MARKETING 



arriving at market in bad condition. If the turkey grower 

 desires to dress and ship turkeys it is best to pack them in 

 a barrel, alternating each layer of turkeys with a layer of 

 ice. In this condition the turkeys have a much better 

 chance to come through in good shape. 



It is sometimes advisable for the turkey grower when 

 taking advantage of an opportunity to retail his birds, 

 not only to kill and pluck them, but to draw them as well. 

 Whether or not this should be done will depend entirely 

 upon the trade which he has and the demands which are 

 made on him for this work. Usually the drawing which 

 is done by the grower consists simply in cutting around 

 the anus and in drawing the intestine out through the hole 

 thus made until the gizzard is reached when it is broken 

 off. It is seldom desirable to remove the other organs or 

 to attempt to remove the crop unless the crop is filled with 

 feed and as a result is likely to turn dark in color and 

 spoil the appearance of the bird. 



Shipping Turkeys Alive 



Turkeys are shipped alive either in small lots by ex- 

 press, where the distance from the farm to the market 

 is not great, or in large lots by freight where they can 

 be concentrated in carloads. Because of the fact that 

 turkeys shrink a good deal when shipped any great 

 distance alive, the turkeys are for the most part killed 

 and dressed before shipping. However, quite a good 

 many carloads of live turkeys are sent through. An- 



119 



