Cole Cooper with the flock of turkeys being raised behind his home in western Ohio. One of the Cooper Farm turkeys will be named the national Thanksgiving turkey and be pardoned by President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. (Cooper Farms)

Cooper Farms, a 76-year old Fort Recovery, Ohio, operation, will provide the national Thanksgiving turkey that the National Turkey Federation will present to President Barack Obama to pardon on November 26.

The presentation of the turkey is made by the chairman of the National Turkey Federation, and the chairman this year is Gary Cooper, chief operating officer of Cooper Farms.

Cooper’s youngest son, Cole, has been raising a flock of about 20 birds in a custom-built red barn at his home in Mercer County, Ohio, since July, when the turkeys were hatched, according to a news release from the Ohio Poultry Association.

The barn was designed as a smaller version of one of the original barns owned by Virgil Cooper, founder of Cooper Farms and Gary Cooper’s father.

Cole Cooper
“It was a great honor for my dad to ask me to raise the presidential turkey flock,” said Cole Cooper in the news release.

“This is my heritage. It is what my grandpa started and is what I grew up with, as I watched my dad, aunt and uncle expand Cooper Farms into what it is today.”

Cooper Farms will hand-select two tom turkeys for the special national honor. One will serve as the national Thanksgiving turkey and the second as an alternate.

Four different breeds of turkeys are represented in the presidential flock to celebrate NTF’s 75th anniversary and Cooper Farms being in business for just more than 75 years.

Since October, Cooper Farms has hosted and visited more than 3,000 students from the local community. These visits have helped get the turkeys accustomed to large audiences and let students meet the soon-to-be famous presidential flock.

Suggestions for names for the turkeys may be submitted online through this week. (See link below.) The final decision on the names will be made by President Obama, his family and the White House staff.

Photos and videos are being posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as the turkeys prepare for their trip to Washington.

Ohio ranks ninth nationally in turkey farming, producing more than 219 million pounds of turkey each year, valued at more than $158 million.

The presentation of the national Thanksgiving turkey began when President Harry Truman received a turkey as a gift from NTF. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush remarked that he was “pardoning” the turkey, beginning a custom followed by Presidents at the end of each presentation ceremony.

After the ceremony, this year’s turkeys are expected to live at Morven Park, a Virginia farm that is open to the public. There they will join Caramel, the surviving turkey from the 2013 ceremony. Popcorn, the other 2013 turkey, died of natural causes in July.

▪ Help Name the Presidential Turkey, with social media links
▪ Cooper Farms
▪ Ohio Poultry Association
▪ Morven Park