Gobble and Waddle were for the most part raised the same way as thousands of other turkeys on Travis Pittman’s North Carolina. But this pair of birds needed some special training to get them ready for their turn in the spotlight this week in the nation’s capital.
Gobble and Waddle will be the guests of honor Tuesday for the annual pardoning ceremony with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House.
“We run a lot of lights. We had music playing with them,” Pittman told Agri-Pulse. “We changed the music every day. Sometimes it was a talk show, sometimes it was fast paced music, some days it was country music.”
The repeated exposure teaches the birds to gobble nearly on command. “As you can tell today when any noise is made, they gobble,” Pittman said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Trumps will be continuing a tradition dating back 15 administrations to President Harry Truman in 1947. The turkeys are staying at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel ahead of the ceremony.
“These turkeys symbolize the gratitude, the hard work, and the connection from farms and families,” said Leslee Oden, president and CEO of the National Turkey Federation. “As we celebrate this upcoming holiday, we hope that you'll think about those farmers like Travis and the other thousands of farmers in the turkey industry that helped to not deliver just your Thanksgiving meal but your everyday meal with turkey.”
The United States is the world’s largest turkey producer and exporter of turkey products. Production in 2025 is expected to total nearly five billion pounds, according to the Agriculture Department’s November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report.
Butterball contract grower Travis Pittman of North Carolina and Jay Jandrain, president and CEO of Butterball and chairman of the National Turkey Federation, with Gobble and Waddle. (Parker Litterick/Agri-Pulse photo)North Carolina is the second-largest producer of turkey – surpassed only by Minnesota – raising an estimated 27 million birds in 2024, according to USDA.
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Since the birds arrived as five-week-old poults in mid-August, the preparation for Tuesday's ceremony has been a family affair. Pittman’s one-year-old son, Carter, even helped by feeding Gobble and Waddle cracked corn from his hand.
“Their commitment reflects the thousands of turkey growers across this country who do this every single day caring for these birds with skill and pride in their work,” said Jay Jandrain, president and CEO of Butterball and chairman of the National Turkey Federation.
Pittman is a contract turkey grower for Butterball.
The birds are American Humane Certified, said Jandrain, meaning that the birds are raised at a high standard for animal care and welfare.
Pittman says being in Washington with his family for the official ceremonies is now a rewarding, full-circle moment for the family.
“We've watched the pardoning ceremony on TV every year and for us to be selected and get to come and represent our state and our country and really bring everybody together for Thanksgiving, wow,” Pittman said. “It's been a really fun and exciting time.”
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