ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING LEG HEALTH AND WALKING ABILITY OF COMMERCIAL TURKEY TOMS

The environmental factors that any living being experiences can have lasting influences on the rest of their life. There have been major changes in the poultry industry. Recently consumers are wanting products that reflect their own values and have experiences that better allow them to express natural behaviors, in turn benefiting the animals biological functioning. But, with endemic issues the industry is facing change needs to be made in order to ensure animals are able to live in their environment free of dangers and provided with all of the recourses they need to be successful and become a quality edible product for customers.

This study investigated the impact of environmental enrichment (EE) (CO = control, PB = pecking block, PL = platform, RO = robot, SB = strawbale, TU = tunnel) and forced locomotor periods and their effect on commercial tom turkeys. Two replicates of 400 male broad breasted white turkeys (n = 800) were reared and observed at different age points to assess the effects of environmental modifications. Toms were analyzed to see if the environmental modifications provided had an impact on the footpad health, walking ability, or objective gait parameters at different time points through the bird’s life.

On average, the walking ability of male commercial broad-breasted white turkeys was more affected by their age and body weight than the EE or forced locomotor period provided in this experiment. But, concerning the specific gait parameters of birds, few impacts (effects to gait time and gait distance) were observed in the objective gait parameter output form individual birds. Further investigation is needed to better understand the impact of environmental modifications on common problems seen in commercially available tom turkeys raised for consumption. Gait impairments and footpad health issues that face the turkey industry have persisted for some time, but with new research examining any links between the animal’s environment, walking ability, and foot health, producers have the possibility to reduce the possibility of premature culling while still providing high levels of care by providing biologically relevant modifications to the bird’s environment.