World Ostrich Association Newsletter No. 89
August, 2010

Included in this edition:
The importance of Genetics in Commercial Livestock Production
Tannery Waste in Fish and Poultry Feed
Animal protein feed restrictions to be eased
Stunning at Slaughter and Halaal Certification
Climategate Investigation Reports

The importance of Genetics in Commercial Livestock Production
This week’s edition of World Poultry carried a key article discussing the search for optimal broiler performance.    The opening statement is true of any commercial livestock production business stating that “the objective is to obtain maximum performance at the lowest possible cost and how this begins with good genetic material.”    The full article can be viewed here.  This newsletter will discuss some of the key issues discussed as they relate to ostrich. 

Quality genetics are the key to success of every livestock business, including Ostrich.  To date no meaningful work has been carried out on ostrich apart from the genetic work to improve feather quality 100 or more years ago by the South African farmers.  No work has been carried out to improve growth rates, feed conversion, uniformity of size and so on.  This is one aspect that makes the potential of ostrich production so exciting – but also one of the reasons that currently costs of production are higher and less competitive than mainstream specie.

Figure 1 - Influencing factors on Bird Performance [source: World Poultry Vol.24 No 7, 2009]

Poultry chicks are generally supplied to farms today by the genetic breeders who have done very significant work to improve the breeds to perform according to the markets they are supplying.  Figure 1 illustrates the many different factors that all have to be in place in order to achieve optimal performance.  It takes only one item to be poor and optimal performance cannot be achieved.

Some years ago I asked a key member of the Klein Karoo Kooperative (KKK) in South Africa why they did not feed for full genetic performance.  The answer received was they needed to improve the genetics before it was worth doing that.  There was a clear failure to appreciate that a key component to obtaining genetic improvement is to provide the animal with all the nutrients required to get the best from the genetics.   
Figure 1 illustrates well how all factors have to be in place to achieve optimum performance from the genetics.   A failure in any one of those management items will result in lost performance and therefore lost revenue.

Tannery Waste in Fish and Poultry Feed
Most of us understand the importance of nutrition for health and in livestock optimum commercial performance as well.  So it was with some surprise and horror I read the report that in Bangladesh, tannery waste has found its way into poultry food.  Not only would this have a negative impact on the commercial performance of the poultry, if the birds survive, the meat and eggs from those birds would be toxic to any eating those products. 

A comprehensive report is in The Daily Star last weekend, with several doctors expressing their concerns.  The report comments that the tanneries were spending Tk 1,000 every time they cleaned their tanks and now they are well paid for selling it.

Animal protein feed restrictions to be eased
Another feed story in the news this week is the European Union discussing an easing of the regulations on animal protein in animal feed fed to fish, chickens and pigs – but they will maintain the ban on animal protein in feed fed to ruminating mammals. 

The reason given for the easing in the regulations is the thought that the EU is on the verge of eradicating BSE in Europe now. 

The recommendation of your directors is to feed only quality ingredients to Ostrich not only for optimum health of the birds and those consuming our products, but also it is essential for optimum production. 

Stunning at Slaughter and Halaal Certification
A strong market for ostrich meat is those requiring Halaal certification.  An article this month discussed the fact that the growth of the Halaal food industry rests primarily on one simple question: During the industrial-slaughtering process, does the chicken die from the electric shock prior to the cut to its neck or not?

The article reported that this controversy may be reaching a resolution following a study carried out by two scholars in Turkey at the Jeddah-based International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA).  The full article can be viewed on the Poultrysite. 

Climategate Investigation Reports
This month witnessed the publication of the Muir Russell report into the Climategate emails.  The report generated significant response from scientists on the SPPI blog throughout the month.   There seems to be general consensus that the investigation was incomplete and totally failed to investigate the science. 

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