Fall 2008

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Whatever the Next Advance for Turkeys, Molines'll be Ready

John Moline (right) poses in a turkey finishing barn with sons and fellow ISU alums Grant (center) and Brad (left). The Moline family's successful 85-year-old operation could be credited to their devotion to quality and their adaptable nature. "The only thing constant is change, and you have to change to stay in the game," John says.

Next time you bite into a Subway turkey sandwich west of the Mississippi River there's a good chance you're enjoying turkey that started out on the Moline Brothers farm in northwest Iowa.

John Moline ('67 poultry science) says the basic principles of successful turkey production - feed efficiency and "liveability" - haven't changed since his family began raising turkeys in 1924 near Manson.

What has changed is the amount of labor needed to get the job done.

"Automation, like feeders, waters and skid loaders, has made a huge difference in the amount of labor required to raise turkeys," he says. "But the biggest change I've seen is that when we were kids, it took 36 weeks to grow a 36-pound turkey. Today we can turn out a 40-pound turkey in 20 weeks." He credits the increase in size to improved genetics and nutrition.

Moline is representative of an industry tuned in to their consumers. Moline lists the well-known Butterball turkey, which they raised for a time, and convenience foods including Norbest turkeys with pop-up timers, as ways their industry has met consumer demand.

"Our industry has been consumer-driven for years, at least since my ISU days," Moline says. Today close to 50 percent of all turkey is consumed in turkey sandwiches, including birds from the Moline farm. Their product is packaged into precooked, presliced lunchmeat packs for use in Subways and for purchase in retail outlets.

Moline always knew he wanted to farm. He took over the family operation with his brother Tom in 1968. Today with John's sons Brad and Grant on board they turn out 28,000 birds every nine weeks.

Turkeys arrive at the Moline farm the same day they hatch from a facility in Minnesota. While in the care of the Molines, the turkeys grow from 4 ounces to 44 pounds in 21 weeks.

In addition, the Molines row crop 1,500 acres. They incorporate their corn into turkey feed pellets and use turkey manure as fertilizer for their crop acres. Moline says they also keep a handful of cattle on hand, "for the grandkids to play with and to fill the deep freeze."

Moline, a member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences advisory council and former president of the Iowa Turkey Federation, serves as a board member of the Iowa Turkey Growers Co-op and West Liberty Foods LLC turkey processing cooperative. The Molines are one of 42 independent turkey producers who are members of the cooperative. He proudly details the cooperative's state-of-the-art processing facilities and shares that while they've never needed a recall, they can track down every product within four hours if necessary.

He says advances in nutrition, like adding amino acids and animal fat to the feed, has given more energy to the birds, and advances in genetics may lead to 50-pound birds. That's something he didn't think was possible when he left home for Iowa State in 1965.

Moline laughs when he talks about his days at ISU. "I loved the entire experience," he says. "It was the best vacation I ever had."

In addition to the break from farm chores, he says he enjoyed meeting people at Iowa State, including a "little Chicago girl" who is now his wife, Gayle ('68 applied art). Their Iowa State brood includes sons, Jay ('96 mechanical engineering), David ('97 ag engineering), Grant ('98 ag business) and Brad ('02 dairy science and animal science), all of whom married fellow Iowa Staters. "The grandkids don't have a choice," says Moline with a smile.

Iowa in Turkey Top 10

• Iowa ranks 9th in U.S. turkey production
• 8.54 million turkeys are produced in Iowa each year
• Every turkey raised in Iowa creates about $11 in economy activity
• The turkey industry contributes $253.3 annually to Iowa's gross state product