HISTORIES: "Badger Turkey Industries, Inc." of Barron, Barron County, WI ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Linda Mott 27 June 2000 ==================================================================== Badger Turkey Industries, Inc. Some young men and women have a hard time deciding what they wish to make their life work or career. Others may make a decision while in their early teens and then go forward with determination and great energy to reach the goals, whatever they may be. Wallace H. Jerome belongs in the latter group. In grade school he developed an interest in poultry raising. In high school he won honors in 4-H club work in this field. In 1936 he was a member on the University of Minnesota poultry judging team which won national honors. He completed his poultry study at the University of Wisconsin and received his degree in 1941. In 1941 Jerome Turkey Farm was formed by Wallace Jerome. He bought the 200 acre, Barron County old people's home, farm, and in 1942 raised 15,000 turkeys there. This organization conducts turkey growing operations for Jerome's flocks and for flocks which other farmers raise in partnership with Jerome. The birds were processed at the farm and for a time were sold to Chicago commission merchants. Later, part of the output was sold through the Norbest Turkey Grower's Association, a very large marketing cooperative. As the years went by and more and more turkeys were processed, the plant at the farm was no longer adequate. In 1950, Mr. Jerome bought the idle canning factory in Barron. He completely remodeled it and enlarged it and installed the most up-to-date equipment so now there is no finer turkey processing plant anywhere. To provide the enormous quantities of feed needed for so many birds, he erected a huge elevator which rises to a height of 168 feet and holds 180,000 bushels. In 1953 he entered the hatching operation, and in 1959 hatched over 2 1/2 million poults. Birds pass through the plant at the rate of 40 per minute and each is processed in one half hour. They are packed in slush ice for 12 hours to remove the body heat and then pass through a blast-freezing tunnel where it is 40 degrees below zero. The output of this plant increased, amazingly, year by year. Two and one half million birds were processed in this one plant in 1959. This is 800 car loads (more than 31,000,000 live pounds). The total payroll for Badger Turkey Industries, Inc., Jerome Turkey Hatchery Inc., and Jerome Turkey Farms Inc., totaled $841,552 in 1959. Growers in Wisconsin and Minnesota were paid about $7,000,000. These firms paid $29,939 in property taxes to the city of Barron and about $100,000 was paid for water, electricity and sewer fees in 1959. --From the Souvenir Historical Album of the Barron Centennial-1960 (used by permission)