Thanksgiving is a big day for the farmers who raise the centerpiece of Americans' dinner tables on the last Thursday of November.

But in Minnesota, the nation's top turkey producer, the work doesn't stop once the national holiday ends.

For sixth-generation farmer Eric Sawatzke in Kensington, Minnesota, 17,000 of her birds are served on Thanksgiving. But that flock does not differ much from all the rest: she raises 135,000 turkeys year-round.

"We get them on our farm at the beginning of August, and then when they go to market, it'll be within a couple weeks or a few days of Thanksgiving," she said. "And so that flock is really special to us, although they get the same amount of care."

Sawatzke is among the 600 turkey farmers in the state, according to the Minnesota Turkey Growers As

See Full Page