Turkey Farming is around the lock work. According to the report of 2023, more than 219 million turkeys have been raised. However, raising turkeys can be challenging if you do not have a clear understanding of essential elements. Farm.ws is committed to providing detailed information and solutions for any farming queries.
This article sheds light on certain things that you should keep in mind while starting a Turkey farm. From biology and behaviour to how to raise, disease, antibiotics, culture, and how to start farming, explore every single detail for ethical farming practices. So, let’s dive into the discovery!
Origin and Cultural Significance
Turkey Farming is a famous agricultural practice in Minnesota, America. Wild turkeys are basically native to North America. They are mostly found in the East of the United States. Turkeys were first domesticated in ancient Mexico by the Aztecs and Maya where they played a crucial cultural and symbolic role. These were rarely eaten normally but were used for rituals and even portrayed as Gods.
Biology and Behaviour
The Hart’s turkey farm has revealed the original biology and behaviour of Turkeys. On average, in the wild landscapes, the lifespan of a Turkey is estimated to be 1.4 to 1.6 years. However, they can live for as long as approximately 12 years. In Turkey farm, they grow to full maturity in around five to six months.
If you want to start Turkey Farming, you must understand their behaviours first to make your farming business successful. Turkeys are basically social animals. They display a variety of social gestures and use at least 15 different vocalisations to communicate with each other.
Wild Turkeys have a hierarchical social structure. They establish their ranks by fighting with each other. This usually occurs in the Autumn season. These fights happen between flocks, male siblings groups as well as other male groups. During the fights, they try to grab the snood or other skin areas around the head and pull the head down with the beak.
Domestic Turkeys are the best choice for Turkey Farming. They are morphologically similar to wild Turkeys. Their exhibit social behaviours include paling, blushing, parallel striding, peaking, jumping, impersonating, fleeing from each other, and mutual chasing. They also express submission by head-pulling, ducking, and dodging. In Spring, the hen flocks breed and live with their chicks until Autumn. After autumn, the male siblings form while the females congregate in larger flocks.
How Turkeys Are Raised?
In 2023, the rise of Turkeys has increased by about 4% from the past year. The best way to understand how Turkeys are raised is to visit a local turkey farm. You can search for a Turkey farm near me or you can also visit reliable farm websites like Lee Turkey Farm to find accurate knowledge about Turkey Farming.
Considering Essential Elements
American farmers are raising Turkeys in environmentally controlled barns and scientifically designed settings for Turkey Farming. Farmers feed them by following a balanced diet of orns and soybean meal mixed with a supplement of minerals and vitamins. It is essential to provide maximum protection from diseases, predators, and weather extremes. The size of Turkeys also depends on better feeding formulation, genetic improvements, and modem management practices.
Feeding Process
On average, to raise a 38-pound mature tom Turkey, it takes 75 to 80 pounds of feed. The feeding ingredients roughly cost two-thirds of raising a Turkey. The modern process has made it easier and less time-consuming for farmers to raise a fully grown mature turkey. A male turkey roughly takes 18 weeks to reach a good weight of 38 pounds whereas a hen takes around 14 weeks and weighs 15.5 to 16 pounds when processed.
Maintain Production
To maintain the production for Turkey Farming, laying hens are artificially inseminated in a controlled environment. The hens go through a 25-week egg-laying cycle. At that time, a hen normally lays around 80 to 100 eggs. At the end of this cycle, the hen is spent and processed.
Some breeders allow the hens to moult or let them rest for some period and go for another production cycle. The second process takes around 90 days. However, the second laying cycle produces slightly fewer eggs than before, 70 to 80 eggs.
How to Start Turkey Farming?
Here are four effective ways to start preparing for successful Turkey Farming:
Adequate Research
Before starting your Turkey farm, it is critical to do thorough research about the field and the birds. You should read as much as information possible from reliable sources. You can also visit local farms and do practical work for skill enhancements. The research also includes identifying potential risk factors associated with Turkey Farming. Taking essential measures for poultry disease management, animal welfare, and food safety are the foundational parts of a successful turkey farm business plan.
