The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-09
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
NFORMATION BUREAU
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, d. G.
THE INFANT OSTRICH INDUSTRY


new industry, are being slaughtered,
sold for pttance and even given
away.
Ostrich feathers are not especially
fashionable at present, and the war
has made it difficult to reach some
of the markets, and destroyed others.
At the same time alfalfa hay. which
is the staple ostrich food, is worth S21
a ton, whereas it used to cost but $40
or s12 and has gone as low as Sc. The
grain and other food which the birds
require is correspondingly high. The
men who have invested in ostriches
are not financially able to go on sup
porting the birds until the market
comes back. Thus an industry that is
especially interesting, and has great
collapse.
The Ostrich Industry.
Experts of the biological survey
here, who are interested in our oud-
ding ostrich industry, say that it has
been suffering every since the Euro
pean war began, and that it has always
been unfortunate in financial way.
The tendency to exploit rather than
develop which is seen in many Amer1-
can industrial projects, seems to nave
been the bane of ostrich farming II
started in 1882 with the importation
of a few birds. These attracted atten-
ton. and before the business was falr-
lv on its feet. an attempt was made
to convert it into a show proposition.
Various ostrich farms were converted
into menageries, where the selnhg OF
postcards little feathers and ~other
souvenirs became more important
than the production of feathers, ana
the DEVELOPMENT of the industry along
substantial lines. Visitors fed ana
scared the birds, and the practice was
bad in other ways
A little farther along in its career
Of MIA Launched
cain corporate control Of the entire
industry which resulted dlSaStrouSly
to it. In another case rhe f1nanclal
hacking was suddenly withdrawn from
farm which had n thousand plfus'
MORTGAGES were foreclosed, and os-
tricbes were sold for whatever they
would bring, and even given away.
At this time a large number of BIRDS
were transferred from the Salt River
Valley in Arizona to California
Birds Bring $500 n Pair.
In 1910 the ostrich industry had
reached such proportions mat the ie-
partment of agriculture considered 1t
worth an investigation, and the expert
who made this study, A. Il. Lee OF the
bureau of Animal Husbandry, report
ed that ostrich farms could be operat-
ed at fair profit, and indicated that
he believed the industry had consider
able possibilities. At that time there
were about six thousand breeding or
feather-producing ostriches in this
country. Most of them were in Ari-
iona, California, and Arkansas, with
few in Florida and Texas. Breeding
birds were selling TOR eight hun 'red
dollars a pair and chicks at one hun
dred~doIlars apiece. Some money was
being made, altho the industry was
emphatically in the experimental
stages, and indeed, can scarcely be
said to have ever gotten beyond them
in this country
In addition to the value of it's
feathers, the ostrich has great pos
sibilities as an egg producer, provided
only a market for the eggs could be
developed in this country. They are
! considered excellent food and are
eaten in Africa.
If the eggs are removed from the
nest, the female ostrich will GO on
laying far beyond the number she
would produce in the wild state. A
has been made, and the average,
which could probably be improved, is
about fiftyfive eggs a year.
An Ostrich Egg Weighs 81 Pounds
An ostrich Tg weighs three and
one-half pounds and contains as much
food value as about two and quarter
dozen hens eggs of average size. An
| -trich is thereto re capable of pro-
ducing about as much egg food yearly
as eight to a dozen hens. Ostriches
green alfalfa, and in winter consume
each about a pound of grain and three
pounds of alfalfa hay per day. 1t
would seem therefore that in times
when the feather market is off and
there is no great demand for chicks,
the sale of ostrich eggs might go a
long way toward playing for the up
keep of the flocks. OF course the
| industry would have to be of suffi-
cient size to create a market for its
products, and to give the market a
! continuous and adequate supply of the
eggs. 1t is probe BILE, moreover, that
! the industry would never have at
| tanned any great size unless it were
| SO developed that something besides
the feathers were regularly used. If
so developed, it might become very
valuable American industry. especially
for the reason that ostriches thrive in
the dry and sandy southwest, and
upon alfalfa, which is very easily
raised in that region wherever irriga-
\ ton is possible. The production of
industry were standardized, might
well be profitable in many sections
remote from railroads and centers of
population, where general farming
al other stock raising are urprofit-
able.
Gathers Bring S25 a Pound.
The average yearly yield of feathers
from an ostrich is little over a
| pou-d, and their value, in 1910, was
! from $50 to $40. When the industry
was first started. the demand for
breeding birds and chicks was so
| great that no thought was given to
| the food value either of the bird or of
its eggs. Every egg possible was
Matched in an incubator, and money
was made by selling young stock. Nat
urally, as soon as the feather market
dropped, the demand for breeding
stock also disappeared, and the indus
try was left without an income, while
it had not the financial vitality to
wait for better years. 1t will probably
revive after the war. but unless man
aged differently, the results will be
the same.
ness in the fortunes of our infant os-
trich industry. There were men in it
who strove honestly for development
IL