Ostrich Farming Growth Worldwide

In ostrich farming, as with any other business, it is important to study the value chain to determine the best course of action for the business to be successful. With a value chain firmly understood, it is possible to support the development of a business plan, and also to build a business model most suitable for the profitable running of the production line. The idea of the value chain being to enlarge and maximize value of your production while minimizing costs of the production.

When plotting the value chain of the business, it becomes easy to identify the areas where value-adding activities can be pursued easily and cost-effectively in the business. While setting up the business plan for your ostrich farming operation, it is most important to identify such areas where the business could operate in to add value to the operation. Once this value chain has been identified and analyzed, a framework exists as a powerful management tool for strategically planning for the growth of your ostrich farming enterprise.

When setting up a value chain for ostrich farming, we need to look at the production line from the egg producing stage, right through to the slaughtering stage, and analyze every step in-between, and on to the marketing and finally selling of each product. The goal being to supply a product to the consumer at a price they find acceptable and affordable, and at the same time allows us to produce efficiently to our satisfaction as well.

Looking at a simplistic value chain for ostrich farming, we see the following steps in the production line:
• Supply of ingredients
• Ration designer
• Manufacturing of feed
• Breeders
• Incubation of ostrich eggs
• Rearing of ostrich chicks
• Processing of ostrich meat, ostrich skins and ostrich feathers
• Transport
• Marketing of all products
• Consumer

Now you may ask what the difference is between the value chain and the supply chain, as they contain the same components. Let us look at the definition of each of these chains:

• The Supply Chain: The supply chain defines the section of the process that each producer is responsible for. In the supply chain, each section of the chain needs to generate income for the company responsible for that process. The producer will negotiate the lowest market price for goods they need to purchase, and will try to sell at the highest possible price. They will work for their own best interest, and not collaborate on price or quality. Buying is on an open market system, and no contracts are in place.

• A value chain is when the parties involved in all the processes in the supply chain collaborate to ensure that no value is lost throughout the process, due to poor performance or management. The different companies involved form alliances and contracts with each other in order to gain a better market, with greater rewards for all.

When ostrich farming is contemplated, it is important to develop a value chain approach, to ensure that the product remains traceable throughout the process. This can be achieved by a single company keeping control of the whole process in their ostrich farming enterprise, or by approaching independent producers and consumers of the product they are producing. With good collaboration in the latter instance, each producer remains independent in their operation, but work interdependently with their chosen business alliances, working towards a shared goal.

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Nearly 200 years ago, ostrich farming was started in the Cape Province, South Africa with a view to commercializing ostrich feathers. The ostriches in the wild were being hunted to extinction for their unique feathers, which were the fashion statement of the day. In order to be able to harvest the feathers easier, and without having to kill the birds, ostriches were rounded up and kept in pens, and thus began the wonderful tradition of ostrich farming.

As far back as the ancient Egyptian and Roman times, we see evidence of ostrich feathers being used in formal dress. In the days were embellishments to dresses were forced to be from nature, as synthetic goods were not yet in ready circulation, feathers were seen as a beautiful and lasting way of enhancing a dress. Flowers wilt, but feathers can last for many years with proper care. Ostrich feathers were very popular because of the sheer volume of each feather, and the strikingly dramatic black and white feathers.

All fashion seasons do come to an end. And unfortunately the ostrich feather trade dwindles to almost nothing at the start of the First World War. Not only was transportation of luxury items a problem, but fashions themselves were changing. Because of the shortage of material due to the war effort, dresses became shorter and simpler in design, using less extravagance. Another deciding influence in the changing of fashions was the advent of the motor car. Overly extravagant dresses did not fit into the restricted space of the early motor vehicles.

