Document text
Photo by Jim Craven John Casad of Talent watches over his flock of turkeys in the days before the birds become Christmas presents. Presents for the table Care and feeding make a gift to savor By MARK FREEMAN TALENT -- After years of giving Christmas presents that turned out to be turkeys, John and Judy Casad decided to start presenting the real thing. The Casads started raising domesticated turkeys on their rural Talent hobby farm and transforming them into Christmas presents for family and close friends. "Rather than giving them presents that they would have to dust off and put on the mantle when we come visit," John Casad says, ``why not give them turkeys? "We thought it would be a nice way to go," he says. "And it has." Just before Thanksgiving, the Casads butcher, clean and present their plump poultry to about two dozen family members. This fowl attitude toward Christmas has lasted the past two decades. And Casad's baster-brandishing benefactors have come to relish the Casad's fresh holiday treat. "We look forward to it every year," says Lynda Adsitt, a rural Eagle Point family member who holds a coveted slot on the Casad Christmas list. "You ever eat a fresh turkey?" Adsitt says. "They're fabulous -- and we know they (raise) it with love for the family." Each year, the Casads will raise either bronze or white turkeys. The bronze turkeys tend to be a little smaller and have more dark meat, while the white turkeys are bred to become the butterball-like kegs of white meat. This year, the Casads bought their batch of white turkeys on June 1 from the Grange Co-op store near Medford. The birds are housed in an old barn, and fed a standard poultry food mix also bought from the Grange. Beyond that, the pith of poultry propagation is ensuring the dumb, timid and anxiety-laden birds are not literally scared to death. "Sometimes, with turkeys, if someone scares them real good at the wrong time," Casad says, "they'll die." Those that don't die grow rapidly and wide. Many will weigh more than 40 pounds on the platter. On butchering day, the Casads will cut, clean and wrap each turkey for delivery some time during the Thanksgiving week. "Some years, it's a real rodeo trying to catch them," he says. And before the first official shopping day of the Christmas season, the Casads' gift-giving is done. "Let's face it," Casad says. "We spend a little money all summer and fall, and we have nice Christmas presents for everyone." The big birds sometimes present a problem -- namely, how to get rid of a 42-pound present. "I have to cut it in half, because you can't cook a whole one at one time," Adsitt says. "In fact," she says, "I still have the other half of last year's present in the freezer." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA