Koch's Turkey Farm

Koch's Turkey Farm operates a USDA-inspected poultry plant at 416 Valley Road in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, under establishment numbers P8437 and V8437. FSIS lists the plant for poultry slaughter, poultry processing, and export certification, with poultry as the only species slaughtered under inspection. The agency classifies the establishment as small and places it in slaughter volume category 4.0. The grant of inspection date on file is July 20, 2021. No custom-exempt activity is reported to FSIS.

According to the company website, Roscoe and Emma Koch began raising turkeys on the family farm in the Lewistown Valley outside Tamaqua in 1939, and their son Lowell and his wife Elizabeth founded Koch's Turkey Farm in 1953 with two turkey barns and a small processing plant. The operation grew to 45 barns by the 1980s, and a third generation, Duane, Barb, Pam, and Beth, took over operations in the mid 1990s. The website states the farm raises turkeys without antibiotics on an all vegetarian diet of corn, soybeans, vitamins, and minerals, uses no animal or other by-products, and raises several breeds so that hen birds fall in the 8 to 12 pound range and males in the 22 to 30 pound range. It also describes a free-ranged Heirloom Bronze turkey, an old strain of Orlopp Bronze, and organic turkeys certified by Pennsylvania Organic Certifiers.

The website says the company offers more than 50 fresh and frozen turkey products and that it was the first turkey producer to be Certified Humane, with over 800,000 turkeys raised annually, followed by Global Animal Partnership approval a year later. The site lists a wholesale line for merchandisers and commercial retailers. Retail hours, farm store details, and any arrangements for processing birds owned by other farmers are not stated in the sources on file. The federal record shows no custom-exempt activity.

The website describes more than 50 fresh and frozen turkey products, including whole birds sized from 8 to 12 pound hens up to 22 to 30 pound males, organic whole turkeys, free-ranged Heirloom Bronze turkeys, smoked breasts, drums and wings, deli meats, ground turkey, burgers, patties, and marinated fillets. A wholesale line for retailers and merchandisers is also listed. The sources do not state retail store hours, online ordering, shipping, or delivery. Buyers can contact the company at (800) 247-7300 or through the email addresses listed on the site.

If you are buying a half or quarter animal, the plant is where the animal is processed; the farm sells you the animal. Read how to buy a half cow for the sequence and the math.