OSTRICH RANCHING – A Lucrative Investment

OSTRICH RANCHING – A Lucrative Investment

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Some farmers in the midwest are replacing their cows with an animal that may be a better investment. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

ambience, ostrich

We’re speaking with Dave Cito at his ranch in Colorado where he raises – you guessed it – ostriches.

“Well I had a friend that had a dairy and we was out visiting him and I seen these ostriches in his pen. I asked, What the hell you doin’ with them things?’ and he tried to convince me I should’ve got into this thing and I just laughed at him. So then I got to seeing that he was making more money and working a hell of a lot less hours, and I thought I better quit laughing at him and see about getting into this. So that’s how we got started.”

ambience, ostrich pecking, feeding

“Come on babies. Now see how fast these grow? They’re only six months old.”

“Well, the ostrich ranching is going to be, I think, one of the meat supplies for the United States eventually and foreign countries. They’ve found that it’s lower in fat and cholesterol than turkey, plus it’s a pure red meat and it tastes more like beef than chicken or turkey, so it’s going to be a good alternative for beef, and it’s a good tasting meat. We’ve tasted some so far and it tastes just about like beef and no fat at all in it.”

Currently there are 15-20,000 ostriches in the US, and in order to reach just 1% of the meat market here, the ostrich population must increase to around seven million. But it looks like that won’t take such a long time, considering what an ostrich pair can produce.

“Their life-span’s an average of 70 years old. Now they won’t lay that many years. Usually they’ll start laying about three years of age, and they’ll probably lay up to 30, 40 years I suppose. That’s what I think is real good for the farming industry is because a beef cow usually they’ll last four years, five years. Where here we’re talking 35 to 40 years of production out of one hen.”

“And so my neighbor over here, he seen me get started and so I started telling him about the money. So he’s getting into it pretty good.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont to encourage respect for our environment.

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OSTRICH RANCHING - A Lucrative Investment

Attracted by shorter hours and higher income, some farmers are switching from raising beef cattle to ostrich ranching.
Air Date:04/25/1994
Scientist:
Transcript:


OSTRICH RANCHING - A Lucrative Investment

music

Some farmers in the midwest are replacing their cows with an animal that may be a better investment. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

ambience, ostrich

We’re speaking with Dave Cito at his ranch in Colorado where he raises - you guessed it - ostriches.

“Well I had a friend that had a dairy and we was out visiting him and I seen these ostriches in his pen. I asked, What the hell you doin’ with them things?’ and he tried to convince me I should’ve got into this thing and I just laughed at him. So then I got to seeing that he was making more money and working a hell of a lot less hours, and I thought I better quit laughing at him and see about getting into this. So that’s how we got started.”

ambience, ostrich pecking, feeding

“Come on babies. Now see how fast these grow? They’re only six months old.”

“Well, the ostrich ranching is going to be, I think, one of the meat supplies for the United States eventually and foreign countries. They’ve found that it’s lower in fat and cholesterol than turkey, plus it’s a pure red meat and it tastes more like beef than chicken or turkey, so it’s going to be a good alternative for beef, and it’s a good tasting meat. We’ve tasted some so far and it tastes just about like beef and no fat at all in it.”

Currently there are 15-20,000 ostriches in the US, and in order to reach just 1% of the meat market here, the ostrich population must increase to around seven million. But it looks like that won’t take such a long time, considering what an ostrich pair can produce.

“Their life-span’s an average of 70 years old. Now they won’t lay that many years. Usually they’ll start laying about three years of age, and they’ll probably lay up to 30, 40 years I suppose. That’s what I think is real good for the farming industry is because a beef cow usually they’ll last four years, five years. Where here we’re talking 35 to 40 years of production out of one hen.”

“And so my neighbor over here, he seen me get started and so I started telling him about the money. So he’s getting into it pretty good.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont to encourage respect for our environment.

music