FAMILY TRADES IN CATTLE FOR OSTRICHES (PART 2 OF 2)

These baby ostriches are new to the world -- they hatched Wednesday. If kept as breeders (and pets) they will be named after English royalty, an idea of Winnie Essmyer.

Traci Essmyer, manager of her family's ostrich breeding operation, checks the condition of an ostrich egg in an incubator. Eggs are kept in the incubator for about 42 days at 97.5 degrees.

Traci Essmyer and her nephew, Joseph, pet two of the four adult ostriches at their 500-acre ranch. The Essmyers plan to build 6-acre pens to house 40 pair of breeders. Ostrich meat is low in fat and cholesterol.

The Essmyer family of Whitewater have 500 acres that are home to cattle, peacocks, a couple of goats (one that "faints"), a miniature horse that bites, various dogs that like to bark and four large ostriches.

The cattle are being sold to make room for more ostriches, because ostriches, say the Essmyers, are the food of the future, and the future is almost here.

Winnie Essmyer, who conceived the idea of starting an ostrich-breeding operation on the ranch, says ostrich meat, which is red, is very low in fat and cholesterol "and people are looking for that kind of product."

Ostrich operations are already big business in Texas and are spreading into other states. Ostrich meat brings breeders about $4 a pound on the hoof at the slaughterhouse, whereas cattle are worth 69 cents a pound, according to Joseph Essmyer, an anethesiologist in Cape Girardeau.

Traci Essmyer, manager of the ostrich breeding operation, and who has a college degree in biology, says her family will buy two more ostriches this breeding season, which generally lasts from May to October.

They will also buy more ostrich eggs. Six chicks recently hatched after spending about 42 days in an incubator in the family home. Eggs weigh from 2 to 4 pounds and chicks are almost a foot tall.

The four adult ostriches they currently have live in two rectangular pens that are 233 feet long. Plans call for giving each breeding pair, about 40 of them some day, 6 acres on which to romp -- they can run 60 mph.

Essmyer says ostriches belong to the ratite family, which also includes the rhea, emu, cassowary and kiwi.

"They are very friendly birds," said Essmyer, stroking the elongated neck of a female named Victoria. The other three are Di, Albert and Charles. "They like to peck at anything, especially things that are shiny."

The females are a light brown in color and the males are darker. The female comes into maturity when her beak and legs turn black. The male is mature when his beak turns red and red marks appear on his legs.

The mating ritual consists of the female fluttering her feathers while the male twirls in a kind of dance.

The male makes the nest for the female and guards the eggs. Eggs are laid every other day during the breeding season and a female can produce over 75 offspring a season -- for about 40 years. The survival rate is 65 to 75 percent. Ostriches live about 75 years.

The Essmyers plan to incubate many of the eggs. In their home is a special incubator room, a room where eggs are stored prior to incubation and a hatching room.

In the storage room the eggs are kept for 5 to 10 days at 73 degrees, then they are placed in the incubator where the temperature is 97.5 degrees and the humidity hovers at about 15 percent.

After about 42 days in the incubator the eggs are placed in a hatcher.

"There's an air pocket in each egg and when the oxygen runs out the birds start to peck their way out," said Essmyer, placing a fertile egg on a bright light to show an embryo inside.

Winnie Essmyer says she's not sure how much the chicks weigh when born, "but you could never put one that has just hatched back inside the egg -- they just kind of unfold and are almost a foot tall." They grow at the rate of a foot a month.

The oldest ostrich operation in the U.S. is about 10 years old, Traci Essmyer believes. She said they've been in the country long enough for breeders to form organizations. There is a national group called the American Ostrich Association, and there are state organizations. The Essmyers receive some of their breeding information from the Missouri Ostrich Association.

"People in the associations are very good about helping others get started in the business," said Traci Essmyer.

The Essmyers feed their birds between 3 and 6 pounds of rabbit-type vegetative pellets every morning. By late evening the food is gone. Ostriches drink by scooping water with their lower beak and throwing back their heads to swallow it.

Very alert creatures, they can see for 14 miles. They are also very curious.

"They watch everything that's going on," said Traci Essmyer, laughing at the thought. "When we first got Albert he was so curious about us that he just sat in the dust for hours looking at the house. We finally put up a kind of covering over the fence to distract him."

The Essmyers bought their ostriches from a breeder in Blackwater, Mo. Hoods were placed over their heads so they could be lead into a horse trailer. Since ostriches have a large, sharp claw on each foot that they kick forwards for defense, they are moved by handlers standing on each side.

Once the breeding operation is in full swing, adult birds will be taken to slaughter. At 1 year old they weigh about 275 pounds. Joseph Essmyer says improved genetics will someday produce a mature bird at seven months.

The nearest slaughter house that specializes in ostrich is in Oklahoma. An adult ostrich will produce between 125 and 150 pounds of meat, the best cuts being behind the upper thigh.

"The food to weight ratio of ostriches is two to one," said Joseph Essmyer. "For cattle the ration is six to one. Ostriches are more efficient with their food."

The Essmyers plan to have an "ostrich booth" at the SEMO Fair this fall, where they will dispense fried ostrich meat to the curious.