Start a Turkey Farming Business

           (100) Start A Turkey Farming Business

Turkey Farming Business owners often have the same concerns as new parents.

• Will I be successful?
• Who has done this before and can advise me?
• Where will I get the financing? What help is available, and how much will it cost? All those concerns seem to hit at once.            

Most of those who succeed in starting a Turkey Farming Business have planned for every phase of their success. Thomas Edison said, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."

That same philosophy also applies to success in any Turkey Farming Business.

To enhance your chances for success, first generate a little bit of that perspiration to eliminate the most common mistakes new business owners make. According to the experts, most novices should spend a great deal of time researching their potential businesses and the marketplace.

Before starting a Turkey Farming Business Plan you must be able to answer these basic questions

• What niche or void will my business fill?
• What services or products will I sell in my Turkey Farming Business?
• Is my idea practical, and will it fill a need?
• Who is my competition?

What is my business’s advantage over existing Turkey Farming Businesses?

• Can I deliver a better quality service?
• Can I create a demand for my business?

And once you have answered these then consider:

• What skills and experience do I bring to the Turkey Farming Business?
• What will be my legal structure?
• How will my company’s business records be maintained?
• What insurance coverage will I need?
• What equipment or supplies will I need?
• How will I compensate myself?
• What are my resources?
• What financing will I need?
• How will I pay it back?
• Where will my business be located?
• What will I name my business? 

TURKEY farming is fast becoming a lucrative proposition. Preferred for its meat rather than the egg, non-descript turkeys are reared in villages under backyard system. However, commercial turkey farming has not taken off on expected lines due to non-avai lability of hybrid birds.
With the increased demand for turkey meat, particularly from the middle and upper middle class and the unhealthy competition in production of broiler chicks, farmers are now exploring the possibility of raising turkey on a commercial scale.
Hybrid turkeys, however, are not available at present, but standard varieties such as broad breasted bronze, broad breasted large white and beltsville small white are used for commercial purpose.
Mr K. Perumalsamy, of SRK Farms, Udumalpet near here who has taken the lead in commercial turkey farming, told Business Line that turkey chicks could be procured from four Government farms - Central Poultry Breeding Farm, Hessarghatta, Tamil Nadu Veteri nary and Animal Sciences Poultry Research Station, Nandanam, Regional Poultry Farm in Kollam and the State Poultry Farm, Mannutty in Trichur.
He pointed out that the birds purchased from Kollam were better than those available in Chennai. While the birds procured from Chennai attained a weight 7-8 kg on an average, the Kollam ones were far better with the male bird attaining a weight of 14 kg and the female up to 8 kg on an average.
Explaining its life cycle, he said, normally, as many as 90-100 eggs were laid during the turkeys productive period of 24 weeks from the maturity age, that is, after 30 weeks of age. Weighing one-and-a-half times than that of a chicken egg, these eggs ta ke 28 days to hatch.Eggs, he said, were not available for sale as there was a huge demand for `poult' - a day-old chick, at present. The cost of a poult ranged between Rs 25-30 and the price of a week-old turkey was anywhere between Rs 75-90 per kg of live-bird as against Rs 35-40 per kg of live-weight of chicken.
In view of the better demand and price for turkey meat, poultry growers are now moving away from traditional backyard system of rearing turkeys to `semi-intensive system'.
Under Indian conditions, a cross-bred turkey attained a body-weight of 4.5 kg at 20 weeks of age, by consuming about 15-16 kg of concentrated broiler feed.
But the demand is not just for its meat, which according to veterinarians contains less cholesterol and higher calcium than chicken meat, the droppings are used in preparation of farm yard manure and the feathers in making decorative articles.

The varieties are as follows

1.  Board breasted bronze:

The basic plumage color is black and not bronze. The females have black breast feathers with white tips, which help in sex determination as early as 12 weeks of age.

2.  Board breasted white:

This is a cross between Board breasted bronze and White Holland with white feathers. White plumage turkeys seems to be suitable Indian-Agro climatic conditions as they have better heat tolerance and also good and clean in appearance after dressing.

3.  Beltsville small white:

It closely resembles the Board breasted white in color and shape but smaller in size. Egg production, fertility and hatchability tend to be higher and broodiness tends to be lower than heavy varieties.

4.   Nandanam turkey 1

Nandanam Turkey – 1 variety is a cross between the black desi variety and exotic Beltsville small white variety. It is suited for Tamil Nadu climatic conditions.