Poison ivy, Publicity, and Ostriches

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

"Have you ever had any close calls?" I asked. Sue paused.

"One day I went in to clean the pen. I got three of the ostriches in the barn but let my favorite bird stay out with me. Because they were separated they were calling to each other the whole time. When I finally let them out they started running, twirling, and dancing toward me. I thought I was going to be hit and I tore over to the fence and started climbing it. They weren't being aggressive. They were simply having too much fun and weren't paying attention to where they were going."

The male ostrich builds the nest, fanning out a small depression in the dirt with his wings. More than one female will lay in the same nest, which the male guards fiercely. Ostriches lay the largest eggs in the world and, in awe, the class studied the melon-size ivory-colored egg. Its lacqueredlooking surface was pitted like the skin of an orange.

"A fertile ostrich egg is worth one to two thousand dollars," Sue informed us. She added, "The one male and two females we have are worth a total of about seventy thousand dollars because they're producing fertile eggs. The birds go up five hundred to six hundred dollars per month until they reach maturity." Ben was amazed to learn that baby ostriches are born about one foot tall, and that they grow one foot per month until they reach their adult height. The Olivers spend one dollar per day feeding each bird a diet of alfalfa pellets.

"But why ostriches?" I blurted out, still struck by how outlandish they looked removed from their African homeland.

"They're environmentally friendly," Bret piped up. Sue explained, "You can have this as a source of income on a small acreage. Ostriches take only one-sixth the area of land that cattle ranching requires, and they also reproduce fifty to one hundred times faster." To start out in the cattle business it takes twenty-five cows, one bull, and fiftytwo acres. In contrast, two pairs of yearlings and one acre of land is a start in ostrich raising. It is more expensive at first, but within forty months the returns can be as much as six times greater.

Still skeptical, I asked, "But what about the winters?" Sue readily responded, "They take the winters well. They can be raised in any climate that supports cattle and after the age of six months they adapt to cold as well as heat extremes:"

We also learned that ostriches were ultimately being raised for meat, leather, and feathers. An average-size fourteenmonth-old ostrich could provide ninety to one hundred and ten pounds of meat. Weightwise, the meat from one steer is equal to that from four to six ostriches.

Ostrich meat is delicious," Sue assured us, while the kids wrinkled their noses. "It is all red meat and tastes much like veal:" Ostrich meat is also lower in fat and cholesterol than beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. Later I saw recipes for deviled ostrich and ostrich and yogurt cream curry.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print