Hinck's Humane Statement

Hinck’s Turkey Farm
Humane Handling Statement For
The Growing of our Turkeys

Our growing program here at Hinck Turkey Farm for over 75 years and four generations of poultry farmers, is a simple one.

  • We start with premium livestock, in the acquisition of our “Day-Old” poults, (baby turkeys) from trusted suppliers.
  • We provide those turkeys a clean, well-ventilated (Open-Air), and safe environment in which to grow.
  • Our turkeys are never crowded and receive many times the roaming space other growers offer as well as free access to outdoor ranges when not compromised by poor weather, peril from predators or migrating birds carrying unknown diseases.
  • We permit them to feed on only the finest “All-Natural” (Vegetarian) feeds and drink only filtered water available at all times of day and night. Our multi-step feeding program has been developed and refined by veterinary nutritionists to provide all the necessary nutrition at the appropriate time in the growing cycle, as it is essential for proper development.
  • We provide regular monitoring of the growing process by personal inspection by experienced farmers throughout each day.
  • Persistent we are in our vigilance for constant sanitation and bio-security at all times, as we have never had to feed our turkeys antibiotics to permit or rectify poor sanitation habits. We have always felt that administering antibiotics to healthy turkeys is something done by other growers to permit crowded, stressed or ill attended livestock to survive in a irresponsible rearing environment.
  • And finally, the responsible recycling of litter by composting the used litter to augment our accumulated soil enhancement supply to later provide a natural source of fertilizer for the production of our other agricultural products also grown on our farm, (i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables for use in our retail salads and products at our market).
  • When it is time to harvest our turkeys, they are never crowded onto trucks to be transported to remote processing facilities, we simply open the barn doors and walk our turkeys to the processing pens, never denying them access to water or shelter for more than 20 minutes.
  • All processing of our turkeys is performed in our USDA Poultry/Red Meat Processing facility (P2173/M2173), right at the farm and under the direct supervision of USDA Food Safety Inspection Service personnel.
  • Hincks processes our turkeys in strict adherence to our HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) Plans, which are independently approved, audited and monitored regularly.
  • All turkey processing programs refer to, and adhere to National Turkey Federation (NTF) guidelines and standards for humane handling of turkeys both in the growing process as well as the processing phases of the turkey production.
  • We are proud stewards of our livestock and the land upon which we grow our turkeys and hope to continue these practices into generations to come.