North Carolina is one of the nation's top turkey producers.
The USDA says the state raised about 27 million birds last year, second only to Minnesota. But North Carolina led the country in pounds of turkey produced by raising larger birds.
"We may have fewer turkeys, but we’re producing really efficient animals," said Katie Williams with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, adding the bigger birds are a point of industry pride.
Williams said North Carolina turkey farmers feel the holiday rush logistically. They are hurrying to get frozen birds into stores across the country in time for Thanksgiving.
"They're producing turkeys year-round for certain, but this is a really busy time for them, getting product to retailers or if they need to pull product to have more of it go into processing," she said.
North Carolina farms also provided the turkeys for Gov. Josh Stein's Thanksgiving turkey pardon, and sent a pair of birds to the White House for President Trump's turkey pardon.
