There is a growing demand for documentation of animal welfare in meat production industry. Research on turkey welfare has mainly focused on toms at the end of production cycle, and information on the relationship between on-farm welfare and slaughterhouse recordings for turkey hens is currently lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between routinely collected slaughterhouse data from turkey hens and their on-farm welfare measured by transect walks, to identify potential retrospective welfare indicators. The study was conducted between November 2017 and March 2018 in 20 commercial turkey flocks in Norway. On-farm welfare was evaluated using the transect walk method when the turkey hens were 11 wk old, recording the number of birds that were immobile, lame, small, featherless, dirty, sick, terminal, or dead and had visible head, tail, or wing wounds. Slaughterhouse data was provided for each flock. Univariate and multivariate linear regression models were used to investigate the associations between the variables. The results showed significant associations between several measures on farm and at slaughter. Flocks with more lameness on farm had more birds rejected at the slaughterhouse owing to leg and joint issues (P = 0.03, r = 1.01). Featherlessness and dirtiness on farm were positively associated with airsacculitis (P = 0.005; r = 0.42 and P = 0.0008; r = 0.57, respectively). The results suggest that slaughterhouse registrations may provide both practical and feasible retrospective information on the welfare of turkey hens that potentially could be implemented in future welfare assessment schemes. Further studies are needed to investigate the causal factors behind the identified relationships.

中文翻译：

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土耳其母鸡（Meleagris gallopavo）商业鸡群中农场福利措施与屠宰场数据之间的关联。

对肉类生产行业中动物福利的记录的需求不断增长。火鸡福利的研究主要集中在生产周期结束时的汤姆上，而目前缺乏关于农场福利与火鸡母鸡屠宰场记录之间关系的信息。这项研究的目的是调查常规收集的来自火鸡母鸡的屠宰场数据与通过样板行走测量的农场福利之间的关系，以找出潜在的回顾性福利指标。该研究于2017年11月至2018年3月在挪威的20只商业火鸡群中进行。当火鸡母鸡11周大时，采用断面行走法评估了农场的福利，记录了不动，la脚，小，无羽毛，脏，生病，候鸟，或已死，并有明显的头，尾或翼伤。为每个鸡群提供了屠宰场数据。使用单变量和多元线性回归模型研究变量之间的关联。结果表明，农场和屠宰中的几种措施之间存在显着的关联。由于腿部和关节问题，农场中farm腿较多的鸡群在屠宰场有更多的禽鸟被拒绝（P = 0.03，r = 1.01）。农场的无羽毛和肮脏与气囊炎正相关（分别为P = 0.005； r = 0.42和P = 0.0008； r = 0.57）。结果表明，屠宰场注册可以提供有关火鸡母鸡福利的实用和可行的回顾性信息，这些信息可能会在未来的福利评估计划中实施。