Although the ostrich farming industry has now shifted away from feathers as a primary revenue source, and although ostrich feathers are no longer selling at the exorbitant prices of yesteryear, there is still a viable market for feathers in the fashion industry as well as the utilities industry. Ostrich feathers are used by fashion designers, by florists, interior decorators and those in the crafts industries. There is also a large market for feather dusters. The options are endless. Ostrich feathers are not only versatile and striking as they are, they also readily accept dyes to make even more stunning designs.

Ostrich feathers are ready for an initial plucking at 7 to 8 months old. Then the mature crops of feathers are ready at 14 months. Maturity of feathers varies from one bird to another, with nutrition, health, general management and genetics being as important a factor as age. Two ostriches living side by side, following exactly the same management and diet can have variable feather growth. It is however important to follow good management from hatch stage, because the health of a chick now can greatly impact the development of his mature feathers a year down the line.

The feathers are classified as to length, sex of the bird, where the feather comes from, what it looks like and also whether it has been processed (e.g. dyed). The main classifications are:

Drabs – Body Feathers (natural or dyed, in different standard lengths) – From adult females or chicks
Blacks – Male body feathers sold as drabs
Male Wings – White wing feathers from mature males
Feminas – White Wing Feathers of the Female
Tail Feathers – Tail feathers of adults and slaughter birds
Spadonas or Spads – Chick wing feathers.
Floss – Soft body feathers
Blondenes – Light coloured body feathers
Bycocks – Transition feathers from body to wing
Slopes – Poorly shaped feathers
Ruggies – 5th and 6th quality feathers

Usually ostrich feathers are sold by the kilogram. Sometimes however the feathers are sold singly for non-industrial or low volume consumers.

Although the cleaning and handling of ostrich feathers is labor intensive, it is well worth every ostrich farming venture’s effort to develop this market, if they are slaughtering in larger volumes and able to market on a commercial-scale.

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Have you ever seen an ostrich? Do you know that ostriches are the largest birds in the world? Yes, ostriches are birds but they have lost their ability to fly. Ostriches are long necked, long legged, giant birds. I’ll bet you didn’t know that ostriches can run up to 40 miles per hour and live for over 50 years.

For many different reasons ostrich farming is spread all over the world. The first reason and the most prominant, is that ostriches have very healthy meat. Ostrich meat is low fat, low cholesterol and even low calorie. Ostrich meat is a healthier choice than beef or chicken. That is why many people choose ostrich meat for their diets.

The ostrich feathers are very beautiful. That is why they are desired from many of us. The ostrich’s leather is even more desirable. Only the ostrich farming produces this leather. Ostrich’s leather is soft but strong and it very famous with its distinctive quill patterns. The greater parts of ostrich farming profits come from ostrich’s leather sales.

Ostrich farming is very lucrative because ostrich feathers and ostrich oil are much-desired products. In order to produce them, however, many ostriches are needed. That is why often ostrich farming does not focus on production of ostrich feather and oil. Too many livestock is necessary for the ostriches to complete even one order.

Ostrich farming is probably more moneymaking business than farming cattle. Ostriches are very fertile. They can produce more than 40 young animals per year. Bird’s gestation period is about 42 days. Ostriches can be bred for over 30 years. You can calculate how many young ostriches ostrich farming can produce per year.

Ostriches are usually bred in pairs, in trios or in colonies. The male ostrich is able to serve to two or three females. The female ostriches lay the eggs but they often take breaks before they continue lying.

Nowadays it is very popular to talk about environmentally friendly ostrich farming. This type of ostrich farming gains more and more speed lately. Environmentally friendly ostrich farming means that farmers use method of breeding that is environmentally friendly. Ostriches are given no steroids, antibiotics, or hormones. Animals are not forced to eat against their will. They are left to roam freely and to eat natural food.

However, birds in ostrich farming are still slaughtered and sold for profit.

Ostrich farming encounters some problems. The first one is that birds are often fed poorly and improperly. Ostrich farming do not take enough care of the birds. Many farmers experience problems with selling their products, as marketing is a problem for them.

