A Carbonear teacher's side hustle is selling turkeys
Teacher David Kennedy bought a turkey farm recently, and has been learning a lot about getting the birds raised in time for the Christmas table. (Submitted David Kennedy)
For most teachers, the holidays mean it's time for a break. But for David Kennedy, it's when things can get very busy — and that's because he is also a turkey farmer.
Kennedy teaches math at Carbonear Collegiate, and he runs Kennedy's Farm in nearby Freshwater.
He said things have been hectic in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
"We don't have the facilities to do thousands as they do south of the border. So it makes it very hectic," said Kennedy. "You have to make sure that everything is delivered on time for those wishing to receive [a turkey]."
Kennedy's Farm sells big turkeys to restaurants in St. John's, as well as local meat shops and the general public.
While for other farms turkey sales boom around Thanksgiving, Kennedy said Christmas is the peak season in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"We sold, I guess, almost 400 fresh turkeys in the last number of days," Kennedy said Monday.
From teacher to farmer
Kennedy took over the farm, previously known as Noel's Farm, in 2022. At the beginning, he said, there was a steep learning curve, particularly about turkeys and how they grow.
"The biggest thing is growth patterns," he said.
As of Monday, David Kennedy says he sold about 400 turkeys in just a few days. (Submitted by David Kennedy)
Day-old chicks are imported from Ontario, getting their first bit of water and food on their first day at the farm, said Kennedy. At first, the chicks grow very little, but at around 10 to 12 weeks, they start to eat and grow much larger.
"And even the amount of space that they take up, some local farmers …try to raise a few turkeys, but they don't get over how quick they fill up the space," said Kennedy.
Also, he said it can be hard to maintain their weight as he can't really control how much they eat.
"It's not like you can say, 'OK, we'll cut this one back and we'll put that one back…' It's that juggernaut of how do you keep birds to a certain size?"
He said growing things is actually the easiest part of being a farmer, and the difficult part is marketing the product and trying to regain Noel's farm's customer base.
"I'm not really a business person, like I said, I'm a teacher," he said. "We finally have gotten the customer base that we need to have I guess on a go-forward basis to make it successful."
As for the turkey dinner, Kennedy says his turkeys are juicy and tender.
"The birds that we kill [are] at most a couple of couple of weeks old, you know, and that's the difference."
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
