Growing up in a farming family, it was no surprise for David Jones that he started a farm of his own.
Jones’s father was a beef farmer, and after working part-time on his farm for years, Jones knew he wanted something different. He explained, “The turkeys are what caught my attention, and we kept growing more and more turkeys.”
As the owner of Jones Turkey Farm in Cabot, PA, he currently raises 4,000 Broad Breasted White turkeys and 500 chickens (100 Jumbo Cornish broilers and 400 Amberlink layers) and grows sweet corn, field corn and soybeans on his property.
Jones currently employs one full-time worker that helps with the soybeans and field corn, as well as a dozen high school and college students who help throughout the year. The team grows more than 200 acres of sweet corn and pick it all by hand. Jones mentioned that one morning they picked almost 12,000 ears, which took five hours for 10 workers. It usually doesn’t take the team that long, but they’re being intentional with the corn they pick, making sure they only harvest the ears that are ready.
Jones calls his big birds “specialty turkeys.” They are hand-nurtured and are fed soybean and corn that he grows on the farm, with some vitamin and mineral mix that is purchased elsewhere. He buys all of his poultry when they are a day old, getting 1,200 at a time. He is usually the only person who comes into contact with the young birds during their first one to two weeks on the farm.
To keep them healthy, the workers use foot dips before seeing the animals, and usually have boots that stay on the farm to prevent contamination.
All of the waste on his farm is sold directly to farmers to use for fertilizer. Jones said he’s been lucky in his location and he hasn’t had to worry about adopting new irrigation practices. One method they use to maintain moisture for the sweet corn is to “plant a cover crop in the fall, and then in the spring we roll it down and plant sweet corn through it,” using the no-till method to keep moisture in the soil.
All of their animals are processed on the farm, so “a bird doesn’t leave here unless it’s chilled to 33º or frozen,” Jones said. They have a store on their property where they sell chickens, turkeys and eggs, as well as an online store on their website.
Dave Jones currently raises 4,000 Broad Breasted White turkeys and 500 chickens and grows sweet corn, field corn and soybeans. Photo courtesy of Jones Turkey Farm
From July to October, the farm provides sweet corn throughout the tristate area with their self-serve corn trailers. Jones owns 50 trailers they use to deliver Silver Queen and Butter and Sugar Sweet corn to over 30 locations.
Moving forward, Jones hopes to continue to improve the farm’s processes and continue to be successful in the industry. Visit jonesturkeyfarm.com to access their online store, learn more about their production and to find the location list for the self-serve corn trailers.
by Kelsi Devolve
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