Ostrich farming is a really wonderful alternative to cattle farming. Ostriches are beautiful birds if you enjoy watching them. Ostrich farming is an enchanting and profitable industry.

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Towards the end of the 1980′s, the ambition to develop ostrich farming outside of South Africa became more intense. Promises were made, showing high returns, based on the sales of ostrich eggs, chicks, and grown birds to other farmers. Progression of the growth of ostrich farming has gone through four clearly identifiable stages.

In the first phase, the countries possessing the necessary infrastructure for the production, processing and marketing began ostrich farming at a commercial-scale, growing quickly to capacity. A number of countries were included in this phase, including South Africa, Israel, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Ostrich eggs were exported from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya. The introduction of Israel to this phase was the first country outside of southern Africa in modern times. The ostrich eggs used in the initial Israeli ostrich farming venture were smuggled out in a suitcase.

In the second phase, we see countries like USA, Canada, Australasia, UK and other northern European countries import foundation stocks from the original countries that still had ostriches in the wild. Other countries soon followed this trend, including China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The stock imported by these nations came from varied sources of genetic diversity, reaching from South Africa to Namibia and Zimbabwe, and right up to Tanzania.

In the third phase we see a further spread of the original foundation stock ostriches to even more countries in Europe. After the initial countries mentioned in the first two phases failed to move from foundation stock building to commercial production, they sold off their stocks to new countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, and then also to Brazil. From their the ostrich stocks moved even further afield into eastern Europe and into the Middle East, and also further into South America, to Mexico, Peru and Chile. Ostrich stocks then moved even further into Nigeria in Africa and Pakistan, and increasing areas where they are still working on establishing commercial poultry production.

We are currently in the fourth phase of seeing the spread of ostrich farming as a viable commercial enterprise. It is now time to put into practice, and to capitalize on that which we have learned till this point. We are at a time where we need to observe the development of the already established commercial meat production species. The current competition for ostrich meat comes from pigs, poultry (especially chickens, but also turkey, ducks, guinea fowl and other poultry), cattle, sheep and goats. Pig and poultry farming on a commercial-scale have become increasingly efficient in their production methods.

If ostrich farming enterprises want to grow to this full potential, care needs to be taken to learn from the competition meat protein producing enterprises. They have made great strides in developing feeds for maximum efficiency. They have made great strides in marketing efficiently. They have also made great strides in managing their production ever more efficiently. There is much ostrich farming enterprises can gain by looking at these models, and applying the knowledge to their own farming practices and management skills.

Ostrich farming can also achieve these efficient results, if the ostrich farming enterprises exploit this knowledge to its full potential.

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As with any livestock rearing enterprise, ostrich farming needs to be efficient, if it is to remain profitable. Each day the ostrich spends on the farm after optimum weight is gained for the bird to be slaughter ready, means a portion of the profits being used to feed the ostrich for that extra day. The aim of each management team is to ensure healthy ostriches that produce quality ostrich meat, ostrich feathers, ostrich skins and ostrich eggs and chicks, and all these in the most profitable way. The end products also need to retain the quality desired by the consumer.

Each livestock specie have a growth pattern that is followed: First comes the quick growth stage, after which the muscles begin to fill in. Then the animal enters the maturing stage, where they will reach sexual maturity. Understanding this pattern for ostriches, will ensure that you manage your stocks efficiently. Keeping a bird destined for slaughter until it has become sexually mature does not add to the live weight or the carcass weight of the bird. Once the growth of the bird has reached optimum, the ostrich will no longer put on weight, it will only mature the muscles (making the meat tougher for the consumer). When the ostrich begins its maturing phase, it is starting to eat away the profits that could have been achieved. Only birds destined as breeders should be kept once the initial growth stage has been reached.

