Turkey farming blends well in organic orchards
By Our Agriculture Correspondent
Each female turkey lays beteen 60 and 80 eggs a year.
TURKEY IS a robust large bird raised mostly for meat, and it can be raised in integrated organic orchards to raise farm income. "A pair of full grown turkey can fetch around Rs. 700 to the farmer," says Dr. F.R. Sheriff, Director of Extension Education, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), Chennai.
"An adult male (Tom turkey) can weigh between 6 and 7 kg, and a female about 3 kg. Being omnivorous birds, turkeys feed on a host of crop residues and grass and insects and worms. Turkeys are known to be efficient converters of feed into meat. Though there are several commercial breeds available in developed countries, not a single commercial breed of turkey is raised in India. A few crossbred birds are grown in many villages under backyard system", explains Dr. Sheriff.
Egg laying
Each female turkey lays between 60 and 80 eggs a year. On an average each egg weighs between 60 to 70 g. The birds yield eggs all through the year with a clutch size (eggs laid on consecutive days) of 3 or 4 and a pause (non-laying period) of 1 to 5 days. Good breeders lay 7 to 8 eggs in a clutch and take a pause of 7 to 10 days and again start laying. The laying capacity is positively correlated to quantity and quality of feeding.
Poor layers often go in to broodiness (sitting over the eggs for hatching) for 28 days after the end of clutch and hatch out poults. Good layers seldom become broody and do not hatch their eggs, according to him.
Bird feed
The birds can be raised with adequate quantities of concentrate feed containing 40 per cent grains, 35 per cent oil cake, 11 per cent fish meal, 10 per cent bran, and 2 per cent each of mineral mixture and shell grit. Each adult bird needs about 150 g of concentrate feed, and the poults from the day of hatching till they reach 4 weeks of age require high protein (26 to 28 per cent) diet. Each young bird has to be fed with 25 to 50 g of concentrate feed.
After 4 weeks each bird should be fed with 50 to 100 g of concentrate and this should continue until 24 weeks. The birds can then be allowed in the pasture where they can feed on tender grass shoots, flowers, seeds of weeds and a variety of leguminous fodder. Each bird can consume up to 200 g of grass and weeds in a day.
Weed removers
When they take adequate amounts of grass and weeds, they remain very active and keep good health and fine plumage. Thus, the birds help in keeping the weeds under check, and help in enriching the soil through their droppings, according to Dr. Sheriff. By integrating turkey in organic orchards farmers can get regular income. Our field studies showed that in two hectares of orchard with good pasture a group of ten females and two Tom turkeys could be maintained, and it would ensure a net profit of Rs. 16,000 every year," points out Dr. Sheriff.
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