Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and face paint and use a device that mimics mating calls to lure
the birds within shooting range. Despite their technological and
strategic advantages, hunters often return home empty-handed
because of the awareness and elusiveness of the birds.
Contrast them with the genetically manipulated turkeys used in
agribusiness. With their massive breasts of fat and muscle, they
are a caricature of the wild turkey. They are so bulky that toms
cannot copulate without harming the hens, so breeding facilities
“milk” the males for their semen and artificially inseminate the
females.
Their legs, so well adapted for agility and speed in the wild, can
barely hold up their enormous bodies. Walking and even standing
can be painful. They suffer joint and hip problems, and their ten-
dons and ligaments can even rupture. Even if they were not con-
fined in buildings at a “stocking density” of 2.5 to 4 square feet per
bird (compared to the 500 acres they may call home in the wild),
flight is impossible for these grossly obese and heavily muscled
birds. They live sedentary lives in an overcrowded shed, crammed
wing-to-wing atop ammonia-laden excrement.
It's not only their physical form that's so exaggerated com-
pared with wild turkeys. Their growth rate is insanely accelerated.
Factory-farmed turkeys now weigh three times more than their
wild brethren by just four months of age. A more compact “grow-
out” period means producers can raise and process more turkey
flocks within a year—which means more profits.
The welfare of farmed turkeys is so compromised that mortality
rates of 7 to 10 percent are expected. Summing up agribusiness's
priorities, an industry scientist said the “use of highly selected
fast-growing strains is recommended because savings in feed
costs and time far outweigh the loss of a few birds.” The “few”
birds he's referring to were actually 18 to 26 million turkeys dying
on the factory farm in 2007 alone.
