The content of turkey herds is a profitable type of home business. At this time, he is gaining more and more popularity in our country. Domestic meat products are gradually crowding out imported products. To get a decent return on investment or to provide your family with valuable meat, you need to know all the intricacies of poultry farming. From our article, novice farmers will be able to get detailed information on how to grow turkeys in various conditions.
What needs to be included in the business plan?
First you need to decide in which direction you will develop. Engaging in this business is not limited to the idea of how to grow a turkey at home. It includes several types of activities and, accordingly, income. This allows you to maximize the use of all existing opportunities to supply market requests. If it is reasonable to approach this issue, then you can organize the following types of sales:
- live two-month-old chicks;
- turkeys in the form of live weight (for mass cultivation);
- whole carcasses of birds;
- individual parts of the turkey;
- selling breasts (in turkeys this is the most valuable part of meat);
- various semi-finished products;
- the sale of eggs;
- homemade sausages.
There are several types of bird keeping. They need to consider everything and carefully study the chosen option. Each individual method has its own significant differences. It’s one thing to keep a house for raising birds, and it’s quite another to understand how a turkey is raised in a poultry farm.
It is important for the beginning poultry breeder to solve the following tasks related to costs:
- choose and buy a site for creating a poultry farm;
- purchase materials and build an economic complex;
- install and adjust work equipment;
- choose and populate productive crosses of turkeys;
- to get enough feed;
- make a system of necessary calculations with the initial numbers of production cycles: turkey fattening, nestling rearing (this includes the possible percentage of deaths of individuals).
In the future, other tasks will be added to the business plan. It would be advisable to think about expanding the complex, for example, to build a slaughterhouse and a meat processing workshop. To offer the consumer a complete assortment of meat products, it is necessary to master new technologies for their manufacture. You can produce various semi-finished products, sausages, sausages, schnitzels and deliver them to the nearest shops, bars, cafes and other establishments. As you can see, growing turkeys as a business is a promising economy with a wide field of activity.
Types of Feeding
The increasing demand for dietary meat has gradually led to the development of new bird breeding technologies. The layout of the construction of the premises will also depend on the type of turkey maintenance selected by the farmer. The following methods of growing birds:
- extensive;
- semi-intense;
- intensive (cellular);
- floor.
Any type of bird keeping requires full satisfaction of their natural needs. The farmer should take care of the possibility of individuals to realize their genetic potential inherent in them during selection or selection. The degree of illumination, temperature, feed quality, chemical composition of the airspace, room size, disease prevention - all these factors are vital for keeping birds. First, let's see how turkeys are grown in a poultry farm.
Intensive way
This type is a complete isolation of birds from their natural environment. Cultivation of turkeys in cages can afford technically advanced poultry farms. Birds are in automated rooms with climate control. Certain systems in them are designed to provide individuals, taking into account their age and genetic characteristics. This requires high hygiene standards and veterinarian supervision. Although due to the intensive breeding method, birds are exposed to viral diseases, they are rarely affected by parasites and harmful bacteria. A balanced diet promotes proper metabolism and protects individuals from death.
Young medium and light crosses are grown in special cell batteries, adult turkeys are transferred to outdoor conditions. Due to the lack of seasonality, the farmer has the opportunity for regular deliveries of products to the markets. The organization of such an economy requires precise management and large investments.
Semi-intensive
A long-tested system that includes two different methods of keeping birds. To conduct this kind of economy, you will need both closed rooms equipped with automatic equipment and designated areas for walking. This method allows you to get products throughout the year. Semi-intensive type is usually chosen by diversified enterprises or agricultural farms.
In order for the company to be able to sell the planned quantity of products, poultry workers monitor the indoor microclimate in order to grow the right amount of poultry for meat in a timely manner. Fresh turkey is delivered to the market at the peak of the highest consumer demand. The sale of meat is carried out during the mass maturation of the livestock to the slaughter age. Thus, the rational use of products obtained in large volumes occurs.
