About Beltsville Small White Turkeys

The Beltsville Small White turkey is named after the USDA research center in Beltsville Maryland where it was developed in the late 1930’s. At the time consumers wanted a bird between 8 and 15 pounds that had a larger proportion of breast meat than what had been available.After crossing many breeds an acceptable turkey was developed. The variety was very popular with home cooks, but as refrigerators became larger and the demand for even more white meat became greater, this turkey was gradually replaced with other hybrids such as the Broad Breasted White. The Beltsville Small White is extremely rare today and is considered a critical breed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.