Turkey Farming
When we think of turkeys, the first thoughts that come to mind are likely a “gobble gobble” or the memory of a Christmas feast. As we have little to no interaction with turkeys, we tend not to think about them as individuals, where they come from, and how they are raised. Every year, around 650 million turkeys are killed for human consumption.
Descendants from the native wild turkey of the United States, the domesticated turkey is the result of genetic alterations after years of selective breeding. They have lost their exquisite colours and grow to an abnormally large size, which makes them unable to mate naturally and struggle to walk. The demand for turkey meat has led them to be raised in sheds, unable to exhibit natural behaviours, until they reach their slaughter weight. Turkey farming does not just impact the turkeys - it is also affecting the environment, our own health, and the health of society.
About Turkeys
Turkeys are deeply misunderstood animals, and there is a common misconception that they are “dumb” birds. For those who have been lucky enough to spend time with a turkey, it doesn’t take long to see how inquisitive they are, that they have unique personalities, and that they can produce a range of magnificent sounds.
Turkeys are intelligent
Turkeys have been noted to possess “marked” intelligence, displayed in their complex social relationships, their communication methods, and their ability to solve problems [1]. People tend to rank intelligence using human abilities as determining factors, when in reality, every animal has difference forms of intelligence. Because of the environments and situations they’d naturally face, they have different mental requirements in order to be able to survive and thrive!
Turkeys have excellent hearing and eyesight, seeing three times more clearly than 20/20 vision, and can even see ultraviolet light! They have well-developed vocabularies, using their voices to recognise each other. They are also good at geography. A wild turkey’s home can exceed several thousand acres and they know the area in precise detail [2]. If the land is not optimal, they will travel across thousands of acres, returning to different parts during the various seasons, showing that they can remember exact locations even after a year of absence [3].
Turkeys are sentient
Not only are they smart, but they are also sentient, meaning they can perceive, feel, and experience things. All poultry species are sentient and are capable of feeling emotions, like joy, pain, fear, and stress [1]. Turkeys can display how they are feeling by changing the colour of their wattle! This is more prominent on the males than the females. Normally the wattle is red, which is a sign of health, and in males can also signify wooing. It turns blood red when they feel enlivened, frightened, or overwhelmed. When they are scared or anxious, the blood leaves the snood resulting in a blue colour, while a white or a pale colour means they are feeling unwell [4, 5].
Turkeys form strong social bonds with family and flockmates. They are loyal and protective of their friends and also love to play [6]. Their natural flocks have up to 50 individuals and there is a distinct hierarchy. They can easily distinguish a new individual [7]. Several scientific studies have been conducted on turkeys and the emotional and psychological aspect of their lives. When separated from their flock, they will squawk until they are reunited. They also mourn the death of their flock members, and anticipate pain, to the point of having heart attacks after watching their friends die [8].
A happy wild turkey.
Turkeys can fly
There is a common misconception that turkeys cannot fly because they are “dumb birds”, but this is not true. Wild turkeys can fly up to 85km an hour, although average around 40km an hour. The turkeys who are farmed for their flesh, however, have been selectively bred to an abnormally large size, and their wings cannot support their body weight, making them unable to fly [9].
Poults rely on their caring mothers
Baby turkeys, known as poults, have poor eyesight when they are born and need their mothers to guide them. The mothers stay with and care for their young until they are able to fly up and roost in the trees [10]. The females will stay with the flock, while males will break away and form a separate flock close by.
The Industry
The turkey meat industry kills approximately 650 million turkeys globally every year, equating to roughly 5.7 million tonnes of turkey meat [11]. The United States is the biggest consumer, creating over half of the demand [12]. While Australia’s demand is much lower, we still kill roughly 5 million individuals a year, with most turkeys being eaten during the Christmas period.
Australian Standards & Welfare Issues
The turkey industry is founded on legalised cruelty, from unnatural living conditions, to mutilations, and premature slaughter. From the moment the turkeys hatch they experience severe pain and stress for their entire lives. The following information is in regards to Australian turkey farms.
Victorian turkey farm.
Credit: Animal Liberation
Breeders
Australia has no commercial turkey egg industry, so the breeder eggs are imported from the United States and Canada.
Once they hatch they are kept in sheds until they are ready to start laying eggs at 7 months old. Breeder turkeys are fed a restricted diet to optimise egg production, reduce growth rates, and decrease mortality rates [13]. As a result, they are left chronically hungry.
