Toubl Game Bird Farms
(Toubl Enterprises Incorporated)
8716 West Saint Lawrence Road
Beloit, WI  53511 USA

Toll Free: (800) 875-0603
Phone: (608) 365-1789
Fax: (608) 365-0003
Toubl Game Bird Farms: http://www.toubl.com    


Toubl Game Bird Farms is a Wisconsin-licensed game farm certified under both the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) and National Turkey Improvement Plan (NTIP). This licensed and certified game farm has been supplying the live bird hunting market since 1969 and the gourmet meat trade since 1983. The Toubl family produces pheasants, wild turkeys and partridges for hunting, gourmet meats and dog trainers; as well as wildlife restoration projects and for products from the taxidermy trade. They are one of the largest wild turkey producers in the Midwest. Their flocks are USDA-Avian Influenza Certified Clean through an ongoing blood testing program. This is a family-owned business, and Jan and his wife Karen and their children Michael, Jeremy and Kelly, take great pride in their flight-ready birds and gourmet meat products. Toubl Game Bird Farms incorporated in 2003 as Toubl Enterprises Incorporated. In 2002 and 2003 they brought their presence to the Internet for additional direct-to-customer direct-marketing and enhanced customer service.

Toubl Game Farm is incorporated, with different family members having different business responsibilities. The grow-out operation has about four to five full-time employees managed by son Michael. Additional seasonal employees are hired during peak seasons for preparing smoked-meat products and packaging holiday shipments for direct sales and high-volume customers.

The business was "hatched" in 1969 when Jan Toubl purchased three pheasants to train his Irish Setter pointing dog. Jan’s avocation soon developed into a passionate interest in game birds; one that led Jan to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he earned a degree in poultry science. Jan is now 59 and has a simple and profound synopsis for his business, “I’d rather be the best producer in the world, rather than the largest.” This philosophy has carried over to the rest of his family who are all involved in various phases of the operation, from bird rearing and live-bird sales, to gourmet meat-production or hunting-preserve operations.

Ultimately, of course, it is cooperation and a shared vision that Jan Toubl credits for helping to create a track record of which he is particularly proud: healthy and consistently top-quality premium game birds that address several very demanding markets: flight-ready birds for dog trainers, hunting preserves and private habitat-management programs; high-quality meat birds for gourmet food products; and large well-feathered birds for taxidermists who produce mounts for decorative products. Being a family-owned business that sports the family name, the Toubls take exceptional pride in their achievements with pheasants, wild turkeys and partridge.

Jan has pursued additional value-added products from his game birds by developing his own ”Birdman’s©” shelf-stable snack-stick products. This led to his work to develop a successful all-natural pheasant egg-roll product. Toubl’s has a list of grocery and other outlets for their products on their website.

Marketing of the live-bird side of the business is pretty straightforward, “For example, we advertise in Black’s Wing & Clay (a prestigious nationally recognized shotgun-sports directory). Black’s provides us really good exposure to hunt club managers, we have a well-established market, so we don’t really need to do trade shows and that sort of thing, but we do a few anyway. We enjoy the interaction we have with the public.”

Toubl Game Bird Farm belongs to and is active in various industry associations. These include: Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce, Kansas Sport Hunting Association, National Poultry Improvement Plan, National Turkey Improvement Plan, North American Game Bird Association, Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors, Wisconsin Better Business Bureau, Wisconsin Game Preserve Association and the University of Wisconsin Agricultural & Life Sciences Alumni Association.

There are little industry-specific things that make the business interesting and a little unusual, and at times, trying.  “We have a comfortable level of production for our level of staffing, with a hatch of about 150,000 chicks that results in about 50,000 adult birds. About 50 percent go to game preserves and 50 percent got into meat products. The balance is sold as day-old chicks and started birds. Even with that level of production, grain prices are a real problem (in 2008) if we want to maintain current pricing levels. We feed a complete feed, a fully balanced commercial ration, but of course the major components are corn and soybean meal. It has been a struggle trying to gauge just where those prices are going to end up! We need to feed whole feed grain, and also need to purchase extra grain to support higher levels of production. If we feed soybeans, we need to roast the beans for the dietary requirements of the birds, so that is something you have to watch and plan for too.”

Over the years it took to develop this business, Jan was able to make several sound observations about this type of enterprise, “A game-bird business is like a poultry business; it takes a long time to mature; it is a stable business, but dependent on the economy. This year we see some of that reflected in our orders, the dollar is a lot tighter, so there are a few less people are going to hunting preserves, so we see that reflected in our live-bird orders and also are seeing a little less demand for the high-end gift-type specialty meat products.”

The day-to-day challenges of any livestock business can keep things pretty interesting. For example, some Wisconsin snows can become a serious problem. The many acres of 50-foot by 150-foot mesh-covered flight pens for the birds destined for release into the wild for hunt clubs and stocking programs are stoutly constructed and full of dense cover to limit human exposure and ensure the wildness of the birds; but they are in no way safe from the worst that winter can produce from her arsenal.

“Heavy, wet snows; freezing rain; and ice storms are a real beast and always interesting and never in a fun way. And they always seem to hit over the holidays or when key employees are on vacation or something like that. You know, we had one where the netting was down 12-foot posts were cracked and busted. We had another bad one where the 9-guage support wire held, but the weight of the snow and ice straightened 4-inch eye bolts that secured the wire to the posts and shelter buildings.

“Once they pulled free, the netting collapsed. In that storm we lost about 1,000 birds; many of which were valuable replacement breeders and market birds. Also we lost a lot of our specially raised birds for hunt clubs. Our hunt club birds are very wild, and we go out of our way to minimize human contact, so you can imagine the fun you have trying to recover those guys if they get out and get moving. This is NOT the type of ‘re-stocking program’ we had in mind!”
 

Links
AgMRC Game Birds page 
 
Google map of retail outlets

Blacks Wing & Clay online directory

Toubl Game Bird Farms