Planning
Once you have done thorough research, it is time to do planning. From investments, land, supplies, and production, there are a lot of elements you need to keep in mind while planning for your farming.
Gather Supplies
After planning from start to end, you need to gather the necessary supplies to start operating the business. It is important to choose reliable and reputable suppliers that supply high-grade feed and provide quality products. To grow your Turkey Farming business, try to maintain strong relationships with the retailers.
Raising Turkeys
As you have gathered all the necessary supplies and prepared the Turkey barn, you need to raise the Turkeys by feeding and maintaining them. Apart from feeding them, you need to clean, dry, and keep the poults warm. You also need to prepare ground-level nesting boxes for hens to lay eggs.
Processing
Another crucial aspect of Turkey Farming is to understand how to process them. After the breeding cycle has ended and the male turkeys have grown fully mature, you need to process them. Turkey hens are sold and processed as whole birds. On the other hand, male birds are often processed into products such as turkey franks, turkey sausage, cutlets, turkey deli meats, and tenderloins. You can visit Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant or any other Turkey farm restaurant to learn about turkey processing.
Disease, Antibiotics, and Transportation
Every poultry farming has a high risk of having diseases as they spread among the birds pretty quickly. Blackhead disease also known as histomoniasis and bird flu are the most common and serious diseases that affect turkeys.
For Turkey Farming, you need to keep monitoring the birds carefully. If one of a flock is infected with the blackhead disease, there is a 70 to 100% chance that the birds can die. You can provide the birds with antibiotics to prevent these kinds of diseases and increase their feeding efficiency.
Transportation conditions are another serious cause of the high mortality of Turkeys. Turkeys often receive injuries to their wings and head during transportation. Exposure to extreme temperature, noise, and social disruption are also some causes of the morality of Turkeys.
Fun Facts About Turkey Farming
Here are some fun facts about Turkey Farming:
- Turkeys are often debeaked under commercial conditions as they can get aggressive towards other birds.
- Turkey chicks can perch on low branches only at the age of 14 days.
- These birds are not naturally vegetarians. In the wildlife, they are opportunistic feeders.
- Just like other bird chicks, Turkey babies lose their soft baby feathers and regrow them. The regrowth depends on the health condition, nutrition, diet, and stress levels.
Final Thoughts
As we can understand from the above article, Turkey Farming can be challenging if you are not equipped with the necessary supplies. As these are wild birds, some of the breeds need additional care and maintenance to raise them properly. You need to keep the potential risks in mind to run the Turkey farm successfully. We recommend you visit local poultry farms to get practical knowledge and enhance your skills before starting your own agricultural lead.
Hope our guidance has helped you create a clear understanding of essential facts about Turkeys. Start your Turkey Farming journey today. Stay connected with us to get more valuable information and tips on farming.
FAQs:
Male Turkeys or toms take around 18 weeks to grow as a 38-pound mature bird. Whereas, hens take around 14 weeks to reach 15.5 pounds.
Wild Turkeys can live up to 12 years. In a commercial environment, Turkeys only live as long as it takes to reach fully grown mature weight. Most of the Turkeys do not pass 5 months of age on farms.
Turkey chicks eat a mashed mixture for their first six weeks. This mixture is composed of wheat offal or bran, soy meal, maize, and groundnut cake. After that, they eat the grower mixture which is made of the same ingredients with the addition of palm kernel cake.
Health diseases like bird flu, blackhead diseases and transportation conditions are some common risks associated with Turkey Farming.
Turkeys are usually gentle and social creatures. They are friendly towards humans, however, they can get aggressive with other birds on the farms.
The USA is the world’s largest turkey producer. According to a recent report, Turkey Farming industry was valued at over $5.8 billion in 2021 by producing 7.18 billion pounds of meat.