Does anyone on this forum raise emus

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I was wanting to hear the pros and cons on them. Thanks so much!

-- Sher in se Iowa (riverdobbers@webtv.net), January 13, 2002

Answers

oh they do have advantages mostly in latitudes close to where they came from they are more efficient on actual grass than cattle but usualy are fed processed feeds and remember grass is very cheep and they require better fencing than cattle and for now the market just isnt there i bought mine for 5$ each almost full grown the man i bought them from had been looking for a early retierment plan well you know what happened to the market for them they are fun to watch and do help to decrease the hawk predation on my other poultry that is how they pay thier board here and get just grass and ground corn not the special expensive feeds ,oh they are very amusing to play with in the summer heat they love being soaked with a garden hose well im easily amused anyway lol ,get you a couple of cheep ones and learn about them but dont count on earning a living off of them

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), January 13, 2002.

I have a enirbor that has 2,, and right now,,its egg laying season for them,, alreday has 12 emu eggs,,getting the incubator ready for the large buggers. Pretty cool birds,, as long as they arent mean,, saw a dog get kicked by one,,WOW ,, that dog doesnt look at sparrows anymore,, messed him up good.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 13, 2002.

Am in SW Iowa, know of one person here who tried to raise 100 or so emu's. Their just wasn't enough money in it and the emu farm is no more. Have heard of people losing their shirt and just turning them loose. Think it would be okay if you just wanted to raise a few for your own use but the money making prospects,atleast in Southern Iowa are not too bright.

-- fred (fred@mddc.com), January 13, 2002.

Unless you have an established market for them, I would be leary. EMUS had a very short "in" time and thats gone.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 13, 2002.

There is an Emu ranch near me it is the largest in the state if not one of the largest in the country. They have a website and are very friendly people. I am sure they would be more than happy to corrispond with you. www.emunagic.com I have worked with these people on an Emu rescue a year or so ago. His name is George I do not remember her name right now.

-- Susan northern MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), January 13, 2002.


I have had Emus before, I did not care for the meat and apperently not many people do because the big market eveyone was dreaming of never developed.

If you decide to get a few Emus be sure you have good fencing. Mine jumped a 6 foot fence and they were quite a handful to get penned back up. They will beat the crap out of you!

Around here you can find grown Emus for $10.00 each, but here is the strange part the chicks will bring $25-30 each at the Auction. I occasionly get calls from people wanting to sell their Ratties (ostrich, Emu, Rhea) but I don't mess with them anymore to much work for to little of a profit.

-- Mark in N.C. Fla. (deadgoatman@webtv.net), January 13, 2002.


There is a fellow in my church that shot and killed a emu while deer hunting this year. He was hunting on a friends land and the land owner told him if he sees any emu to kill them. Apparently someone dumped off their emu stock on his property. I've heard the pot bellied pigs are being dumped also.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), January 13, 2002.

After the boom lots of folks let their's loose in the woods. They were all around for the killing, and the meat is wonderful, especially ground. You can't even find them out here anymore, they used to be in the paper free for the hauling. We made a nice piece of change off the birds. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 13, 2002.

There is an emu ranch near here, but their big seller is emu compost. Emu oil is supposed to be very beneficial for the skin & arthritis & such. But I imagine the compost is a lot easier to come up with. Emu is pronounced eem-yu, in case anyone wants to know. I had an Australian friend who used to cringe when he heard people say ee-moo.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), January 13, 2002.

I have a friend who raises emu. They can't be trained to return to their pens like the chooks can. They're like that little bunny....when they get out, they keep going and going and going.

My friend has one emu who would rather be petted than eat. She'll dang near lay in your lap. To get this very tame bird, my friend hatched the egg in the incubator and had the bird with her 24 hours/day for the first week. She even slept with it.

This year, she's not using the incubator and letting the males set and hatch the eggs.

My friend makes quite a bit of money selling the blown eggs on eBay. Artists love them.

Emu has to be slaughtered quite young to fit in the oven. Older birds are done on the bbq, at least for our tastes.

I also live in an area where the emu were turned loose a few years ago. Cowboys who make their living with the rope couldn't rope them. The birds really caused a stir with the livestock in the area. The sheriff finally told folks to shoot the dang things.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), January 14, 2002.



We lived near an emu ranch for about five years. The folks paid a lot for their breeders and then lost their proverbial butts on the deal. Actually ended up selling their little farm and later that year I was taking my son to school and what did I see running down the side of the road? EMUS. Someone had turned loose a whole bunch of them near a swampy area. Most people around here might have one or two for pets, but don't make any money off them as there is nowhere near here to process the meat.

I don't care for the meat myself, unless it is ground like hamburger.

Looks like the bloom may be off the rose where it concerns the emu rancher.

Cindy

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), January 14, 2002.


Thanks for the great answers and opinions. I was curious because I had been on the internet looking at the Blue Stuff and some other pain killers and noticed that emu oil was starting to show up in several of them. I then was thinking that I had not heard about emus for a really long time. So thanks all. I also had not known that they are red meat, I had just assumed they were white. Thanks again. Sher

-- Sher in se Iowa (riverdobbers@webtv.net), January 14, 2002.

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