The last of the great turkey farmers

The festive season is the busiest time of the year for turkey farmer Daryl Deutscher. He raises what many consider to be the tastiest turkeys in the country. Despite the high demand for his full-flavoured, free-range birds, this Christmas will be his last.

The 69-year-old farmer has called it quits. "I don't want to leave this industry," Deutscher says. The respected grower also raises rare-breed turkeys and has sold fertilised eggs back to growers in America, the original home of turkeys. "But my mind and body can't do the work that needs to be done."

Deutscher grows 2000 turkeys at a time, in open paddocks, under the shade of river red gums on his 32 hectare farm at Dadswells Bridge, 265 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. He also processes the birds on site. He is one of seven independent Australian turkey farmers who, between them, grow 750,000 of the 5 million birds processed annually. The rest is supplied by big poultry processors Ingham's and Baiada.

Deutscher says finding workers to help him perform basic tasks has been unsuccessful. "People turn up for work, incapable of the simplest chores. The education system is turning out people with all rights, but no responsibly. Common sense is not common."

Small growers across the nation are also finding it difficult to compete against the big processors. Their turkeys sell in supermarkets for $7 a kilogram. Free-range turkey growers charge about $10 a kilogram wholesale.

John Watson, president of the Australasian Turkey Federation, says this is one of a range of problems hitting the industry. "Climate change is a big one," Watson says. He owns Pooginagoric Free Range Turkeys near Bordertown in South Australia. "Turkeys don't like those heatwaves. It really affects them," he says. "We have to go out to the paddocks and spray the birds with water. Growers who raise birds in sheds need to cool the buildings down, and that takes expensive electricity."

Deutscher will list his business for sale after Christmas. "I love my birds," he says. "But I cannot cope with the phone calls, paperwork, feed has gone up 25 per cent because of the drought and last night a fox got in through a hole in the fence. It's too much."