Today’s turkeys are a lot bigger — more than double the size — and faster-growing than the birds our parents or grandparents ate.
Turkeys have gotten much bigger than they were half a century ago.
To meet growing demand starting in the 1950s, American turkey farmers began to breed birds for their size and speed of growth.
Today, the average turkey weighs around 30 pounds, almost twice as much as they did in the 1960s.
The turkey on your Thanksgiving table this week probably won’t look anything like it would have decades ago.
Today’s turkeys are a lot bigger — more than double the size — and faster-growing than the birds our parents or grandparents ate.
For reference, here’s the turkey that President John F. Kennedy pardoned in 1963, compared to the 36- and 47-pound birds President Donald Trump pardoned 54 years later:
That’s a big bird.
Still, demand for the birds is greater than ever.
Tech: The turkey you’re about to eat weighs twice as much as it did a few decades ago
