Lydiard Turkeys is run by Chris and Lindsay Rumming and was established in 2008, the turkeys are all sold direct to the customer from the farm that they were raised on and are not available in supermarkets. In 2020 we decided to open a monthly pop up farm shop to showcase the other meats we produce. We have rare breed Oxford Down sheep which produce award winning lamb, hogget & mutton plus pasture
fed beef (Sales co-ordinated by Chris's brother, Andy)
We also carefully source other produce from trusted small suppliers including free range eggs, organic dairy, bakery including lardy cakes, British in season veg and much more! We farm in a way to increase biodiversity and do everything we can to encourage wildlife. This includes rotationally grazing the livestock, leaving large areas of rough grasses and scrub, hedgelaying and more. Our free range bronze turkeys arrive on the farm at a day old at the end of June. For the first couple of weeks they are housed under heat lamps until their feathers fully develop. They explore the great outdoors from around three weeks of age, starting in a small paddock close to their house. Once they are big enough they move into our fruit orchard which we planted in January 2014. We believe that giving our turkeys twice the required outdoor space leads to a happy stress free turkey. At night they are shut into a large airy barn safely away from foxes. They are bedded on straw that is made as a by-product of the wheat that is grown on the farm. We also put lots of straw bales in the shed for them to roost on and peck at. First thing in the morning the turkeys are let out into the paddocks but can come back into the barn to drink and eat. They are fed on a cereal based diet that is supplemented with any horticultural disasters or over production from our poly tunnel! You wouldn’t believe how excited a flock of turkeys become when a handful of tomatoes or a cabbage is tossed over the fence! Our Turkeys are with us for at least 25 weeks, this means they are more than twice the age of a fast growing commercial turkey when they are slaughtered. We are very proud to have excellent processing facilities on the farm, which means the turkeys do not have the stress of transport before slaughter. Our ability to carry out every part of the processing on the farm gives us complete control and traceability. To learn more please sign up to our newsletter via our website.
