NEW CARLISLE, Ohio – Bowman & Landes turkey farm by the numbers: 70,000 turkeys, 75 years, four generations.

Ask just about anyone in southwest Ohio and no doubt they’ve heard of Bowman & Landes turkey farm in New Carlisle.

The traditions of providing Thanksgiving turkeys from this 145-acre farm began in 1948. Since that time, they tend to roughly 70,000 turkeys annually, from one-day poults to processing.

Steve Landes, his brother Stan Landes, and Carl Bowman are all sons of the original owners.

“We now have the second, third and fourth generation of family members actively involved in our company,” said Bowman, who spearheads the turkey business alongside Steve Landes, Stan Landes and Anita Bowman-Hamber. “We raise free-range turkeys on our pasture land without the use of any antibiotics for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. They’re also fed a vegetarian diet with no animal byproducts. We now also offer our customers Non-GMO Project Verified fresh turkeys which are independently verified by the Non-GMO Project. We’ve come a long way.”

Today, the company offers a large variety of products ranging from whole turkeys, bone-in turkey breast, boneless turkey breast roast, whole smoked turkeys, ground turkey, turkey burgers, turkey sausage, turkey deli meats and more. Bowman & Landes has a retail store on their farm at 6490 E. Ross Road in New Carlisle where it sells its turkey products as well as other deli, meat and farm market products.

But any member from these two families will attest that business was small at first. It all began when Kenneth Bowman and Dennis Landes went into the turkey business together. At that time, they were one of several turkey farms in the county. Now, they are the only ones.

“We try to source local products,” Carl said. “Local is important to people again, which is great. We’ve got to support one another if we’re going to have a thriving local community.”

Just to the east of where the recently expanded Bowman & Landes deli and market operates sits the house Dennis Landes resided in before his passing this past June at age 99. Dennis’ former home became the company’s new office space and a conference room, with homey features still very much intact.

Attached and behind the company’s farm market is a large, recently expanded processing and storage facility. From one-day poults to processing, the company sees their product through from start to finish.

Stan and Carl are semi-retired. They remember some of the more unique aspects of the early days on the farm, like turkeys being dropped down from one level to another in a chute for processing, something that would not happen today.

“It still remains hard work and the market has changed,” Carl said. “There used to be corner meat market shops and small processing plants, and that has changed, too.”

While the farm counts on regional retailers to stock their products, they sell a lot of their products out of their market at the farm. In addition, the families do their own processing.

Three years ago, the former cramped processing and packaging facility was reimagined. The result is a 26,000-square-foot facility that is not only larger, but also meets standards set by USDA inspections, which take place on the farm daily. This space allows for both raw and cooked meat to be packaged separately. It also includes a new cooler and freezer.

In the early 2000s, the families started incorporating free-range birds, supplying a product grown with non-GMO grain. By 2011, they installed solar arrays on the south side of the turkey barns, the last one being installed two years ago. All told, the solar energy powers half of the operation, including the new processing and packaging.

Beyond those 350,000-kilowatt solar arrays, Bowman & Landes does everything it can to preserve the land and maintain soil structure. They use no-till and minimum till practices, utilize cover crops and maintain waterways. They use turkey manure to fertilize fields, recycle cardboard and plastic, and use modern energy-efficient LED lighting throughout.

When not in the barn, the turkeys live on 10 separate open pastures, complete with shade shelters, depending on age and feed. Flocks are separated by feed type, which includes grain from the 2,800 acres the company farms in the area.

Bowman & Landes has grown to become a major poultry player in southwest Ohio.

“We’ve always grown slowly,” Carl said. “We never went for home runs. We’re steady at it and it’s a good formula for us. I’m super excited about the next generation and the talent we have.”