103. A recent survey indicated that a high proportion of turkeys can be injured and damaged during collection and transport from the farm to the slaughterhouse. The most common injury is bruising but wings and legs may be broken by rough handling and poor transport. Such damage is a welfare issue and should be addressed by all farmers. After all, it is in the farmer's interest to keep the birds in good condition and thereby avoid financial loss due to downgrading of the carcase. We believe that a high profile supervisory role is required to ensure that catchers carry out their duties carefully and humanely.
104. A number of transport systems are used including stock trailers, loose crates, fixed crates and modules. Trailers are ideal for transporting relatively small numbers of birds over short distances. Birds can be walked on to the straw covered trailer and then walked off at the point of slaughter. Loose crates are less widely used nowadays. The turkeys are placed into them in the shed and a forklift truck is used to put stacks of crates on to a transporter. Alternatively, the crates may be left on the transporter and the turkeys carried to them by hand. Fixed crates are a variation of this system. The side-opening crates are fixed to the bed of a lorry and birds are carried to it and loaded into the crates. It is not always a simple task to push the birds towards the back of the crates and damage can occur.
105. Modular crating systems are now the most popular method for transporting large numbers of turkeys. These consist of a metal frame which holds a series of sliding carrying compartments, much like a chest of drawers. The modules are taken by forklift into the shed and, once full, are secured to the lorry.
106. We believe that, for manual loading, the modular systems with sliding drawers are superior to fixed crates, from a turkey welfare point of view. The systems appear easier to load and less damage results: we therefore urge producers to adopt sliding drawer modular systems, as far as possible. If turkeys could be driven into a modular crate suitable for forklifting, handling on farm could be minimised so we advocate investigation of this possibility.
107. The success, or otherwise, of loading and unloading is governed by the ability of the catchers and loaders. Proper training is essential and we encourage all companies to prepare full written instructions for their staff. The loading and unloading should be supervised and those individuals with poor technique reminded of the instructions and given training. An example of suitable instructions is at Appendix E.
108. All catching and loading staff should be adequately trained and supervised.
109. The industry should prepare guidelines for their staff to follow which explain how to avoid injury to the birds.
110. Companies should consider imposing a financial penalty on contract farms which produce an unacceptable number of injured birds.
111. Account should be taken of extreme weather conditions and the number of birds loaded should be adjusted accordingly.
112. The possibilities for use of large modular crates into which birds could be driven should be investigated.
113. Farmers should liaise closely with slaughterhouses and processing plants so that the collections are programmed to minimise time the turkeys spend waiting on vehicles.
114. If it is necessary to keep birds on board a stationary vehicle, the driver should take action to avoid heat or cold stress to the turkeys (e.g. avoid direct sunlight or draughts). In hot weather, it may be appropriate to keep the vehicle moving and, in this way, provide a cooling draught.