Complaining about dry turkey meat is as traditional as the American Thanksgiving. Food websites all over the Internet suggest a variety of ways to keep turkey meat moist, including draping the bird with bacon or roasting the meat under butter-soaked cheesecloth. A healthier and tastier solution is to buy a juicy turkey to begin with, and that means searching for a specialty bird.

Industrial turkeys, the ones you find at the grocery store, are a strain called Broad Breasted White. Bred for the maximum amount of white meat, the Broad Breasted Whites in factories eat a bland diet rather than graze naturally, never go outside, and are frozen immediately after slaughter rather than aged. The issues of animal cruelty aside, these unnatural, non-sustainable farming practices result in dry, bland turkeys.

Luckily, small farms everywhere have made the commitment to raising turkeys in a more natural state, so it’s getting easier to find a juicy bird for the Thanksgiving table. Here are the options:

1. Organic
Certified organic turkeys eat a diet of organic grains and do not receive antibiotics or hormones but may not spend any time outside.

2. Free range
Free range birds have access to the outdoors, but the term is loosely regulated and these turkeys do not necessarily spend any time grazing.

3. Organic and free range
Free to go outside, free range organic turkeys are also free of antibiotics and synthetic hormones.

4. Heritage
This choice is probably the most natural one. Before consumers started clamoring for the bigger breasted factory bird that fills supermarket freezers today, older heritage breeds like the Narragansett were popular. Pastured heritage turkeys graze for their food the way nature intended and therefore have a much richer flavor, but they cost the most.

5. Kosher
Jewish kosher laws ensure humane living conditions and better quality meat. Kosher turkeys eat grain, receive no antibiotics, and have the freedom to roam. The meat is salted before it reaches the market, though, so never brine a kosher turkey.

A fresh, flavorful turkey raised under humane conditions can make all the difference at your Thanksgiving feast, and it's not too late to buy a specialty bird. Talk to your local butchers and farmers to weigh all your options for a more sustainable table this holiday season.