The principle of growing turkeys for meat at home
Growing turkeys for meat at home is a profitable business. Today, when the stores are full of products of dubious quality, many seek to breed livestock on their own to obtain natural products. Turkey meat is highly valued for its low calorie content and excellent taste.
The principle of growing turkeys for meat
Features of choosing the right breed
Among poultry, breeders often choose turkeys for meat production. This category of birds has a lot of advantages over other types of living creatures:
- accelerated weight gain;
- easy care;
- high survival rate of turkeys;
- small feed costs;
- dietary natural Meat.
The main advantage is a quick set of muscle mass. Meat-oriented males can reach 30 kg, females 15. Turkey meat often prescribed to people with all kinds of diseases of systems and organs. Meat products contain many vitamins and useful amino acids. Meat breeds gain optimal weight in 2-3 months. Among the most popular representatives of meat breeds:
- big6;
- white broad-breasted;
- baht8.
Only breeding individuals give a good return. For 2-3 months of proper nutrition and care, birds gain 20-30 kg. To use the maximum production data of the breeds, it is necessary to create optimal living conditions for birds, close to natural ones, and also provide them with the correct, balanced feed.
Features of the content
Growing turkeys can be a great income. Many novice breeders build their business on breeding meat turkeys. If you have a country house, then there will be no problems with organizing a poultry house. When keeping turkeys, it is important to take into account that the bird does not like the neighborhood with other birds, does not tolerate heat, drafts, dampness and too severe frosts.
To the turkey shed special requirements apply. The room should be fairly large, because the birds are large in build and should have enough space at their disposal for free movement. In the turkey house, the optimal microclimate must be constantly maintained, which is achieved by the equipment of the correct supply and exhaust ventilation. If even one requirement is not taken into account, the productivity of birds will be significantly reduced. Birds are very susceptible to temperature changes and may even die if the situation is not corrected in time.
It is very important to observe the stocking density of birds when breeding. Large-sized turkeys lead a rather active lifestyle, so they should have a lot of space at their disposal. Stocking density will depend entirely on the developmental characteristics of the breed that the breeder has selected.
For rapid growth and optimal development, turkeys need sufficient free range during the warmer months. To do this, next to the poultry house, you should fence off the area and build a manhole from the barn door so that the birds can freely enter and exit. In the cold season, walks are strictly prohibited, because the risk of colds as a result of hypothermia is very high. Another important stage in the successful breeding of meat turkeys is timely vaccination, which will allow avoiding mass deaths of birds even during the quarantine period.
When breeding turkeys for Meat, you must first take into account all the features of the selected breed. There is a special feeding system, which implies some general provisions. However, it’s impossible to maximize your impact if you don’t study breed characteristics.
How to fatten?
You can feed birds at any age
Growing turkey poults at home requires special care at first, while immunity is being laid. Birds of this species grow very quickly, therefore, in order to achieve certain quality indicators of meat products, you need to know how to feed the bird, so that it quickly forms muscle mass, and does not store fat. You can start feeding birds at any age, while it should be borne in mind that turkey feed and adults will differ significantly. There are several feeding methods:
- forced;
- self-nibbling.
The first method involves feeding the birds with specially prepared formulations. To make the mixture, take 20% corn flour and barley, then add 15% bran and wheat, 5% yeast and 1% sodium chloride. All ingredients are mixed and moistened in water. After that, they are placed independently into the avian esophagus.
This feeding method allows poultry to be fed to the required body weight in just a couple of weeks. In the first days, manipulations with feeding are carried out twice, then the number of feedings is gradually increased. When pushing food, it is necessary to carefully fix the bird with one hand so that it does not twitch.
The second method involves free-range feeding. feeding is carried out in the fields after the harvest of melons and gourds. In addition to self-biting, the birds are given standard food 2-3 times. The advantage of the method is cost-effectiveness, accelerated weight gain, in less than 14 days.
How to fatten chicks?
Breeding turkeys at home involves organizing a good balanced diet and living conditions from the first days after hatching from the egg. turkey poults for slaughter begin to be fattened from four months of age. An increase in nutrition is planned for August - harvest time. The best option is to organize free-range meals. The basis of the diet is cereals, wet mash and a sufficient amount of greens.
If it is not possible to create optimal conditions for free food while walking, or walking is simply limited, for some reason, the diet will consist of:
- cottage cheese;
- Meat and bone meal;
- greenery;
- boiled vegetables;
- sprouted wheat.
With such a diet, after a month, the birds are completely limited to walking. In the house where the fattening turkeys are kept, the lighting is dimmed. During the next time period, fattening is carried out with protein products. combined feed... The fattening period will depend on the breed chosen, and can range from 1 to 6 months.
Features of feeding adults
Not all birds are suitable for fattening
So, we grow turkeys at home. Before you start feeding an adult turkey for Meat at home, you need to conduct a routine inspection. Not all representatives are suitable for feeding. it is necessary to select representatives who have not reached the required weight, as well as birds with protruding bones and a skin fold without fat.
The selected individuals are kept separately and fed according to a different system. For young animals, feeding is shown up to 5 times a day without grazing. The basis of the diet is combined feeds, which are specially designed for feeding meat-oriented birds. If you organize the supplementary feeding correctly, you can fatten the birds in six months.
Will the birds be profitable?
Growing turkeys for Meat. Growing turkey poults at home is very interesting. business idea... Naturally, the success of the campaign will completely depend on the correct organization of maintenance, feeding and care. Today, many breeders are back in the business of raising turkeys. Until recently, agriculture and poultry were in a deplorable state.
First of all, it is important to establish a line for the sale of meat products. It will not be difficult to do this, because its high taste indicators are highly valued by gourmets and people who are forced to constantly diet. In addition to meat qualities, turkeys have a fairly high level of egg production, and their eggs are large in size.
Feeding secrets
There is a feeding system where you can get exactly the kind of Meat you need. So that the increase in body weight occurs as soon as possible, but at the same time the bone tissue is not injured, it is necessary to introduce into the diet a large amount of all kinds of vitamins and microelements, among which the main one is calcium. The use of combined fortified mixtures can significantly reduce costs and save more than one ruble.
The basis of the diet of poultry for fattening is cereals, which are digested for a long time, so the diet must necessarily contain foods that increase digestibility. These products include: greens, straw, nuts, vegetable oil or finely chopped bacon.
Two weeks before slaughter, it is necessary to remove fish oil from the diet, otherwise after slaughter the carcass will have a fishy smell and taste. feeding with corn and alfalfa color the carcasses in a pleasant yellow color, which significantly increases the demand for the product. If it is necessary to lighten the color of the meat, at the end of the fattening, reinforced feeding with corn and alfalfa is started.
Conclusion
Today, farming is starting to revive little by little, and many have even decided to open their own turkey farming business. The fact that in a couple of three months you can get a 30 kg carcass makes them quite attractive for home maintenance and sale. In order for the bird to develop well and grow quickly, it is necessary to provide optimal conditions for keeping, feeding and caring for them.
The main requirement is that the birds are not exposed to a draft and a strong temperature drop. As soon as the turkey poults reach the age of four months, they are transferred to fattening, and this must be done for another month. we grow birds at home.