A cross-Canada turkey shortage is being felt in southeastern Saskatchewan leading into the holiday season.

Michelle Hogg, the Meat Department Manager at Southern Plains Co-op in Estevan, has experienced it first-hand.

"This last week we've gone through every kind of turkey that we've had in the building," Hogg said. "People are kind of moving ahead a little faster and buying ahead of time."

Hogg said she doesn't anticipate her store will run out of turkeys, as they still have quite a few smaller turkeys available. However, it's the bigger birds that can be harder to come by right now.

"Anybody looking for a big turkey...it's probably not going to happen this year," she said. 

As for what's causing the shortage, Hogg has a couple of theories, including extreme heat this past summer that led to turkeys going to the slaughterhouse earlier than normal, and also packaging.

"Packaging is huge. The cost of packaging is increasing, actually getting the packaging to package the turkeys itself is causing an issue as well," she said. "The plants are having trouble trying to get them off to the market."

With the shortage, she said people could start thinking about less-traditional alternatives for their Christmas dinner.

"I think it'll be a little bit on the stressful side on what people are going to choose to cook," she said. "It's either going to go one way or another...they'll either change to a different type of protein to eat, they might choose to go with steaks or a big roast instead of a turkey this time around, or even chicken."

Hogg said all of the turkeys and hams at her store will be going on sale beginning Thursday.