Breeder hens produce 105 eggs over 28-weeks, and are killed once they are no longer profitable [14].
Credit: Hybrid Turkeys
Antibiotics
The breeder flock is vaccinated against common avian diseases like haemorrhagic enteritis, cholera, and fowl pox, and this provides immunity to the poults (babies), who are normally not vaccinated [14]. Some farmers still opt to mix antibiotics into their feed to reduce the possibility of an outbreak [15]. The use of antibiotics also assists in increasing their growth rates and growth mass [16].
Artificial Insemination
To create an endless supply of turkeys, males and females must mate. Selective breeding has resulted in the development of abnormally large and heavy breasts (for meat), which has made it impossible for turkeys to mate naturally. As a result, females are artificially inseminated.
For this to happen, males must be ‘milked’. ‘Milking’ originally involved three workers, one to hold the male in a bent-over position, the second to stimulate him to ejaculate, and the third to collect the semen [17, 18]. Now there are devices to hold the turkey in place so that one worker can stimulate and collect the semen. For the females, one worker would place the hen between their legs, with their wings behind the knees, they then apply pressure to her abdomen on either side of the vent, while the second person uses a syringe into the oviduct and releases the semen [17, 18]. Now there is a device to hold the female in place, so one person can inseminate her. Males will go through this on average two times a week, while females are inseminated once a week [19].
This process is very stressful for both males and females. Interestingly, most Australian States and Territories have laws that prohibit sexual contact with animals, yet, farm animals are excluded from these laws because sexual contact is an integral part of artificial insemination procedures.
Confined living
After hatching in an incubator, the turkeys are sorted by sex and sent to farms [14]. Approximately 90% of them are farmed in intensive factory farms. The average shed holds up to 14,000 individuals, giving each bird the space of approximately an A3 sheet of paper. As the birds grow, the space in the sheds becomes more cramped. This makes it harder for them to exhibit natural behaviours, like spreading their wings, flying, perching, foraging, running, dust bathing. They are unable to breathe fresh air and feel sunlight. Turkeys naturally perch in trees, however, the sheds do not allow this, and an electrified wire prevents them from nesting on the feeders. As mentioned earlier, wild turkeys travel across thousands of acres in a year, and this lack of exercise and stimulation affects the confined turkeys mentally and physically.
The sheds also have artificial lighting, which is designed to manipulate their sleeping and eating patterns, to increase their weight in a short time frame [20].
Typical turkey farm.
Credit: Animal Liberation (2017)
An undercover investigation found that the crowded sheds make it difficult for sick and injured turkeys to reach the automated water and feed systems. As a result, individuals suffer from scratches, feather loss, and injuries, due to trampling by other birds.
Injured turkey.
Credit: Animal Liberation
Free-range
The term “free-range” does not mean much for the turkeys. The Australian standards are full of “shoulds”, rather than ‘musts’. For example, environmental enrichment such as straw bales, perches “should be provided”. Turkeys on free-range farms have slightly lower stocking densities and have access to the outdoors. In saying this, “openings should be at least 35cm high and 40cm wide and provide an aggregate width of at least 2m per 1000 birds.” – meaning they could be smaller [21]. Keep in mind, a turkey will grow to be approximately 122cm tall, much taller than the recommended 35cm high openings [22]. Sick or injured turkeys can also be culled with cervical dislocation (up to 8kg), with CO2, or a captive bolt (over 8kg) [21].
Poults
All poults are raised without their mothers. In the farms, poults are vulnerable to stress, heart attacks, and starving to death, as they are unable to find food and water without their mother to guide them. Others enter a state of shock and stop eating, known as ‘starve out’ [23].
Poults in a shed
Credit: NSW Farmers
Selective breeding
Turkeys used for their meat grow at a much quicker rate than their ancestors and have been genetically selected to have larger breasts and thighs [17]. This is due to selective breeding over decades to increase their size and the way they convert feed [24]. Farmed turkeys are typically a hybrid between two or more breeds, with white being preferred due to their lighter flesh colour [17]. This abnormal growth rate exceeds the capacity of their heart, resulting in poor capillary supply and muscle fibre degeneration. Approximately 0.5-2% of individuals die from heart disease and organ failure [25].
