Jun 11
9
When ostrich farming how does one cost the price of a fertile ostrich egg? How does one assess if the value offered is a fair value likely to provide a good return.
Clearly there are certain costs involved in producing ostrich eggs. When purchasing eggs, there are other additional costs to pay….as discussed here. Also it is necessary to assess if the value of the chick, when reared to maturity or slaughter will provide an acceptable return (profit).
The Economics of Breeder Management in Ostrich farming[40] discussed the significant variations in the cost of getting one chick per breeder when measuring only the cost of breeder feed, there are many other costs that the greater the number of chicks per breeder, the lower the costs of each chick. Remember an infertile ostrich egg is of little value if wishing to build a viable business producing chicks for sale and/or slaughter.
Establishing a sensible purchase value on Ostrich at this time remains challenging. The first step is to establish the “Production Value”. Production value is based on Revenue less Costs of Production, and when relating that to output per breeder, is also related to the number of offspring produced per annum and anticipated years of productive breeding.
Ostrich production continues to achieve extremely variable results, with few achieving greater than 50% conversion of eggs to slaughter birds/future breeding stock. Operating at this low level makes establishing values challenging unless the producer has established historical records over a number of years.
A further current weakness of Ostrich production is the hugely variable slaughter age. Chicken producers have reduced steadily their days to slaughter, with the best now achieving 32 days. Ostrich have the capability to reach current average slaughter weight or better in less than 182 days (26 weeks) and to produce a skin that is totally acceptable to the market. Currently slaughter age can vary from under 200 days (28 weeks) to in excess of 420 days (60 weeks) and anything in between.
There are no auction markets for Ostrich and sale value varies according to market development in the country of operation so the only way to provide a fair value is when the producer can prove the value through the use of their records. BUT beware of sales to other farmers in an area where no regular slaughter is yet in place.
Records that include bird production statistics, revenue achieved and costs of production are therefore essential. The onus will be on the producer selling their stock, or in the unfortunate position of having a compulsory cull, to prove the value.
When no records are available the only value eggs, chicks or breeder birds is “WPWP” (What People are Willing to Pay). It is important when ostrich farming to understand fully the economics of ostrich production and all the elements that influence profitability to ensure the best chance of success of the ostrich business venture.
To avoid the mistakes of many past ostrich farmers, and to save you time and money, check out “How to Start A Successful Ostrich Farm”
