Commercial turkeys have been selectively bred to grow so rapidly that they can barely walk, cannot mate naturally, and suffer chronic pain from skeletal and cardiovascular abnormalities throughout their short lives.
Turkey welfare in commercial production reflects the same fundamental problem as broiler chicken welfare: selective breeding for extreme growth rate has created an animal whose basic physiology is incompatible with normal welfare. A turkey that cannot support its own weight without pain is suffering from the moment it reaches a certain size. Artificial insemination is necessary because natural mating is physically impossible for birds bred to this extreme. These are welfare harms built into the genetics of the commercial animal, not merely into management practices. Welfare improvement requires both better management — enrichment, slower-growing breeds — and systemic selection for animals that can walk, stand, and behave normally throughout their lives.