-Submitted photo
The operation’s pigs are free range and move throughout the pasture. They arrive at the end of April weaned and are sent to the butcher around mid-October, weighing around 250 to 280 pounds.

OKOBOJI — Nestled in northwestern Iowa sits an organic farm that raises holiday turkeys perfect not just for Thanksgiving but also for a Christmas meal.

Kate Mendenhall of Okoboji has always wanted to be a farmer like some of her extended family members. It was a dream of hers to move back to her hometown and start a small livestock farm.

“We are fortunate to do that now. My husband and I own the land, but I own the business and run it myself with help from my retired father, Walter, but my hubby and kids help out on the farm, too,” Mendenhall said.

Husband, Zach, 12-year-old son, Elias Mendenhall-Borris, and 9-year-old daughter, Hattie Mendenhall-Borris, love working alongside their wife and mom. Altogether, they own 18.5 acres and have 17.5 acres of diversely mixed perennial pasture ground fenced in. The one acre not fenced in is where they built their greenhouse. At their farm, Okoboji Organics, they raise pasture pigs, broiler chickens, turkeys and laying hens.

“We worked with the NRCS to find a mix that worked really well with livestock rotating and native grasses. Every animal but the laying hens are organic. They are fed organically but aren’t organic themselves,” Mendenhall explained.

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Kate Mendenhall, of Okoboji, owns Okoboji Organics, where she raises pasture pigs, broiler chickens, turkeys and laying hens with help from her husband, Zach, and their two children. Currently, the farm has about 30 turkeys.

Okoboji Organics sits on land that used to be a sod farm, then became conventionally farmed ground for corn and soybeans. When they bought it in 2016, Mendenhall put it into a diverse cover crop mix to start the organic transition. Then the next year, they planted most of the farm into a perennial pasture mix.

“I left maybe four acres for annual pasture crops until the perennial pasture was established, then we added meat birds in 2017. We’ve had them every year. We added chickens and pigs in 2018 and experimented with three turkeys in 2017. We liked raising them so we have added a few more turkeys every year since then. We currently have around 30 turkeys,” Mendenhall said.

Raising turkeys is an adventure, Mendenhall said.

“They’re hilarious. We love raising them. Ours have free range of the farm once they’re big enough to be safe from predators, so until then they stay in a roosting pen at night so they’re protected. They eat a lot of organic pasture and are omnivores that eat grasshoppers, frogs and worms. They’re really good foragers,” Mendenhall said. “They’re fed organic grain every day from Blue Stem Enterprises, which is a female-owned organic feed mill in Webster City. I love supporting her business. She buys from mostly local, organic Iowa growers. She’s very knowledgeable about animal health.”

Since they have free range, the turkeys often wander up to a quarter of a mile away within Mendenhall’s fenced-in property, then return at night.

-Submitted photo
Kate Mendenhall owns Okoboji Organics.

Because turkeys are fragile when born, they stay in the brood barn for two to three weeks where they enjoy a bedding of peat moss that helps keep them warm. Once they start sprouting feathers, they move to an outdoor enclosure with roosts.

“We have chicken wire along the bottom of the enclosure. Owls are our biggest predator and they can kill them at night, so hopefully we’ve reduced that risk with the smaller hard wire,” Mendenhall said. “They also have poultry netting around them. They don’t get out of that area for a month because they can still get lost in the grass. Once they are big enough that they aren’t as appealing to predators, we open up the roost and take down the net to give them full range of the 17.6 acres during the day.”

At night, all Mendenhall has to do is yell “turkeys” and they come running from wherever they’re at. The incentive to return home each night is feed. They end up weighing anywhere from 12 to 23 pounds at the time of butchering.

“They get into their roost and then we lock them in for the night to keep the predators away,” Mendenhall said.

Okoboji Organics raises turkeys from April to September, while the chickens spend seven to eight weeks on the farm. They spend their first two weeks inside and then the next six weeks outside in a portable pen that’s moved twice a day. They’re also protected with electric netting.

“They’re even more susceptible to predators than the turkeys, so we have to keep them safe. The turkey house gets moved once or twice a week,” Mendenhall said.

The operation’s pigs are also free range and move throughout the pasture. They arrive at the end of April weaned and are sent to the butcher around mid-October, weighing around 250 to 280 pounds. The turkeys follow behind them and scratch at any grain that the pigs haven’t digested or that spilled out of the feeder.

The pigs are moved every three to seven days and reside inside a strand of electric polywire. They also have a hay rack for shade and shelter from the elements with feeders that hang from their moveable house. Their waterer is on a sled that moves along with the house, as does the electric water. They nosh on pasture grass as well as organic grains from the miller.

Customers know to add their names to the list for a Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas bird in June.

“We process the turkeys ourselves in mid-September since we don’t have a heated facility for them, and you never know what the weather will be like from October to November. They’re delicious and nutritious, and have had nothing but full outdoor access and really good, healthy feed. I think the poultry and the pork absorb the flavor of their feed and environment. These animals get so much sun and fresh air.”

Mendenhall processes her own poultry but sends the pigs to a USDA-certified organic butcher in South Dakota. Okoboji Organics sells its meat products at their farm store built into the barn. People can pop in and pick up their order then leave their payment or order online.