Ostrich skin quality Part 1

Blue Mountain Ostrich E- Bulletin

Influences of Ostrich skin quality …  Age  or Nutrition ?

By Fiona Benson , Blue Mountain International

Daryl Holle , Blue Mountain Feeds , Inc

Introduction:

 

A major factor that has held back development of our industry

has been statements such as:

"Farmers are daily told by animal nutritionists that they can

  reach slaughter weight at the age 9 months. A 9 months old

bird does not produce an acceptable leather. The

recommended age for slaughtering is 13 months at least. I

would like to state that in recent times, nutritionists had

 short-term goals  ever emphasizing weight as a factor and

cause substantial damage to the quality of raw materials ,

especially skin substance and quill development . I would like

to say Mr Chairman

they have pushed too far , the tanneries will change the rules

to ensure good quality ostrich leather

these statements may be made in good faith from the

evidence those making  these statements have been

presented with in skins . what has been missed in taking

time to understand exactly what the different nutritionists

are doing and how this is being adopted on farm . to achieve

good weight gains in fact requires a healthier diet, which

results in improved quality of skin substance and quill

development .

this research aims to discuss   some of these variables to

demonstrate why it is now proven that young slaughter birds

can produce that are acceptable to the market and to

demonstrate that age is not the criteria but rather maturity

and feather development that is controlled through the

nutritional and feed management programs on farm …

Materials and Methods

A number of birds have been raised to observe responses to

the Blue Mountain Feed rations in South Africa. The first

chicks may from own production were retained from November

2000. Chicks were artificially hatched from eggs from own

breeders. These breeders  were raised from day old chicks

that were originally taken in for contract rearing to 50Kgs.

Chicks were tagged at hatch and maintained in batches. No

specific genetic bird material was used for study.

36 chicks have been slaughtered ranging from 8months

through to 14months ( 35 weeks to 60 weeks of age ). 2 of

these chicks were slaughtered in November 2001 and the

balanced slaughtered in January 2002. Each skin was uniquely

electronically  tagged at slaughter and punched with a unique

number .

A second study consist of 10 birds hatched in middle of last

winter …  July and August 2001 were the wettest recorded for

44 years. As we are operating from temporary facilities the

conditions in which the chicks have been reared have been far

from ideal and were totally inadequate for our wet winter

conditions . this particular batch had to spend a great deal of

their time shut up in a very dark and cramped area on and off

for the first 8 weeks as a result of extended wet conditions.

The stress was such that their feed consumption was 50% of

normal for that age group and they also started " feather

pecking". This resulted in chicks being very slow to get going

and always behind what we consider  `normal` for age . At 3

months they stopped the feather pecking and settled down

well obviously well behind target weights for age.

At 7  months the feather pecking very suddenly started once

more. As I do not work with them on a day to day basis, I

cannot tell You if there was some stressor that brought back

the old habit, but it is my guess this was the cause. Since

these birds would not to be held back as potential breeder

stock these chicks were sent for slaughter at the beginning of

February  2002. So not only were these chicks only just 8

months of age , they had also suffered a very slow start in

life such as a result of poor environmental conditions.

Photographs have been taken at specific stages of bird

development and skins assessed after for slaughter of test

batches . The majority of birds have been retained as future

breeder stock. A study of birds raised under different

management conditions demonstrates extremely variable

feather development  that cannot be attributed to age alone.

RESAULTS

The birds raised on Blue Mountain Feed rations clearly

demonstrate feather development that is well advanced.

There are variations within similar age groups from batch to

batch can be directly attributed to certain management

factors that will be discussed later.

When grading the skins at the Crust stage, the tanner was

asked to provide classifications for each skin based on follicle

development . He chose 4 classes, Class 1 representing

optimum and Class 4 follicles that are too small and of a size

downgraded on a payment to the farmer. He reported that

most  skins  they receive from batches of 9 month and 10

month birds are class 4 skins

 

Table 1 : Classification of Ostrich skins based on Follicle

Development Batch 1

 

Classification achieved was class 1.6 and average

classification for chicks 10mths and under was class 1.7.

The class 3 skins were

1×9mth,2×10mth,1×11mth,1×12mth,1×14mth.this clearly

indicates that age is not determining factor .all skins were

acceptable quill size/follicle development. One point of

interest was comment on 1×14 month skin. The quills were

flatter and less prominent , a factor usually only observed in

cull breeders or birds that are very much older than 14

months.

Skin size is often a problem with slaughtering birds at young

age. The birds in these batches 10 months old and younger

achieved an average of 15.54 sq. ft.  All skins  achieving well

above the minimum size for the Grade A skins ( greater than

14  sq ft).

 

Table 2 : Classification of Ostrich skins based on Follicle Development Batch 2

Average classification achieved was class 2. One skin in this

batch failed to achieve on acceptable standard of follicle

development. Skins sizes averaged 14.27 sq ft and one skin

failed to achieve Grade  A (Greater than 14 sq ft).

Worthy of note with this batch is that despite their slow start

at the optimum for time good feed conversation , the average

carcass weight of this batch was low at 40.18kgs (88lbs) and

this is the average for South African slaughter birds normally

5-6 months older.

 

Discussion

It is known that a number of producers are successfully

producing younger birds at slaughter with acceptable skins

when measured by follicle development. The economics of

raising 9 and 10 month slaughter birds rather than holding

them for 12 – 14 months are very significant , since the birds

consume 50% - 90% more feed during these additional

months. Additional infrastructure and framer financing is also

required to hold birds for a further 4-6 months. With birds

also producing increased meat yields under these rearing

conditions , the revenue from meat production is also

increased along with reduction in meat processing costs as a

result of the increased meat yields

The reason for statements relating to age alone being the

key factor to skin maturity is that their remains too little

understanding of the reasons for the variations in

development of birds throughout the industry. The primary

reason at the time of writing is the level throughout the

industry remains at near starvation levels, compared to

proven Nutritional Requirements of Ostrich. Even farmers may

be feeding in the same rations . at 2% differences of protein

content of the lucerne ( for example)will yields different

results . Lucerne from a "clean" crop compared to Lucerne

with grasses and weeds intermingled will yield different

results. Ostrich are highly sensitive to what may appear to be

minor changes … the changes described above are very

significant. As was illustrated in batch 2 of this study

discussion , environmental can have a significant impact on

growth and development , yet when the basic nutrition is

correct , follicle development remained advanced compared to

current industry average.

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