By Randy Tucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

This Thanksgiving, Tristate consumers could have even more to be thankful for than the company of friends and family.

Dan Tewes, owner of Tewes Poultry, moves thru a barn full of turkeys as he brings a water bucket to the birds Thursday. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

They'll probably pay less for this year's feast than they did last year, experts say, thanks to a plentiful supply of frozen turkeys - the biggest contributor to the cost of Thanksgiving dinner.

"If you're looking for an economical buy, frozen turkey will be a real steal again this year," said Mike Hulet, professor of poultry sciences at Penn State University.

Hulet said a slow export market has left U.S. suppliers with an abundance of frozen turkeys in storage, which retailers have gobbled up for pennies on the dollar, allowing them to pass the savings on to consumers.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average retail price for a whole, frozen turkey was $1.01 a pound in August - the most recent month for which prices were available. That was down from $1.26 a pound in August last year.

And prices generally decline around Thanksgiving, when about 8 out of 10 frozen turkeys are sold on holiday special, according to government statistics.

At the Kroger store in Forest Hills across from Beechmont Mall, Honeysuckle White brand frozen turkeys were on sale this week for 57 cents a pound.

"That's a good price," said Cindy Kizer of Pleasant Ridge, who was shopping at Kroger on Wednesday. "It seems like turkey has been pretty reasonable for the past few holidays."

If you like fresh turkey with your meal, you might end up spending a little more on Thanksgiving dinner.

The slowdown in turkey exports has led growers to cut back on production to offset the oversupply.

Consequently, the number of birds available for slaughter around Thanksgiving will dwindle by about 3 percent this year, which means prices will be higher, Hulet said.

"Fresh turkey will be sold at a premium, there's no doubt about it," he said. "But the supplies should be adequate, even with the cutback in production."

Nationwide, turkey production has more than tripled in the past decade, with growers producing almost 270 million turkeys last year.

North Carolina is the largest turkey-producing state in the nation - raising roughly 46 million turkeys this year - and together with Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas and Virginia accounted for more than half of the turkey production in the nation.

Ohio ranked No. 11, producing 5.3 million birds in 2003.

One of the biggest Tristate turkey producers is Tewes Poultry Farm in Erlanger, which has been in the turkey business since the 1950s and raised 3,000 birds this year.

Owner Dan Tewes said he expects to sell about the same number of birds this year to individuals and for some corporate events.

And although his prices are about 50 cents a pound higher than the average at most grocery stores in the area, he said he's seen no slowdown in demand.

"So far, sales are just as good as they were last year, if not better,'' he said. "Some people have come in and bought two or three birds.''

Most of the early purchases are for special events or early gatherings for families who can't be together at Thanksgiving. However, most of the birds - about 1,000 - will be sold in the week leading up to the holiday, Tewes said.

Last year, the traditional Thanksgiving meal cost $34.56 to serve 10 people - down from $35.04 in 2001, according to the American Farm Bureau, which conducts an annual survey. This year's survey will be released later this month.

By comparison, the cost of Thanksgiving dinner was $27.49 a decade earlier, in 1993.

Besides turkey, the survey also included stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, rolls with butter, cranberries, a relish dish, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee or milk - a menu that dropped in price last year for only the second time since 1991, the Farm Bureau said.

Those other holiday foods such as cranberries and sweet potatoes generally are in plentiful supply this year at prices about the same or only slightly higher than last year.

Turkey facts

• The average American eats between 18 and 19 pounds of turkey each year. That's more than double the 8.2 pound average in 1970.

• About a third of all turkeys are eaten between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thirty years ago, half of all the turkeys eaten were consumed during the holiday period.

• Roughly 80 percent of the turkeys bought in November are sold with some kind of discount, the highest level of any month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

• Ohio ranks 11th in turkey production in 2003, raising 5.3 million of the 269.2 million grown domestically. North Carolina ranks first, with 45.9 million.

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E-mail rtucker@enquirer.com