Let us have a look at average weights and FCR rates for ostriches worldwide, and the optimum averages found on one farm. Remember that with each passing year, the stocks on the farm did become genetically more sound, and this can also influence the final FCR. It is worthy to note however that the ostriches tend to lose weight again after the initial growth phase, while they mature. For optimum FCR, the ostriches in this table should be slaughtered at 200 days. For maximum ostrich meat production, they should be slaughtered at 225 days, at a slightly higher conversion rate:

Worldwide Average, in 365 days, reaching weight of 95 kg, with FCR of 5.9
Average – Year 3, in 280 days, reaching weight of 110 kgs, eating 420 kgs, with FCR of 3.8
Average – Year 7, in 225 days, reaching weight of 225 kgs, eating 293 kgs, with FCR of 2.4
Average – Year 10, in 200 days, reaching weight of 125 kgs, eating 250 kgs, with FCR of 2.0

It is worthy to note here that grazing, whether it be grass, hay or lucerne is also part of the feed costs of each ostrich, and be taken into account when calculating the FCR. Even grazing costs money, both for planting and maintaining it. Some farms have found it easiest to feed conserved feed, instead of growing feed, as the nutritional values of growing feed change daily, and will influence the accuracy of the FCR rates.

Keeping records in your own ostrich farming venture will allow you to optimize your feeding regimen, as well as the optimum days to slaughter. We have much we can learn from the poultry and pig farming industries, as to optimizing the FCR and optimizing management performance.

Not only will this ensure a lower feed bill, but will also release capital and working space for the next season much quicker. Labor costs are also reduced, and the pens can be given a little more time to recover for the next season’s ostriches.

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Ostrich farming is a young enterprise at international, open market level. We still have a lot to learn from other enterprises, and from past experiences, both in ostrich farming and other livestock farming. But we need to take care that we learn from the right sources. Just because one management practice works well for one enterprise, does not guarantee that it will work for all enterprises, or specifically when applied to ostrich farming.

For instance: During the strategic analysis planning meeting for ostrich farming, a speaker suggested that the management pattern used by De Beers Diamond mines be implemented in ostrich farming: He suggested that the price of ostrich skins be kept at high value, just as De Beers had kept the price of diamonds at a high value. This might sound like a great ideal, but it comes with certain, obvious draw-backs. Where a diamond, once mined has no determined shelf-life, and can be kept indefinitely, until the market trends benefit selling, it does not hold true to ostriches, or any livestock at that. Once the production phase begins, that is ostrich eggs have been laid) the time available to make a profit from the chick that will hatch, starts ticking. And once the ostrich is slaughtered, the shelf life of the processed products of ostrich meat has a very short time-line, except in the case of ostrich skins, which once processed remains salable for a much longer time.

Therefore we see that although the model that De Beers offers us might sound ideal to a profitable market, it is not suitable at all to ostrich farming. A certain extent of market control and control of supply and demand might work, but can damage the market, and the ostrich farming ventures, much more than it is helping them. If it was only the ostrich skins that were used in ostrich farming, the ostrich meat and ostrich feathers would fall away as a low-value commodity, thus decreasing the opportunities for the business to attain full profitability.

There was a very well-grounded fear that the ostrich farming enterprise worldwide would suffer or even collapse, if too many products were released into the marketplace without any control being practiced. Two standard marketing models exist which could be implemented in ostrich farming.

The model presented by NOPSA. They suggest selling all high value goods at high value and low volume. (This would include the ostrich skins). Medium value products are to be sold at a medium value, and at medium volume. Lastly the low value goods can be sold at low value, and at high volumes. (Including the ostrich meat and ostrich feathers). These prices can be undercut by competitors, whereas the high value items should have a standardized price range.

The second model is the much preferable model rather makes use of adding value to all products to increase the volumes and prices. Adding value is done by:
• Grading the quality
• Noting the country of origin
• Offering the best value
• Certification schemes

By adding quality marks, and keeping standards for those quality marks controlled and uniform, consumers readily pay more, because the appreciate the value the mark portrays. It allows for a competitive edge to keep the production up and prices realistic, yet not suffocating the market.