For a semi-intensive method you need to purchase medium-sized turkeys or large breeds. This technology is characterized by the occurrence of diseases in birds with a certain frequency. This is due to the isolation of the premises, poor air exchange. Most often, adverse conditions lead to diseases of the respiratory system of young animals. At the stage of the life cycle, which takes place in a closed house, turkeys can suffer from pasteurellosis, colibacteriosis and mycoplasmosis.
Extensive
Since external factors have a significant influence on the viability of birds, the choice of the type of their content is often tied to a specific region. The extensive method is favored by climatic conditions in the south of the country. Here the chicks are in warm mini-farms only the first time (45-60 days). They spend the rest of their lives on the street, that is, they are in free-range walking.
The complex of such a poultry farm should consist of a heated room, a shelter (where birds can take shelter from the rain) and pasture plots. Particular attention should be paid to the arrangement of the summer canopy. In it you need to arrange drinking bowls, feeders and create a floor litter. It would be good to equip the corral with running water and electricity. Under the pasture, you need to allocate two sites, so that during puberty to separate females from males. At least 2 m 2 of free territory should be allocated per bird.
For walking, it is better to purchase medium-sized crosses that tolerate various changes in feeding and living conditions. In the natural environment, due to the lack of crowding, the birds are less sick. If you are interested in a method of growing turkeys on a personal plot - this is it. The largest domestic birds, walking around in freedom, can also be found in small farms.
Selection transformations
Since further we will talk about how to grow turkeys at home for meat, it will be appropriate to get acquainted with the main crosses of birds. In recent years, breeders have achieved their goal, which was to change the anatomical features of turkeys and turkeys. Crosses of birds are distinguished by slaughter weight: light - 9-11 kg, medium - 13 kg, heavy - up to 16 kg.
The breeds are divided into two main groups: meat and egg-bearing. The former gain weight well, but are unproductive with respect to eggs, the latter are smaller in size and are characterized by increased egg production.
From meat breeds, you can pay attention to the most common crosses:
- North Caucasian white;
- bronze broad-chested;
- North Caucasian bronze.
Popular crosses, females of which are capable of maximum egg laying:
- Moscow bronze;
- broad-chested white;
- Moscow white.
Domestic scientists have bred a new breed with a significant name - wagon. These are large hybrids, reaching a weight of up to 10 kg and bringing a decent number of eggs. In the period of productivity from the female, you can get about 74 pieces. Moreover, they are suitable for the incubation process. Foreign heavy breeds of birds are also grown in Russia. These include:
Imported crosses are not famous for the desired return of eggs, but they allow to obtain carcasses with an average weight of 18 kg. Many poultry farmers are interested in the question: how to grow big-6 turkeys? It is possible to breed the breed by any maintenance method, however, this is fraught with some difficulties.
When reproducing Big-6, natural fertilization is excluded. There is a high probability of female injuries due to the large size of males. For this reason, insemination of birds is carried out artificially.
Home business
The time has come to discuss such a cost-effective system as rural business. Growing turkeys in conditions of expanse pays for itself handsomely. However, first of all, living things need a comfortable home. To equip a turkey poultry, the recommendations of experienced poultry houses are needed, which are given below:
Turkeys are freedom-loving birds, which means that they should allocate more space. If they will be in the cells, then you need to expand the territory for walking with the help of an attached aviary. In 100 m 2 you need to place 50-60 individuals.
Birds do not tolerate humidity in the room, so it should be warm and dry, but with good ventilation. With air deficiency, birds get sick, as well as with the presence of drafts.
If in the poultry yard there are individuals of other species, then for young animals it is necessary to build separate rooms, since birds do not like crowding. Or you can make partitions.
Convenient roosts for recreation should be built. Design them from wooden bars. The lowest is placed above the floor with a distance of 80 cm, from the first to the next log you need to leave 50-60 cm. For one individual, about 35 cm of the space reserved for the night is required.
