The governor’s annual turkey pardoning ceremony highlights an industry that employs 38,000 Iowans and produces about 12 million turkeys annually.
Governor Kim Reynolds hosted the event at the governor’s mansion in Des Moines as two turkeys roamed the grounds. “Today’s honored guests are Tailfeather and Wingding,” Reynolds said, as the turkeys responded with gobbles. “There you go. They love it.”
There are over 130 turkey producers in Iowa. Josh and Kelli Berg of Early brought the two birds who’ve been given a Thanksgiving reprieve. “In 2010, we had the opportunity to match up kind of with a retiring farmer on a row crop operation and so we did that,” Berg said. “…In 2015, we are able to purchase our first turkey finisher site and had a contract with Tyson Foods there in Storm Lake, so we’re about 15 miles from the plant. And another five years later we were able to put up a turkey brooder and then purchase another finisher site, so we have a lot of turkeys going on in our area.”
Berg’s operation now produces about a million turkeys every year. Iowa ranks 7th among the states in turkey production. “Now therefore I, Governor of the Great State of Iowa do proudly Tailfeather and Wing Ding as symbols of Iowa’s great turkey industry and they are free to roam this Thanksgiving holiday,” Reynolds said as she read the proclamation to the crowd gathered on the Terrace Hill lawn.
The governor’s proclamation indicated the industry will have an estimated $10.6 billion economic impact on the state this year.