Turkey Farm

Just watched a documentary on Okto that goes by the name of How Stuff Works on turkey farming. In it, they show how turkeys were bred all the way to how they end up on our tables.

What was interesting was that to make turkey eggs, the male and female specimens do not even get to mate! Some farm hands have the choice job of collecting semen from a male bird, who will be used to inseminate 60 hens. Then they men capture the females, turn them upside down, and using a machine, inject sperm into the hens private parts (hmmm, "private" is an ironic word in this context). Poor birds, in their short lifespan of 5 to 7 months they don't even get the pleasure of sex before ending up in the slaughter house.

When the babies are hatch, they will follow the first living object they see as their moms. So there was a brood of chicks (turkey, not girls, muahhahah)  following this farmer around and climbing onto his feet. So sad, cos he will eventually be their murderer. In order to get them to breed faster, turkeys are subject to more artificial light so as to dupe them into thinking it was still egg-laying season. It's a sad process, turkey farming. I will never earn any money as a farmer cos I will want to keep all the birds as pets.

The free-range turkeys get it slightly better. At least they get to roam around on a spacious compound, not stuffed together in barns and never see the light of day. They also get to live for 7 months.

Another rather perverted thing is that turkeys are not naturally white, but have been bred to this colour because consumers don't like the dark spots on turkey skins. It seems a bit sick to me that humans tweak and breed animals to their liking for commercial value. Sometimes I wonder what sort of meat we're all eating??

However, recent technological advances have helped such that turkeys do not die in vain. Besides their meat, turkey feathers are also used to make plastic. Their poop is used to generate fuel. Plus the resulting ash is used to fertilize crops, which are in turn used as turkey food. Come to think of it, isn't it a bit sick that turkeys are eating crops that fed on turkey ash??