Nebraska has over 20 turkey complexes with housing units spread throughout the state. Grower farms raise the hens separate from the toms to market weights. Turkey breeder farms have both hens and toms. Semen is collected from toms for artificial insemination of hens. Today, most growers house their flocks in scientifically designed, environmentally controlled, well-spaced facilities that protect birds from diseases, predators and severe weather.
All commercial turkeys produced today are white, broad-breasted turkeys.
Each turkey eats approximately 60 pounds of feed. Nebraska turkeys consume approximately 1,600,000 bushels of Nebraska corn annually and more than 20,000 tons of Nebraska soybean meal annually in combination with other grains, animal by-products and supplements. A 24-pound live turkey will dress out at near 20 pounds. Marketing All Nebraska turkeys are processed at the Nebraska Turkey Growers Cooperative in Gibbon, Nebraska, founded in 1936. This is one of a few plants left in the poultry industry that still operates independently and where producers control the marketing of their product.