Pit of turkeys who died in the sheds.
Credit: Animal Liberation
Additionally, their skeletons do not grow at the same accelerated rate, leading to lameness, pain, crippled legs, and swollen joints. Their abnormal weight imbalance has changed the leg position of the turkey, causing them to develop a range of muscle and skeletal disorders and leaving them struggling to walk. Many are unable to stand, resulting in ammonia burns on their chest and legs, and suffering a slow death due to starvation and thirst. Others fall onto their backs and are unable to right themselves and starve to death, known as ‘flips’ [26].
Mutilation
The stress of confinement and an inability to exhibit natural behaviours results in neurotic behaviours, like feather plucking or cannibalism. To prevent this, the tip of their beaks and toes may be cut off. At just one day old, using an infra-red laser, the tip of the beaks are lasered off [13, 18]. Additionally, some turkeys have their toes trimmed using an infra-red laser to remove the toenail and nail bed to prevent the regrowth of the nail [13, 26]. This is done to “improve carcass grades”, as it reduces scratching and injuries from other birds [27]. Breeding males have the terminal segment of each inward-pointing toe and their snood cut off to reduce cannibalism and injuries [13]. These individuals are not given any anaesthetic or post-treatment pain relief.
Left: After beak trimming; Right: Normal beak.
Slaughter
Females are killed at 10 weeks old when they are 5-6kg, while males are killed at 18 weeks when they are 7-11kg [13]. Their slaughter age depends on customer requirements. Rescued turkeys typically suffer and die after a year or so of freedom, due to their overgrown bodies and the stress on their organs. This is a stark contrast to wild turkeys who can live for up to ten years [17].
Turkeys are withheld feed for up to 24 hours before slaughter. The depopulation process usually happens at night, as the birds are less active. They are caught by hand and shoved into the crates for transport. The typical transport crate is 32cm [28 PDF], yet domestic turkeys are roughly 122cm tall, therefore they are forced to travel in extremely cramped conditions. As a result, many end up with bruises, fractured and broken bones, amputated toes, and all have high stress levels [29, 30]
Turkeys on a truck heading to the slaughterhouse.
Credit: Animal Liberation
After the journey on the trucks, they are ‘rested’ for up to 2 hours, before they are removed from their crates and hung upside down by their fragile legs. During an investigation, workers claimed that some of their legs rip off from their bodies due to their weight. They are dragged through an electrified water-bath for stunning, and then have their throats slit and are left to bleed out [13]. Some birds fight and lift their heads over the bath, leaving them to have their throats slit while they are conscious.
In 2013, Animal Liberation exposed cruelty to turkeys at a Sydney slaughterhouse. Workers were seen bashing, kicking, and stomping on the turkeys, as well as slamming the birds into the ground [31].
Animal liberation Exposé
The Environment
Turkey farming is considered to be more environmentally friendly in comparison to cattle, sheep, and pig farming. This is largely because turkeys can be crammed into smaller spaces, they do not have to graze, they reach their slaughter weight in a shorter time frame, and they are more efficient at converting food into bodyweight. This view, however, ignores just how much feed and water are needed to meet current demands, the waste these animals produce, and the pollution it creates.
Land and Resources
The reason turkeys use less land versus cows and sheep is because most are raised inside sheds, reducing the amount of land required to farm them. While this may be better for the environment, it has detrimental impacts on the turkeys, who are unable to exhibit their natural behaviours, as mentioned earlier. In saying this, the food given to turkeys requires a large amount of land.
An analysis of the turkey meat industry found that for every 1kg of turkey meat 2.27kg of feed is needed [32] and 4,325L of water [33]. While 2.27kg of feed doesn’t sound like much, when multiplied by the 5.7 million tonnes of turkey meat, approximately 12.94 million tonnes of feed is needed every year. If demand continues to grow, so does the demand for their feed, resulting in an increase in land clearing, reducing natural habitats and native species, and increasing erosion and pollution. Looking at how much freshwater is needed for 5.7 million tonnes of turkey, approximately 24,652,500,000,000,000L of water is being used each year, all of which is taken from the natural environment. Keep in mind, the industry considers this to be a “moderate” water footprint [33].
