Consumers urged to buy from farms with whole bird turkey sales on the up

He said: “People are influenced by advertising to come back to a whole bird, but perhaps not as big a bird.”

Susannah Pate, a turkey farmer near Dundee, said seven years ago, people were buying bigger birds.

She said: “They tended to be part of their Christmas celebration. We have seen a trend to having a smaller bird just for the day.

“Last year and this year we have seen big birds going out again.”

She said buying from local farms helped people make a connection with where food comes from, with word of mouth a big driver of sales.

“We try and make it really festive, by dressing up our shed. We have a local vegetable farm which comes up.

Family

“People can have a glass of mulled wine or hot chocolate rather than standing in supermarket queues.”

Mr Bailey agreed it was about giving a family a positive experience and making a visit to the farm part of a Christmas tradition, with turkeys a valuable source of income for family farms.

And with planning for next Christmas starting as early as February, sales this year had a big influence on plans for the next festive period.

Shortages of seasonal labour has been a concern for larger producers, but Mr Bailey highlighted for smaller farms, which tended to employ the same people each year, losing just one or two workers could cause major problems.