A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 22, 2003
Pallmans ’ Secret To
Raising
(Continued from Page A 1)
raising fresh turkeys and capons
for the holiday season.
The turkeys and capons are
sold on an order-only basis and
can range in size from the small
er-sized turkeys that weigh about
12 pounds to larger turkeys
weighing more than 40 pounds.
In addition to raising poultry
an estimated 4,500 capons and
8,500 turkeys seasonally the
Pallmans also operate a strawber
ry farm.
The poultry operation was
begun in the late 1940 s by Art
“Dutch” Pallman and is run by
his sons, Rich, Brian, and Bruce.
Today, this unique combina
tion of the strawberries in the
spring and the turkeys and ca
pons for the holidays continues to
equal a successful operation for
the Pallman family.
When the strawberries are in
season, customers can pick their
own and can also see the turkeys
when they arrive at the farm.
This provides an unusual aware
ness opportunity for the
Pallmans, for many of their
strawberry customers return in
the fall for their turkeys.
The secret to their success is
quality.
“Most people who get their
turkey here become a loyal cus
tomer,” said Rich.
Customers are from Scranton
and the surrounding areas, but
some will travel several hours
just for a turkey. People arrive
from Binghamton, N.Y.; New
Jersey; Philadelphia; and North
Carolina.
This family operation has only
23 full-time employees and is a
one-of-a-kind operation in north
eastern Pennsylvania with a re
tail fresh turkey and capon busi
ness.
The turkeys will arrive on the
farm in June and July, raised to
the proper weights, and then pro
cessed on the farm just before
Thanksgiving.
Because of the farm size and
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Turkeys
business type, the Pallmans con
tinue to believe they are able to
take good care of their birds,
which results in a better finish.
Rich said they give the birds a lot
of “tender loving care,” making
sure they get outside and exer
cise. The farm can better main
tain the litter and pay attention
to detail.
Because of their “tender-lov
ing-care” philosophy, the busi
ness has been built on word of
mouth. The only other advertis
ing they have is in the early fall,
when they mail cards out to 4,500
people to notify them of ordering
their turkey and when the pickup
days will be. They also advertise
for the Christmas season.
In addition to the retail busi
ness, Pallmans also sell gift boxes
to small companies in the Scran
ton area and capons to distribu
tors in New York City, eastern
Pennsylvania, and Lancaster.
The health of the economy can
play a role in how their company
gift box sales are in one year. For
the retail side, every year is about
the same if not a little bit better.
Retail sales with customers are
“not nearly as economically driv
en,” said Rich, “because of the
quality of the product that we
have. And for that one meal for
the year, people are willing to
pay the price because they know
the quality and they want that.
The other aspect, the wholesale
end, and dealing with the busi
nesses that is totally economy
driven.”
Rich also notes that 50 percent
of their turkeys at Thanksgiving
go to gift packages for small com
panies. However, there is no real
risk to have a large volume of
turkeys that cannot be sold since
their companies are small.
Rich said, “when one business
sector tends to struggle, another
is having a good year.” So they
can easily pick up a new custom
er to make up the loss for one
company in a year.
As the buisness continues to
h \
K *
The Pallmans offer larger-sized turkeys than can be found in the grocery store. Sev
eral turkeys will mature to a weight over 45 pounds.
grow and change with the times,
they continue to shift with the
consumer demands. The one
change that Rich notes is that the
shift in the holidays from Christ
mas to Thanksgiving.
“Back in the ’sos, Christmas
would have been just as big if not
a bigger holiday,” said Rich.
With the gift boxes, “we used to
do as much for Christmas if not
more as Thanksgiving.”
The demand for capons con
tinues to diminish for the
Pallmans. They note that a youn
ger generation that does not
know what a capon is, and for
those who do, a health-conscious
public does not want them.
Their ability to market capons
is based on die use of distribu
tors, selling live birds to a Kosher
plant in New York, and the eth
nic groups still in the Scranton
area.
However, a greater problem
continues to arise for the
Pallmans as the demand for ca
pons continues to decline. The
genetics are not being improved
upon, and finding suitable birds
is difficult.
In addition, finding someone
to caponize the birds is expensive
and problematical. They note
that they only know of two peo
ple in Pennsylvania who still op
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Although the Pallmans count
their location a blessing when
considering the risks for poultry
diseases such as avian influenza
(A. 1.), there are many distance
challenges they handle that a
farm in a poultry-rich area would
not have. The challenges include
feed, which is shipped from Leba
non County; having to go pick up
their poults because of the small
number they need, traveling eight
hours away; and no local veteri
narian.
The other challenge they face
every year is free turkey givea
ways at local stores.
“If there is anything that has
impacted our business, that has,”
said Rich. “That has hurt our
business a little bit. There is al
ways going to be that person out
there looking for the cheaper
product.”
Regardless of the challenges,
the Pallmans move forward every
year with the family turkey tradi
tion. It is an en
joyable time
through all of
the hard work—
especially on
pickup days,
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<CZZI
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when their parents, Dutch and
Leona, meet with the customers.
“Pickup days they (our par
ents) are still there and like to
help distribute the turkeys. There
are a lot of personal friendships
that they have developed over the
years because the people have
been coming for so long,’’ said
Rich.
Although the Pallmans claim
that they really have never had
any unusual things occur in their
operation, they claim their tur
keys have graced the table of the
former Gov. Robert Casey’s
home. In addition, their turkeys
have rumored to have been sold
through one of their distributors
to Martha Stewart.
The challenges are worth it.
“It’s the light at the end of the
tunnel,” said Bruce. “We will all
go to our mother’s (for Thanks
giving).” And one of their turkeys
will be served.
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