Land clearing
Waste and Pollution
In addition to resource use, turkey farms are a major producer of waste in the form of manure, dead birds, food particles, and shed litter, affecting air quality, the environment, and potentially surrounding waterways. The waste releases ammonia, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and methane [34]. It is estimated that 1kg of turkey meat produces around 10.9kg of CO2 [33, 35]. Again, if we look at the 5.7 million tonnes of turkey meat produced, around 62,130,000,000kg of CO2 is produced every year. It also releases poisonous gases and heavy dust particles into the air.
Sheds are typically not cleaned until the end of the 10-12 week cycle. The manure, shed litter, and any remaining dead or dying birds are collected and stored or processed to become fertiliser. The waste also contains antibiotics that were added to the feed, and if used for fertiliser, the antibiotics enter the environment. Once used as fertiliser, excess nutrients enter the environment and make their way into the groundwater and surrounding waterways, causing pollution and algal bloom outbreaks [36].
Cleaning the waste out of the turkey shed.
Our Health
Turkey meat is sold as a ‘healthy’ alternative because it is considered low in fat and high in protein - but does this make it a healthy option? These animals have been selectively bred to grow larger than their ancestors and are raised in conditions that look nothing like their natural habitat. These elements have brought on a range of health issues that are non-existent in their wild relatives. These animals are suffering from respiratory issues due to high ammonia content in the air, have heart issues due to their rapid growth and excessive weight, and their skin and legs are covered in burns from the waste. If you look at pictures of turkeys inside the sheds, almost all of their wattles are pale red, blue, or white, highlighting that they are unwell, stressed, and anxious. How ‘healthy’ can it really be to eat a sick animal?
On top of this, eating processed meat, like turkey slices, increases the chance of developing stomach and colorectal cancer [37]. Scientists estimate that decreasing the amount of processed meat we eat by even just “half of a turkey sandwich” can lower the total number of colorectal cancers by about 20% [38]! Eating processed turkey products also increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and has been associated with an increased risk of death [39].
Sick and injured turkeys on an Australian Farm.
Credit: Animal Liberation 2017
Society
Confining 18,000 birds into a single shed creates a breeding ground for diseases. The birds are living in their own waste, are fed rendered animals (hooves, heads, bones, blood, feathers, and the bodies of those who died before slaughter) [40], making it possible for a virus to mutate and spread. In August, several thousand turkeys were destroyed after a new strain of the avian flu (bird flu) was found at two Victorian farms [41]. Currently, only workers or those in close proximity to the birds are at risk of catching the virus from the birds, as it is unlikely to spread from person to person. While the Government claims that this is not a risk for consumers, it is very possible that a virus such as this could continue to mutate and eventually be able to spread from human to human.
“as long as there is poultry, there will be pandemics”
Dr Michael Greger [42]
As mentioned earlier, turkeys are given antibiotics to protect them against diseases. While Australia claims only a few grower turkey farms use it in feed, globally, around 1 million kilograms of antibiotics are used by the poultry industry. All animal agriculture industries use approximately 40% of antibiotics produced globally [43]. The use of antibiotics in animal agriculture is leading towards the creation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses in humans [44]. If viruses mutate to be resistant to current antibiotics, this will ultimately result in a higher mortality rate for humans. Additionally, it places wildlife at risk of new strains and could wipe out native populations.
Workers
Workers on the farms are exposed to high levels of toxins in the air and suffer from respiratory issues, itchy and watery eyes, coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, throat discomfort, and sneezing [45].
Killing up to 10,000 animals an hour is taxing on a slaughterhouse worker’s mental and physical health. While most people would not be able to take the life of an animal, workers are expected to kill thousands per shift [46]. Australian research found that the repeated exposure to violence in a slaughterhouse causes psychological damage, with meatworkers having aggression levels that are similar to those of incarcerated populations [47]. Others experience violent dreams, PTSD, depression, paranoia, panic, and dissociation [40].
Additionally, workers face many occupational hazards including, intense noises, animals fighting for their lives, extreme temperatures, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, fast-moving blades and machinery, and exposure to harsh chemicals, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites [48, 40].
What’s Next?
Without artificial insemination, genetically modified turkeys would become extinct in this generation. Our demand for turkey flesh is denying the animals their needs, contributing to the destruction of the environment, having a negative impact on our health, and the health of the public and slaughterhouse workers.
Just by leaving turkey off of our plates, we are showing that we do not support animal cruelty, that we want to protect the environment, that we care about our collective health.