The KellyBronze Story
It all began back in 1981 when Derek Kelly supplied a local Essex butcher with a few Bronze and Black Christmas turkeys from the farm’s rare breeding collection.
Customers raved over the delicious flavour and the following year the family collected together the few remaining flocks of traditional Bronze turkeys, to ensure the bloodlines were preserved. These small flocks were all slow growing strains that had retained the original flavour of turkey.
Today’s KellyBronze is a mixture of all these bloodlines blended to give the ultimate in eating quality. The exact combination is a closely kept secret.
Using the best traditional farming methods are key to the KellyBronze story and, again, the pursuit of excellence is continual.
Milestones have included: no hormones, antibiotics, additives or animal protein. Care for the environment and care for the welfare of the birds. It goes without saying KellyBronze turkeys are free range.
Paul Kelly, now at the helm, predicts Kelly Turkey Farms will continue to lead the way as it has done for the last 25 years because of its dedication and determination to produce the best. He said: “Everyone who works for us gets huge satisfaction from our turkey breeding and farming programme and it shows in the turkeys we produce.”
Turkeys in trees?
This year Paul is re-introducing his famous KellyBronze turkeys to the wild. The birds spend their days foraging in bluebell woods and sunning themselves in open pasture. They shelter from the rain under bushes and fly into trees to roost at night.
To ensure they have a balanced, healthy diet, their foraging is supplemented by the traditional KellyBronze feed of drug-free and GM-free locally grown cereal.
They are free to wander where they want, when they want. But to make sure the young turkeys are safe from predators - both the two legged and four legged kind - Paul has invested in Herbie and Freddie, two collie pups which are being brought up alongside the turkeys to ensure they bond, and who are in the woods to protect them.
Paul said: “It is an experiment, but it seems to be working. We have been farming our KellyBronze turkey flocks for more than 30 years and never stop striving for perfection. We are always searching for fresh ideas to achieve the very best turkey we can for our customers.
“Our philosophy is always: What can we do to make it better? Not: What can we do to make it cheaper? It’s all because we are passionate about our turkeys - and we believe it really makes a difference in the birds we give our customers.”
Paul recently appeared on the BBC’s Working Lunch programme to discuss his turkey business in the run up to the festive period.
Orders for KellyBronze traditional Christmas turkeys can be taken right up to December 18, either through www.kellybronze.co.uk or by calling 01245 223581.