Feeding requirements
First of all, those who study information on how to grow turkeys are attracted to the poultry industry by the value of dietary meat. Experienced farmers know how important it is to pay attention to the proper feeding of birds so that product quality indicators remain at their best.
In special foods with a high protein content, you need to add green grass, vitamin supplements and eggshells.
In the early days of the chicks should be watered with herbal juices and vegetable juices from a pipette. Weekly turkey poults begin to feed wheat porridge with chopped boiled eggs in the amount of 5 g.
A little later, add onion greens, oatmeal, carrots to the mash. Important ingredients are dairy products.
At 14 days, potatoes begin to be mixed into the feed and the dose of feeding is increased to 45-50 g.
It is important to ensure that the drinkers are not empty, and the feeders are timely filled with powdery mixture.
Buying young and getting offspring
Growing turkey herds on their own is a rather complicated task. It is better for beginner poultry farmers to start their business with the purchase of young growth. By 14-20 days, the kids are already strong and will not require much attention. At this age, the number of dead individuals is significantly reduced.
After a year, you can try to lay the eggs in the incubator. When selecting them, the following requirements are imposed: clean shells, the correct form, fertilization testing. In order not to think about how to grow a turkey at home for hatching chicks, many farmers have long been using this method.
It is wiser for beginners to purchase automated incubators. To ensure safety, you need to bring a backup power source to the equipment in case of power outages. The incubator is placed in a place protected from drafts. The temperature is set no more than +36 , humidity - 43-44. It is important to know that turkey poults can die due to improper regulation of these indicators. The full incubation period takes 28 days.
In order for the egg shell to warm evenly, they should be turned over several times a day. In the last week of the incubation period, they are best left alone.
When the babies hatch and dry out, they are transferred to a room equipped with special lamps.
Rural poultry farmers share how to grow turkeys naturally. For hatching eggs, you can choose a female from the herd. If she hisses and her behavior begins to differ from normal, this is a signal of readiness for motherhood. The mother hen has to choose a place for herself. For her equip the nest with the help of branches and straw. If there are several females with a maternal instinct in the herd, they need to be separated from each other. Nearby put a feeder and water.
Growing turkeys in a summer cottage
Suppose you do not intend to open your own business, but at the same time you want to provide your family with a quality home product. In this case, you will be interested to learn about how to grow turkeys in the country.
The management of such a farm does not include breeding of chicks and rearing of young animals, since you need to have time to raise birds for the summer season. For the normal development of birds to a lethal state this time is enough. On bird grounds, individuals for such purposes contain no more than four months. If you overexposure them longer, this will contribute to the development of the reproductive system and obesity of the bird. Small turkey poults can be bought at the beginning of May and grown in the same way as in regular domestic poultry houses.
The value of turkey meat
How to grow a turkey at home, we have already figured out, now let's talk about the qualities and use of a valuable product. It turns out that among other types of meat, turkey is a leader both in taste and in nutritional properties. Being a source of natural protein, it contains substances necessary for the body: fiber, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, calcium, potassium, ash, carbohydrates, fats, amino acids and atomic gold molecules. As well as vitamins: A, E, PP, B, K. Most of the nutrients found in the breast of a bird.
Regular consumption of meat improves metabolism, has beneficial effects on brain activity and the nervous system, strengthens joints and bone tissues.
In cooking, turkey meat is called "Spanish chicken." Dishes from it are very diverse. Soups, salads, aspic are prepared from meat and used as a filling. It is baked, stewed, fried, offal used for cooking pastes.
Conclusion
Having figured out how to grow turkeys in various content systems, as well as in the basic foundations of this business, we summarize all of the above:
- The advantage of this business is that in a short period you can get meat of the largest poultry in size.
- The value and taste of a dietary product are in great demand among consumers.
- It is worth paying attention to the high level of profitability, which reaches 60%, and in household plots this figure may be higher.
- Another characteristic feature of turkeys is the intense weight gain. The female individual weekly gains up to 140 g, the male - 80 g.
- The ratio of slaughter body weight of turkey and live weight is 80-82%.