Sunday, December 7, 2008

Turkeys - Killing and Plucking 2

Back to the turkey farm today.
I had a go at killing a few today and then plucking them.

You have to go into the shed, choose a bird and then carry it into the back of a converted livestock trailor which we used to dispatch all the birds in. The birds head is put into a cone, with its back facing you. It looks like a big upside down traffic cone, but with a wider hole for the neck to come out of, and it is made out of metal, they come in different sizes to cater for the different weights - from 9lbs to 53lbs! The birds head then comes out the bottom.
You hold on to the turkeys neck, and then get the electric stunner. You hold the stunner in your hand, and there are 2 prongs coming of the side, with pads on the end. The pads need to be touching the turkeys head, and then you press the button, which stuns the bird. You count to 15, while still holding the button and holding the pads to the birds head, and you can feel the neck and the head relax. You then take a knife, push it into the neck and cut towards the bone, which hits the artery and then the turkey bleeds into a bucket.
The worst thing for me was going into the shed and choosing who would be killed next. For me it wasn't the fear of actually killing something, it was me thinking that I could do something wrong and harm the turkey. I wastched a few be dispatched, and once I'd done the first one I was ok and knew that it hadn't gone throught too much pain and suffering.

Next the bird is carried into the container, plucked and then hung in the refrigerated containers for two weeks.

I feel better now that I know I'm able to dispatch of an animal and that I can cope with all the emotions and things like that.

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