It will be well worth your time to study the two models of marketing, and to thus allow your ostrich farming venture to follow sound and profitable marketing strategies.

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After the deregulation of the Ostrich farming industry in 1993, the industry stalled in South Africa. In a bid to move forward once again, the South African industry held a series of talks in 1997, and in 1998 an international session was held. Now you may ask if there is something we can learn from these talks held nearly two decades ago.

The answer must be a resounding yes. The same experiences the industry had in the early years after deregulation still regularly raise their heads. Although technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the last two decades, the areas of strengths and weakness in ostrich farming have remained the same.

The Log Frame sessions held in 1997 and 1998 were both led by Professor Luc D’Haese, a Professor. of Economics from the University of Gent, Belgium, and assisted by Professor Johan van Rooyen, from the University of Pretoria and the South African Agriculture Business Chamber, and Mr. Dirk Esterhuizen, from the South African Agricultural Business Chamber).

Their aim was to analyze the ostrich farming industry, and to plot a way to move forward. The market was not seeing the desired growth, and the stagnation needed to be turned around into positive growth. We can learn from these meetings how to implement sound business management and planning to our own ostrich farming ventures today.

During their planning meetings, the members present came up with a strategic plan which identifies the infrastructure they required. They also identified problem areas in the industry, and came up with plans to counter these problems.

The SWOT analysis they undertook in 1997/8 is still applicable today, albeit to varying degrees. The Strengths of the ostrich Farming industry were found to be that the industry was delivering healthy products, as well as quality products, and all at a high quality standard. At the same time, weaknesses were identified. There was too much variation in the quality of the products. More uniformity is a necessity. Because of genetic inbreeding and other mismanagement issues, many of the ostriches were in poor health, and the survival rate of the chicks was not at an optimum. There was also a feeling of distrust in the industry after the deregulation of ostrich farming in South Africa.

The SWOT analysis did however note that ostrich farming has great opportunities. As it was a fairly new industry, there was a large market potential. Even today, the industry has much opportunity for growth, as the market is far from capacity. The market available is large, as giant strides in technology have made the whole world more easily accessible as a market. The movement towards healthier alternatives, in the meat protein market, and the interest by consumers in niche markets has also brought a whole new opportunity for growth into these niche markets.

Of course the SWOT analysis also identifies threats to the industry. These threats remain the same to date, so it is worthy to take note of them. There was no longer a strict control over the quality of the products, and this was a potential for greater distrust of the industry by consumers. Together with low quality was also low efficiency of the production lines. Yet another threat was the ever-growing animal rights movement worldwide.

After conducting the analysis, the team was able to come up with creative ways in which they could turn their weaknesses into further opportunities and into strengths. They identified each negative area, and discussed how they could turn it into an environment ready for growth. From this they developed a strategy to move the ostrich farming industry ahead into the new millennium, and set up a plan of action to make these goals a reality.

A core problem found was the immaturity of the industry. And although the industry is nearly two decades alder, many of these problems still face ostrich farming ventures. As then, product inconsistency needs to be addressed and checked daily, both in the production line and the processing line. Although transportation is easier with modern technology, it remains an area to be dealt with. Gone are the days of transporting the ostrich skins to England for processing. We now have refrigerated trucks to ensure a cold chain of processed products. However we need to keep ensuring that the distribution chain remains efficient and profitable throughout.

Another matter arising from those initial meetings was the lack of control in the quality of each product. Each level of ostrich farming was totally dependent on each other level for delivering consistent standards throughout the producing and processing stages.

Even today, we need to address the problems arising. Under the guidance of the World Ostrich Association, the ostrich farming industry has made and will continue to make large strides towards gaining maturity and growth worldwide, addressing problem areas as they arise, and ensuring that the marketing message spread worldwide remains consistent.

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