San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-12-14
FROM SOUTH AFRICA.
Ostrich Farming Recommended for Texas.
Galveston News.

Willowmore, Cape Colony, Septem-
Der "a, 1ss2-As All American, for
some years residing in South Afr-
ca, / can not but notice the enormous
profits accrung to this country from
the farming of domesticated ostriches'
and knowing the great spirit OF enter
prise actuating the Texans generally
l consider it to be my duty as fellow
countryman to place all the informa-
ton in my possession before them
which l have gathered during my
residence in several parts of South
Africa, only hoping that this will be
read by some one with public spirit,
and who may be inclined and induced
to take. the matter up and introduce
this, the best paying industry in the
great Lone Star State.
The general price of a full-grown
pair of breeding birds is from S25O
to $500. These birds are camped OF
in pairs to breed, and have from three
to four nests per year, each nest con-
tanning from ten to twenty-five eggs.
1t can be safely concluded that two
thirds of the eggs are successfully
matched by the parent birds, SO that
each pair would hatch about forty
chickens per annum. These chicks
have sold here very fast at prices rang
ing from $25 to $75 per chick as soon
as Matched, so that one pair of good
birds, at an outlay of say $500, would
produce chickens to the value Of ST.
600 per annum. These chickens,
after being taken from the nest, are
kept in the house, away from all cold,
and for three days they eat nothing
whatsoever. A little incerne is then
cut up fine, and, being sprinkled be-
fore them, they begin to eat, so that
in the course of weeks time they
are strong enough to run in the open
air in charge of a herder, who brings
them to the housein the evening to be
housed for the night. This treatment
is continued until they are about
three months old; from this they shift
for themselves in focks about the
farm.
At the age of eight months the first
plucking of feathers takes place. The
feathers being of poor quality, realize
at present about SIS per bird.
Every eight months thereafter, or three
times in every two years, they are
plucked again, the feathers increasing
in value and beauty with every pluck
ing, so that the third pluck is now
quoted at about $50 on an average per
bird. These feathers, before they
each the consumer in America, would
be about $3.50 or more.
A camp for pair of breeding-bi
generally consists of about two acres
of ground, fencedin well, with sheet
of water running through part of it.
The young birds subsist entirely on
the heritage they find on the farm.
and the camped birds while breeding,
are fed with about five pounds of In
dian corn per diem. This is done
here at cost of So per bushel for
corn, whereas in Texas, this would be
very little in comparison No partic-
ular care is taken of the young birds,
and they are kept and treated in about
similar manner to sheep at home.
No previous knowledge of the business
is necessary, the whole industry being
very simple and attended with very
little labor compared to the raising of
crops.
Owing to the general dryness of
this country great deal of attention
has been devoted to ostrich farming
in the last seven or eight years, and
as natural sequence the country is
becoming overstocked with birds, so
that the colony is not. able to support
many more in, and will be SOON
er or later forced to find an export
market for the surplus birds to coun-
tries similar in climate and natural
food to this. The foreign countries
approaching this most in its general
aspects are parts of Australia, River
Plate states, southern California,
Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
In my opinion, syndicate of en-
terprising men in every Texas county
should be formed to take this matter
in hand at once. South Australia
and New South Wales, as well as
Paraguay, have already taken this i'm
portant matter in earnest considera-
ton, and from the accompanying
extracts clinned from my late colonial