Website Display
Search Website
News & Articles
GAME INDUSTRY TRENDS ANALYSIS 2024
.jpg)
Farmers Urged To Plan Carefully For The Next Ostrich Season
Farmers urged to plan carefully for the next ostrich season
By Glenneis Kriel | 9 January 2025 | 7:00 pm
Ostrich production is expected to increase by roughly 7% from 140 000 birds slaughtered in the 2023/24 season to 150 000 in the 2024/25 season.
Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly, Francois de Wet, managing director of Cape Karoo International (CKI), ascribed the higher production volumes to good returns for feathers and leather, fair prices for meat, and a in the cost of feed.
Over the past 24 months, an end to a more than seven-year drought in some regions of the Klein Karoo allowed farmers to produce more lucerne, resulting in substantially lower feed costs compared with four to six years ago.
The Southern Cape also had a good rainfall season, allowing extensive ostrich producers in this region to produce most of their own feed.
Nevertheless, De Wet said that the market was under pressure, and urged farmers to carefully consider this when buying ostrich chicks for the next season.
He said that while demand for high-end leather in France and Italy, which represented about 50% of this market, and the US was good, demand for ostrich feathers in China had declined. “A downturn in demand for feathers is also evident in the EU,” he said.
Ostrich feathers could thus see lower prices during the 2024/25 season compared with the previous two years.
In terms of meat products, such as preheated meat exported to the EU, and mince, patties and sausages sold locally, De Wet said these markets had been stagnant over the past few years.
“We would like to expand our preheated [meat] market across the world, while further developing market opportunities in the EU and UK where there still is good growth potential. We are also looking into exporting dry ostrich meat products.”
He identified traceability and animal welfare as the industry’s competitive edge.
“It is no longer enough to have traceability and follow good animal welfare practices. High-end markets are now demanding ‘One Health’, an approach that encompasses animals, the environment, and social responsibilities. CKI is playing a leading role [in this] to ensure the industry complies with these high demands.”
On the production side, De Wet said there was still room to improve raw skin quality and feeding efficiencies.
Laubscher Coetzee, who farms near Oudtshoorn, said ostrich chick production had been lower than usual over the past two mating seasons, with some breeders reporting up to a 60% decline in egg production and a 50% decline in hatchlings.
“It is unclear why this is happening, but I suspect it might be due to the cool and wet weather we have experienced this season. Male ostriches also do not seem to work as hard as usual, with their feathers being in a much better condition than usual for this time of year.”
Coetzee said that the breeding season usually ran from April to December, but that they had decided to stop breeding in November to give the ostriches a good rest before the next breeding season started. He added that he expected the reduced availability of chicks to reflect in ostrich slaughter numbers next season.
Contact Us
