Consumers are being more careful with their money this festive season, and the turkey trade is taking a hit due to this.

Specialist farm butcher, Michael Shannon of Damn Delicious, Thankerton, is one that has experienced the soaring costs towards his business all throughout the year and sales for the traditional Christmas bird have been slower than last.

“We had a record-breaking year last year for the turkeys, having started selling them in August and they were sold out within three weeks, however, this year sales have been a bit slower, and we still have the odd few to sell, which I am sure we will before Christmas,” said Mr. Shannan, who has witnessed a strong relationship between pay day and orders.

“At the end of the day Christmas is an important day for many and brings family and friends together, the turkey is the centre piece of the dinner and needs to be right.

“Fortunately, birds have done really well this year, it has been a milder autumn compared to last year and we have some great quality birds for this festive period,” said Mr Shannon, who plucked all the turkeys last week to allow time for them being chilled and delivered out to customers.

Damn, Delicious has a wide range of customer base with turkeys travelling as far down as Devon and Cornwall as well as local custom.

“We do a lot of online business custom all year round, people want to rely on good Scottish produce for their special day. The next issue we will have is our courier, we always rely heavily on delivering parcels the next day and thankfully have never had a turkey arrive late, let’s hope I am not talking out of tune this year”, he added.

With all birds ready to go the pressure of Avian bird flu has been passed for another year, thankfully it has not been bad in Lanarkshire that Mr. Shannon has still been able to keep the turkeys free range outside.

Increased costs across the trade have affected the business, which has made margins tight for Damn Delicious.

Costs not only behind turkeys but all produce throughout the shop have taken a massive jump, with the major factor being electricity, even though 96% of the electricity comes through renewable energy.

“Costs have been substantial this year, we are trying to absorb some to save passing them onto the customer which is leaving margins extremely tight for our business. It makes it difficult for the future of our business as to what we want to focus on as there is no money in the pot to push that,” he concluded.

Speaking ahead of Harrison and Hetherington’s rough plucked and dressed poultry sale at Carlisle was Ali Dodd based at Carlisle.

“Turkeys numbers are on par with last year, but unfortunately we cannot get any geese or duck this year, due to vendors no longer having them, so this will perhaps help the turkey trade,” said Mr Dodd.

“There is always a big demand for the birds to ensure a good Christmas dinner for all, we once again have a similar show of turkeys this year, with quality birds right through.

“This year the sale will be held the Friday prior to Christmas as opposed to the Wednesday which we hope will help the trade, as the turkeys will be fresher for the big day as opposed to having to worry about freezing them.

“We already have had a lot of interest in the sale so we are looking forward to seeing how it goes,” he concluded.