‘Real value’ focus of Kelly Turkeys’ exhibit

4.7kg industrial hen [left] v Kelly Super Mini female
4.7kg industrial hen [left] v Kelly Super Mini female

The wide selection of specialist traditional turkey strains will be featured on the Kelly Turkeys stand at the British Pig & Poultry Fair, Stoneleigh, on May 13 and 14.

The stand, which has become a meeting place for the traditional turkey sector, will focus on the ‘real value’ which the company believes its strains provide.

“Our selection criteria for all of our lines has a very clear order of play,” said managing director Paul Kelly. “First is perfect skeletal formation and excellent walking ability, then eating quality, and finally meat yield and conformation.

“We continually compare our breeds with regular supermarket breeds. The large strain female is cheaper to produce in every way when cost per kg of liveweight is the measurement. But when meat yield and flavour are taken into account, the answers are very different.

“In our test a 4.7kg Super Mini female had a staggering 51 percent more breast meat than the large industrial female"