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Turkey Farming in South Australia

There were two Thomas Brothers at Booborowie who ran about 3000-4000 turkeys. They fattened one lot of turkeys on a grasshopper plague. If fowls swallowed the locusts their saw like legs cut through the oesophagus, but turkeys with thicker tissues thrived on them. They also fattened their turkeys on the oily seeds of saffron thistle, (Cathamus Lanatus). They discovered that they could reap thick strands of saffron thistle with a conventional header, and these seeds, rich in oil, helped to fatten the turkeys.

John Martins (Emporium) used to send professional dry pluckers up to pluck the birds ready for market, unlike the more traditional method of dipping fowls in near boiling water before plucking the feathers.

Unfortunately, the foxes killed many turkeys, particularly when they were young. So the Thomas Brothers moved to Tasmania where there were no foxes and they ran about 8000 turkeys there in the Tamar Valley.

(Source: Brian Jefferies)