The Sunday Times carried an interesting article today that identify Prince Charles plans to include traditional heritage turkeys as part of the rare breed livestock to be kept at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, the property he bought for the nation in 2007.
Prince Charles, along with other key organisations and individuals such as Jimmy Doherty and Tom Beeston from RBST, believe that the strongest strategy toward securing the survival of traditional heritage turkeys into the future is to get them ‘onto the menu’.
It seems logical that developing a niche ‘table market’ for traditional heritage varieties of turkey will encourage a sustainable and viable future. It’s a tried and tested formula that has been seen to work with other rare and endangered varieties of livestock that are managed and monitored by the RBST.
That is not to diminish what turkey enthusiasts have achieved over the years, and certainly many varieties would already have been lost if it hadn’t been for their dedication and passion.
A combined perspective and approach seems a sensible way forward, and with spiralling feed costs it seems logical for turkeys to enter the table market to offset costs.
P.S. The picture in the Sunday Times article of someone holding the turkey is as some will recognise Brenda Waterman, TCUK Secretary. However, the other turkey pictures featured in the article were not taken at Heritage Turkeys.