In the UK, turkey farming is a very well-developed business. Although turkey is consumed especially during the Christmas holidays, there is also a demand for turkey meat throughout the year.

In 2021, approximately 11.3 million turkeys were slaughtered in the UK, a decrease of 3.6 million from the previous year.

The turkey production market in England has been affected in the last 2 years by the avian flu, by the lack of labor and supplies and by the increase in production costs.

The turkey, a Christmas tradition

Around 11 million turkeys are eaten each year in the UK at Christmas. The tradition of eating turkey for Christmas dinner dates back to the 16th century, when Yorkshire landowner and explorer William Strickland introduced the species to Great Britain.

It is said that he bought some birds from Native American traders during one of his voyages of exploration in 1526. Until then, the British ate chicken, wild boar, beef, lamb and geese during the festive period. Due to the fact that they were imported via Turkey, they received the name “Turkey” in England.

King Henry VIII was the first monarch to have a turkey dinner at Christmas. Over the centuries, it became the main dish of the Christmas holiday, after the public followed the example of the royal family.

At present, consumer surveys show that 76% of Britons choose turkey for their holiday feast.

Turkey farms in UK

Turkey farming is a big business in the UK. Farmers point out that raising turkeys is a year-round job and not just something that happens at Christmas.

Most turkeys in the UK are reared indoors in large purpose-built sheds or converted farm buildings.

Up to 25,000 birds can be housed in one building. The environment is tightly controlled, including lighting, temperature, and ventilation.

Modern turkey farms have computers to monitor the barns, monitoring everything from temperature to feed. The system is linked to the farmer’s mobile phone, so if something goes wrong in any of the turkey barns, he will receive an automatic alert 24 hours a day.

The diet of the turkeys changes, depending on their age, so that their nutritional needs are continuously covered. In the current climate, the welfare of all birds must be taken into account.

With a diet that changes about ten times throughout its life, with a nutritionist monitoring its feeding and ensuring that the correct dietary needs are met at each stage, the turkey’s diet is packed with vitamins.

Technical assistance is in the hands of veterinarians. A vet is always on call, not only to monitor the general health of the birds, but also to attend to the farms in case of emergency.

Today, consumers are increasingly demanding better conditions for livestock, such as ensuring that birds are not crowded together in enclosures.

Avian flu challenges

The UK poultry industry reported approximately 234 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) between October 2021 and early November 2022. The UK lost 40% of the 1.4 million free range turkeys due to the avian flu from October 2022, according to the British Poultry Council. This year’s outbreak has been much more devastating than last winter. Approximately 2.3 million poultry, including chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, have been culled in the current season, with UK turkeys being the most vulnerable to HPAI.

Although this represents only a small proportion of the 20 million poultry produced weekly in the UK, it has reduced the supply of birds just before Christmas.

Avian flu is compounded by a lack of labor and supplies on farms. Due to these challenges, the UK turkey price (7.25-9kg) increased by 12.5% MoM and 35.5% YoY, reaching GBP 6.3/kg on 16 November 2022.

How to improve the welfare of turkeys with natural additives

The most common protozoan diseases in intensive turkey farming are coccidiosis, histomoniasis and cochlosomiasis. These diseases have serious consequences on farm productivity, since they increase animal mortality and alter their digestive health and growth.

Intestinal conditioners and optimizers pronutrients allow to improve the intestinal physiology of turkeys, that is, they make the cells of the digestive mucosa in better condition and prepared to deal with infections. This improvement in the state of the mucosa will result in a greater resistance of the animals to suffering lesions from parasites and, therefore, their productive parameters are less likely to be affected.

Alquernat Coneb is the product developed and patented by the R&D department of Biovet S.A. based on the combination of conditioner pronutrients and intestinal optimizers.

Intestinal conditioner pronutrients improve the integrity of the intestinal epithelium, increasing the regeneration rate of enterocytes and strengthening tight junctions. Intestinal optimizer pronutrients enhance the local immunity of the intestine, allowing the animal’s defenses to avoid the colonization of the intestinal epithelium by parasites.

The mechanism of action of these active molecules consists in the activation of genes and specific DNA sequences that lead to a greater synthesis of functional proteins, optimizing the physiological functioning of the animal. These molecules act directly on the animal’s cells and not on the parasite, so they do not generate resistance or leave residues in the animal.