeys are like dogs,” John Winand says, cradling one of his toms, the terms for adult male turkeys. The birds are his family’s livelihood, and anyone who spends time there can see he treats them with genuine affection and respect. They live in a barn with wire-mesh walls that let in sunlight and fresh air all day and night and are never administered hormones or antibiotics. The turkeys roam around freely, following the “no cages, no crates, no crowding” mandate set by the independent Global Animal Partnership (GAP). For Winand, everything he does on the farm—and he wears many hats—is in service to his poultry. It’s an impressive operation, but he remains humble. “People ask me, are you the CEO? Are you the president?” Winand laughs. “I say, you know what, I pay the bills, I do the sales, I drive the truck. When you call, I’m the one who answers the phones.”
A DAY’S WORK
For the Winands, farming is a family affair. With an impressively large brood—John and Debbie have nine children, four of whom are now married; and eight grandchildren — everyone pitches in. Whether it’s caring for the birds or crimping crusts on the strawberry pies in the on-site bakery, the whole family, from their eldest son Zach, 27, to their youngest daughter Renae, 10, have their daily duties at the family’s four farms (which also include chicken and cattle). It’s hard, honest work—and that’s the way Winand prefers it. In keeping with their religious doctrine, the family avoids “amusement,” Winand says, stretching the word out, and its connotations of idleness and distraction. “But we like to have fun.” Winand and his family have been raising turkeys for Plainville Farms, a national brand that specializes in organic, antibiotic-free poultry, for 25 years in rural York County, Pennsylvania, just outside historic Gettysburg. He’s a seasoned farmer now, but taking the turkey route wasn’t always on his horizon. When the self-described former bad boy decided it was time for a life change, he went all in, joining a church with his wife, Debbie, and starting a farm not far from where they grew up. Today, you’ll most often find this father and grandfather making the rounds at his farms—tending to his flock of thousands of turkeys.
Winand and his family have been raising turkeys for Plainville Farms, a national brand that specializes in organic, antibiotic-free poultry, for 25 years in rural York County, Pennsylvania, just outside historic Gettysburg. He’s a seasoned farmer now, but taking the turkey route wasn’t always on his horizon. When the self-described former bad boy decided it was time for a life change, he went all in, joining a church with his wife, Debbie, and starting a farm not far from where they grew up. Today, you’ll most often find this father and grandfather making the rounds at his farms—tending to his flock of thousands of turkeys.
CREATURE COMFORTS
A day on the farm starts with checking on the baby turkeys, or poults. Twin wood-frame barns (one for poults, one for adults) spread like wings from the command center, a square room with a folding table and security system that monitors temperature, water, and feed levels and sends alerts to Winand’s phone if any go awry. “Before, it was ‘keep the birds alive’; now, it’s ‘keep the birds comfortable,’” says Winand, explaining the advances in responsibly raised poultry. He’s proud of how comfortable his birds are—and comfortable to poults means warm, 84 to 90 degrees. Overhead heaters keep the barn toasty, while giant fans pull out carbon dioxide and pull in fresh oxygen in 10-minute cycles.
A FRESH START
Winand’s daughter Renae cuddles one of the approximately 5,500 poults, which arrive at the farm less than 24 hours after hatching. Caring for the baby birds is a top priority—and the Winands go above and beyond to keep them healthy and happy. “Poultry is designed with a yolk sac that they can feed off of for three days without food and water—we don’t do that,” says Winand. “We want to get them in and acclimated to the environment as fast as we can.” As newborns, they mill around in big, circular, corrugated cardboard pens called brooders, a flurry of yellow cotton balls dotted turquoise from the natural, topical probiotic ointment applied to their backs shortly after hatching. Turkeys are attracted to red and green—also the hues of their water pans and feeding dishes—so they see the color and wind up spreading the probiotic around to the other poults as they bumble about and huddle together.
SPREADING THEIR WINGS
Turkeys grow quickly, and at about 6 weeks they’re ready to transition from the poult barn to the adult barn. “We open the big barn doors and herd them right across, like a parade,” says Winand. The birds gravitate toward noise. When Winand’s daughter Rosanna walks into the barn—her modern sneakers leaving footprints in the dirt and long navy skirt rustling in the breeze—the curious young turkeys perk up and toddle toward her, then follow as she leads them across the way to their new home. From birth to adulthood, the birds are raised according to the standards set by GAP. GAP staff makes routine audits of Winand’s farm, and a full-time animal welfare specialist and veterinarian are available to assist farmers in the Plainville network.
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