COTTONWOOD Old MacDonald never dreamed of having one of these on his farm, but the tall, gangly bird with the killer toe and the periscope head is fast becoming one of the nation's trendiest farm animals.
Ostriches, and their Australian cousins, emus, are gradually making their way from zoo curiosity to culinary delight. In the past few years the number of ostrich and emu growers in Idaho has risen to about 100, and in 1994 the Idaho Legislature officially declared the birds known as ratites as livestock.
Recently, ratite meat gained USDA approval.
So far, the funny-looking flightless birds have not gotten the beef, lamb and pork industries on the run the meat is expensive and available to consumers in only a few stores and restaurants. The ground meat sells for about $8 a pound and the fillets go for about $12 a pound.
But there are enough growers who have built up sufficient flocks that ratite products are on the increase and the prices of the products and the breeding stock are coming down.
Eugene McHugh of Cottonwood and Mick P. Forsman of Ferdinand believe they were among the first people in Idaho to venture into the fledgling ostrich business in 1992. At that time they bought five birds, three females and two males, at $4,000 apiece and set up shop at McHugh's farm, about two miles north of Cottonwood off U.S. Highway 95.
They also bought two incubators, which can hatch about 105 eggs at a time.
For the past four years, McHugh and Forsman have been building up their stock, educating themselves on the fine art of ostrich-rearing and doing some custom hatching for producers in other parts of the state.
This year, for the first time, McHugh and Forsman are hoping to get back some of their investment as they take their first crop of 10- to 12-month-old ostriches to a processing plant in Moses Lake, Wash., for slaughter.
They got into the business because it was a new industry and offered a lot of potential. A plot of ground too small to raise cows or hogs can support a lot of ostriches.
"It takes some time, but it's not as hard of work as it is raising cattle or pigs," McHugh said.
Ostriches hatch at about 2 1/2 pounds the size of your average fryer chicken.
Within a year the birds are up to about 250 pounds, and a full-grown ostrich can weigh in from 350 to 450 pounds and stand 7 to 8 feet tall.
McHugh figures it costs about $350 to raise a bird to a year oldthe age at which it is old enough to be processed.
Ostriches will eat anything, are not highly vulnerable to disease and, although they are natives of South Africa, easily adjust to Idaho weather.
There's only one problem. They're dangerous.
"The big ones are capable of killing a dog or killing a man," Forsman said. "They're mean. They're nothing to monkey with."
Adult ostriches have a thick triangular toenail on each foot they can use like a bayonet to strike a victim.
Fencing has been a problem for McHugh and Forsman because the ostriches lean on the fences, making them sway, or kick heavy steel gates hard enough to dent them.
McHugh and Forsman have bought custom-built steel panels that are a foot higher than regular cattle panels to keep in their flocks. Forsman points out that a fence needs to have at least a couple of feet of clearance between the ground and the lowest bar so a person can roll under and escape if an ostrich takes out after him.
So how do they collect the eggs of these ferocious beasts?
"One guy goes in and kind of distracts 'em while the other guy steals the egg," Forsman said.
Ostriches lay eggs from May through August. Eggs take about 42 days to hatch.
Steve Pounder of Kooskia said his family's reasons for getting into the emu business are typical.
They bought 160 acres, not enough land to run a profitable livestock operation and not enough tillable acres to farm.
"We were looking for something that was innovative, healthy and our whole family could be involved in," Pounder said.
They chose emus because of the growing industry and because there are not the problems that there are with ostriches.
"They're gentle as a lamb," Pounder said.
Emus are much smaller than ostriches, hatching at about 11/2 pounds and growing to 100 to 125 pounds and 6 feet tall by 14 months of age, when they are processed. Pounder said emus in this area are processed at C&L Lockers in Moscow.
Pounder and his wife, who are active in local, state and national emu organizations, paid nearly $20,000 a pair for their first mature breeding birds in 1993. The price for breeders now is between $3,500 and $5,500 a bird.
They also incubate their own eggs, collecting them every third night from breeder pairs and storing them in an ice chest until there are enough to put into the incubator. All the eggs then hatch at the same time. Emus lay eggs from November to April.
Until now most ratite growers have been building up flocks and selling birds as breeding stock to other producers. Pounder said the breeding market is fairly well saturated and the next phase of the business getting the product to the consumer is beginning.
Much of what the Pounders do in their organizations is try to educate the public about emu meat and encourage other growers to get into the business.
"Our biggest hurdle now is producing more birds to sustain any kind of market," Pounder said. "Presently across the country we have been introducing the meat through ag shows, county fairs, state fairs. ... It's telling people about why we're raising them and giving hands-on demonstrations on processing the meat."
Another Idaho emu raiser, Mike Sauer of Potlatch, president of the Idaho Emu Association, recently wrote and published a cookbook of emu recipes.
Ostrich and emu meat is being touted as a healthier red meat than beef. It has low carbohydrates, low fat and is high in protein and in vitamins E, A, D and iron.
Although at the present time ostrich and emu meat is available mostly in stores and restaurants around Seattle and Tacoma, the meat has been on sale at Tidyman's in Lewiston and can be special ordered from there if customers request it.
In addition to the meat, oil from the bird's fat is used in everything from shampoos to colognes and is considered an effective analgesic for arthritis sufferers. The skin is used as leather accents on clothing, boots and purses, and the nails and egg shells are used for jewelry.
McHugh said as more ostrich and emu meat and products become available, successful producers will be the ones who can keep their costs down and stay competitive.
"We just have to look for ways to reduce the cost of the meat and keep looking at new ways of doing things," he said.