Page 9 - Indulge October/November 2016

THE GANG’S ALLHERE:
JAINDL FAMILY TALKS TURKEYS, LAND DEVELOPMENT
Photos by Sarah Evans
Ask David Jaindl what Thanksgiving is like at his house,
and you may hear a one-word reply: “Ouch!”
The holidays are the decisive point in the Jaindl family’s
farming year. They’ve worked through to the summit of a big,
integrated operation that breeds, hatches, grows, processes
and ships three quarters of a million turkeys. Thanksgiving
isn’t the end of this hectic season, just a major milestone
on the way to concluding the year’s efforts. When it’s over
in January, David and the rest of the Jaindls take a week off
before the cycle cranks up again, and 20,000 breeder turkeys
go into egg production late in that month.
While all this happens, the Jaindls also preside over
one of the region’s most influential and successful land
management and development companies.
David, his brother John and sisters Cathy, Alice, Patty and ’80s, when we started doing more residential and commercial
Mary Ellen all take part in the family businesses. (His mother,
Anne Louise, and wife, Jackie, take an active part in farm
work.) Jaindls of the next generation also work in the family
businesses. Among them are David’s children, Adam, Jake,
Luke, Josh, Joanna and nephew, John Jr., assistant manager
of the family’s agricultural land. Even his sister-in-law, Judie
Brown, works there as the receptionist.
“We’ve been in business for about 83 years,” said David,
who heads both the turkey production business and the
Jaindl Land Co. “My grandparents had a 60-acre farm in
South Whitehall Township — a diversified farm. They had a
restaurant, where basically they served what they grew.”
The family’s current story started when David’s father Fred
was 5 years old in the 1930s. His father, John, bought him
five turkeys. Fred’s early efforts turned that handful into a
flock of up to 500 birds, but in those days, David said, turkey
raising was more a hobby than a business. By the time Fred
got out of the service after World War II, the hobby days were
family bonds
By Jack Romig
At the Jaindl farm are, from
left: Richard Gildner, general
manager; and the Jaindls, Jake
holding Grayson, Luke, Ashley
holding Jace, Josh, Catherine,
Adam, Anne, David, Jackie,
Joanna and John Jr.
over, with the farm up to 1,200 birds.
“They decided to set up a turkey ranch,” David said. His
father devoted time and travel to the breeder’s discipline.
Through the 1950s, Fred attended meetings of the National
Turkey Federation around the country, showing a strain of birds
he had developed. “Today, 95 percent of all the turkeys sold in
the U.S. are of one of three breeds,” David said — but not his
birds. “We have the Jaindl breed. It’s consumer friendly, broad-
breasted to yield much more white meat than other commercial
turkeys and with more edible meat overall.”
The land side of the business began in 1964 with a
residential project and a water company. That was all the
Jaindls did in land development for many years, David
said. “The real turn in development happened in the mid-
development,” he said. Jaindl land and Jaindl projects have
been an important part of growth in the Lehigh Valley ever since.
According to the real estate company’s website, Jaindl
industrial and office projects have “led to more than 12,000
jobs in our region and account for over $15 million in local
tax revenue annually.” Today, Jaindl developments occupy
14 million square feet of industrial and commercial real
estate. The site says more than $100 million in private
investment dollars from Jaindl Land Co. has been spent
toward public improvements.
“Taking these projects and seeing them all the way through
gives a lot of satisfaction,” David said. “Creating jobs, adding
to the tax base ­— we do a lot of that.” At heart, though, Jaindl
considers himself a farmer, with a farmer’s deep ties to land and
family. “I’d attribute it to my mother and father,” David said.
“They instilled these values in me, my brother and my sisters.
And we’re passing the same values on to our children.”