TODAY'S FARM ANIMALS
THE INSIDE STORY
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TURKEYS
Turkeys are highly individual birds. The females are as maternal as any mother hen. The males (stags) fluff up their fine feathers and 'gobble', to establish their role as protector of the harem. The wild turkey flies at speeds of up to 50 mph and roosts in tree tops. Stags weigh around 17 lbs, females considerably less. Turkeys like to roam in woodland, eating insects and vegetation. Seeds and berries are a favourite food.
Inside a typical intensive turkey unit. Photo: Philip Lymbery
Today's Turkey - Designed to Suffer
Turkey meat is available all year round and comes in many guises. It's often promoted as a healthy food. The modern genetically-selected bird bears little resemblance to its wild counterpart, especially the male of the species, who can now scarcely lift his feet off the ground.
The Ugly Truth
Most turkeys live crammed together in dimly-lit windowless sheds. 25,000 in one shed is typical of the bigger units. Though not caged, turkeys nearing slaughter weight have little more floor space to themselves than a battery hen. Moving around the shed becomes a stressful challenge and the overcrowding induces aggression. Some, reared especially for the Christmas trade, are kept in 'pole barns', in natural daylight. These may have a little more room, but are still kept in grossly overcrowded conditions.
Cannibalism
Turkeys become aggressive when stressed, and attack each others' eyes and toes. The Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) estimates that 20% of turkeys are debeaked. The mutilation is often carried out with a red-hot blade, and can result in permanent pain. Most 'pole barn' turkeys are debeaked, since aggression is rife when birds can see each other clearly. In general, outbreaks of cannibalism are kept to an 'acceptable' level either by debeaking or by keeping birds in semi-darkness.
Starveouts
Young turkeys are well-known for failing to find food and water points. Since all modern turkeys begin life with no maternal care, many die from starvation and dehydration at an early age.
Diseases
Sudden death (caused by lung congestion, and a condition similar to dropsy) is an important cause of mortality, especially in fast-growing male birds. Other major killers include turkey rhinotracheitis (TRT) and colisepticaemia, necessitating the frequent use of antibiotics.
Environmental Damage
Broilers and turkeys suffer in a similar way. 'Ammonia blindness' can occur when litter condition is poor, in the overcrowded, badly ventilated sheds, damaging the eye's surface. Birds suffering from ammonia blindness hide away in dark corners, rubbing their eyes with their wings, giving cries of pain.
Damp and impacted litter and the barren environment, plus geneticallyinduced leg weakness, lead to hock burns (similar to bedsores) and ulcerated feet.
 Debeaked turkey with damaged eye. Photo: Oxford Environmental Films |
Modern turkey breeding is artificial. Male turkeys have been bred to be unnaturally heavy and 'meaty'. Today's adult male turkey can weigh around 80 lbs (36 kg) - over four times as much as its wild cousin. Most tip the scales at 50-60 Ibs, but are still far too heavy and broad-breasted to mate with the smaller female. Artificial insemination (AI) is now virtually 100% throughout the turkey industry.
The Trauma of Al
Every few days the males are caught and 'milked' by teams of Al operators, who manually stimulate the area of the male sex organ. When the phallus protrudes, it's possible to squeeze out semen, which is then sucked up a tube to be stored. Bruising of the male genital region occurs if too many 'strokes' are administered or if undue pressure is exerted on the abdomen. Once the females have been 'opened up', semen is injected into their vaginas, either via a hypodermic syringe, or by means of a length of tubing through which the operator blows. The insemination is carried out at high speed - MAFF's reference book 242 'Turkey breeding and Husbandry' estimates about half a minute per bird. The procedure is so traumatic that MAFF advises it should take place 'in the cool of the day' in warm weather, to minimise heat stress.
Broodiness - Maternal Instincts Persist
Up to 70% of female breeding turkeys become broody, wishing to incubate and hatch the eggs they've laid, and this despite the best efforts of the industry to discourage an unprofitable habit. It's been estimated that around 50% of labour costs are spent on the stockperson's job of attempting to prevent and disrupt broodiness. 'Remedies' for broodiness include frequent egg collection and ejecting birds from nests. Drugs to counteract broodiness have been investigated.
Welfare Insults
Many breeding turkeys are debeaked, to minimise aggression and cannibalism. Males are often de-snooded, and are thus deprived of a sensitive and expressive
organ. As can be seen from this photo, debeaking a flock provides no guarantees that severe damage will not be inflicted by fellow birds.
Diseases in Breeders
Males suffer especially, because of relentless selective breeding for a heavy bird. Diseases of the hip joints are extremely common, and painful. A leading British poultry researcher has claimed that virtually all male breeders of the heaviest strains are reluctant to walk.
 The Cruel end. |
As with broilers, only the most productive are kept for a full year's breeding, and culling is common. And like broilers, once their year spent as semen and egg machines is over, turkey breeders are proceesed into pies, sausages, etc.
Catching, Transport and Slaughter
Turkeys are large, strong and easily frightened. Violent treatment of birds occurs when catchers move in to grab the terrified birds by the legs. They're then forced into crates or modules so roughly that a major cause of downgrading at the slaughterhouse is bruising. Inevitably, some die en route to the processing plant.
Turkeys are killed in the same way as chickens. They suffer greatly at slaughter. Very heavy, (a male adult can weigh as much as an 8-9 year old child) and often diseased, enormous strain is put on legs and hips as birds hang upside-down in shackles, To add to the misery, trailing wings often touch electrically live waterbath ramps, causing painful and terryfying pre-stun shocks. Research has shown that many slaughter-houses fail to cut birds' necks properly, so delaying merciful brain death. Every year, thousands of British turkeys enter the scalding tank alive, perhaps conscious.