CALGARY – If ostrich breeders get their wish, their birds could become another ingredient in the Canadian meat pie.
Up to now any ostrich meat that’s been available came from a few culled birds or those that were put down because of an accident.
The partnership of Highland Consortium Inc. of Ontario and the Bulawayo Ostrich Processors of Zimbabwe is interested in getting Canadian ostrich meat on the market sooner rather than later, said Wayne Kreklewich of the consortium.
He and ostrich ranchers attending a Calgary seminar agree it’s time to find abattoirs and butchers capable of preparing the meat.
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A committee formed during the seminar is going to approach the national and provincial ostrich associations to talk about this end of the business so they can start marketing meat as well as selling breeding stock.
Breeders agreed they can’t continue to live off selling breeding pairs or the industry will falter without a place for slaughter birds. Lower prices and demand experienced lately could be partly because almost every ostrich hatched was sold as a breeder even if it didn’t have the right genetic stuff, said Kreklewich.
There was some disagreement as to where the birds could be processed and what kind of investments might be needed from producers. However most of those present agreed a slaughter plant is going to be necessary soon.
Bill Clifford said, “everyone agrees we need the facilities but we need order so this can be marketed properly … everybody has cull birds. Why are we selling them as breeders?”
Dale Carpenter of DeWinton agreed: “We can’t keep selling birds to each other.”
Fred Bergmann of Surrey B.C. said the breeder market seems to have reached a plateau in prices. While he’s not sure where he would send his birds to slaughter, he believes it’s time to start marketing the meat.
The Zimbabweans slaughter 80 percent of their birds and retain the other 20 percent as breeding stock.
Kreklewich said the Canadian breeder market can remain strong here because close to 10,000 birds are needed to provide 145,000 slaughter birds. That is the amount required to supply a third of a kilogram of meat per person in Canada each year. No figures are available on the Canadian ostrich inventory.
He argues that selling meat and hides commercially in conjunction with a breeder market can also maintain prices.
“The breeder market by its very nature means that you’ve got a limited payback time. But it’s going to end. They all do.”
