Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], November 15, 1953, Image 1

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
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November 15, 1953
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HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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_ * BILL STELLMON _ ______
Roving Reporter ~
T AKE a SMALL farm, a milk cow or two, a small beef
herd, a few chickens and other miscellany, place it all in
the fertile Flathead country and it's likely about right for
one man to handle.
Then add 1,500 flighty, curious, expensive turkeys . . .
and, mister, you'd better have a family to call on for help.
That's one thing Tony Braig, Flathead County farmer,
has found out about turkeys in .these last 15 years. And
Mrs. Braig as well, since it is primarily she who is called
on for that help. As a result, their birds are a family enter
prise from brooder to cooler, with even the two young
Braig sons pitching in time and again to keep turkeys—or
Thanksgiving customers—satisfied.
This is marketing time for half the Braigs' turkeys and,
naturally, a time when family co-operative work is at its
peak. But the work begins much earlier—in fact, that early
labor is probably more important to profits than marketing
itself, because a turkey poult seems often to have the irri
tating conviction that it can not survive.
On the Braig farm, turkey year starts May 1 when the
1,500 new poults are delivered and put in the brooder house.
This building, 72 by 18 feet and built in six sections, is home
for the rest of their lives. First, it is their brooder; later,
with side-doors raised, it is their sunporch shelter; still
later, broken into its six sections, it is their shelter on range.
In their first days in the house, the poults are divided
under six oil-burning brooders and given nearly constant
attention. Within a week, however, they are given a pair
of treatments that seemingly belie other care.
First, the Braigs remove the last joint from one wing of
each bird to stop flying; second, they burn off, electrically,
about half of each turkey's upper beak. This helps cut down
cannibalism among the turkeys and, the Braigs say, any
thing that decreases the tendency of the birds to pick on
each other decreases much of the normal loss in any flock.
By the time the poults are a month old, the Braigs open
the side doors of the brooder house and allow the birds free
dom of the sunporch, a 72 by 20 foot raised area with screen
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Turkeys on range at Braig Turkey Farm, Flathead County.
Houses in background have screened floors and are only
protection for birds on range. The Braigs raise 1,500 tur
keys a year, mixing larger breeds with, this year, 500
midget bronze. Curious birds, turkeys are also cannibalistic,
so Braig removes part of beak when they are young, also
throws few bales of hay into lot to provide them with
picking material. Whenever injured bird is noticed, he goes
into "hospital'' area, a fenced-off corner of this lot. (M F-S
photos)
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Six of these feeders, holding about 1.200 pounds of grain
each, take care of feed needs of Tony Braig's turkeys.
Waterers, visible in background, require hauling about 250
gallons of water a day.
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Marketing time means day-long work for the four Braigs
and three or more helpers. They start killing only about
eight days before Thanksgiving or Christmas, selling toms
at an average 25 pounds and hens at 15 or 16. Here, Mrs.
Braig hangs a bird with others ready to go.