‘We’ve produced a titanic turkey weighing 17kg on our farm in Tamworth - it may take some stuffing’

It’s the titanic turkey that would make any Christmas dinner table break under the colossal weight.

Wigginton Fields Farm – one of the region’s biggest turkey providers – has this year raised a real poultry powerhouse. They’ve produced a 17kilo giant. That’s a staggering two-and-a-half stone, which is one colossal Christmas meal.

It would also require a mountain of stuffing. To put things into perspective, the most popular weight for a household seasonal turkey is around four kilogram (eight-and-a-half pounds), which will feed six. A very good sized chicken is seven pounds. Edward Calcott, part of the family that runs the Wigginton, Tamworth, farm, said: “It’s one of the biggest we’ve had.”

It’s far off being a record breaker, however. According to Guinness World Records, the biggest of them all was reared at Leacroft Turkeys Limited, Peterborough, in 1989 and scaled six stone, one pound.

Imagine trying to cram that in the oven. Edward stressed Wiggington’s own giant had been given the same diet as the other birds. It has now gone to one of the farm’s suppliers to be portioned up.

Demand for the ultimate traditional dish has shown no sign of slowing. Edward, aged 30, said: “It’s been a good year, we’ve sold out. Turkey will always be popular because it’s part of the tradition.”

The farm has a stock of 2,500 birds, brought in as newly hatched birds during the summer. The business was launched in 1980 by Richard Calcott who started with just 100 birds. Its website states: “Our turkeys are reared and processed on farm to make life as stress free as possible.

"They are a slow growing breed, enabling them to grow naturally over a 20 to 22 week period producing firm succulent breast meat.” The over-sized specimen grown this year proves that a turkey is not just for Christmas. There’s enough meat on that monster to last until Easter.