Basic Rhea info from two Alternative livestock farms and their websites

[shamorunner]

With not as many rhea folks here and information being more sparse than full, I'm posting to try and contribute to the rhea info here. I am in the process of getting into rheas myself and have been directly working with Hopkins' Alternative Livestock the past 9 months as I started getting into rheas. I was also present for a phone call with Floeck's Country Ranch but was driving and focusing on the road so I was only listening to the conversation. Below is info from the phone call or directly from interactions with Hopkins' or from directly seeing the Hopkins' operation. Their websites have a lot more info, so I recommend those as a better source overall than my summarized interactions


Floeck's Country Ranch
-Started rheas in the early 1980s
-Pastured Rheas, uses paddocks
-Feeds alfalfa bails, harvested in the fall with leaves
-Suppliments with cracked corn, chicken feed, dog food. I think rabbit food was also mentioned but can't remember
-Mentioned Muscular Myopothy. She transports birds at night to reduce issues in a livestock trailer with a couple windows and a vent
-Runs grays and whites together
-Has males hatch out eggs rather than incubator

Hopkins' Alternative Livestock
-Started rheas in the early 1990s
-Indiana Based
-Permanent pasture
-Suppliments with dog feed and pellets (can't remember the pellet composition.) Also has pea gravel to help with digestion, oyster shells are broken down to quickly.
-Males hatch out chicks, but used to use an incubator
-Hasn't noticed any difference in durability between gray and white rheas. White rheas are preferred and is currently trying to breed for a mottled variety of rhea
-Uses frost free waterers

Floeck's Website
Hopkins' Website

 

[shamorunner]

Here is also an article on Ken Hoyt, a Rhea farmer in Oklahoma during the early 90s, not as much info as the above but still some info

 

[briefvisit]

I can't recall a commercial ratite operation posting on BYC. Certainly I have no interest.

SE

 

[shamorunner]

The Welfare of Farmed Rattites

An academic source with data from the 1880s to the mid 2000s. It is heavily locked behind academic pay walls so you'll be looking at 200-300$ for the book and 60-80$ for the pdf. It is an unbelievable source on rattite as the data present can serve as a guide as most info are Ostrich and Emu oriented with most of the rhea info being found in the area of raising for re introduction, of which it dominates over the rest in that section of all the chapters. It also cites the hundreds of sources throughout and what was used in each chapter which offers more opportunities to find more information. This is what I'd recommend if you want a nearly all inclusive single source, despite its cost, as a guide

 

[shamorunner]

I talked with American Ostrich Farms on the phone a few days ago. They don't do anything with rheas but it gives some insight into the industry outside of breeding. There were a lot of notes so I tried to clean it up, keep in mind that it is not in any specific order on the notes, I will seek to keep rhea information in some order as this thread is focused on rheas while info from those in the industry outside of rheas will still receive attention but less so


Ostrich farms of america
-total birds slaughtered annually: 1k-2k, 3k max, depends on the productivy of the breeding season
-feed pound age per bird: 5lb ave
-slaughter age is 3 years at the latest ave. Providing for foreign markets
-1.5-2y slaughter Ave age
-tracking egg production, fertility rates, chick survival rates, docility
-rooster necks are red and beak and legs. More red shins and beak are good, only on breeding season
-Roosters and hens
-cost per bird or feed cost annually per bird: buys feed by the ton a d still recording data for exact numbers
-average slaughter live weight: 250-300+
-Ave meat yield per bird: 125lb
-some changes on Ave price per pound since they offer legs now too. 3 sizes of legs
-Ave oil yield per bird: being tracked still
-pen sizes: 3 different sections: breeder areas (closed off pens at 4-5 per pen with 1m4h 2m3h, 98 total pens iirc), chicks, slaughter sizes. Slaughter pens are bigger since holding slaughter birds and potential breeders
-full vertical operation
-breeders and growers
-breeding season is late spring and summer. Only incubation and no eggs sold
-95°F incubation. Infertile eggs are blown out for sale and contents used for pet products
-incubate for 39 days and day 39/40 transferred to brooder and hatch day 42-46. After day 46 is put into the composer due to potential disease or issues
-man in Oregon that has done rattite work if not actively working with rattites
-ostrich sexual maturity at 3 years and then determine if for breeding stock or slaughter. Only birds that might be used for breeders are set aside for this while the rest are slaughters at the 1.5-2y mark as mentioned earlier
-figuring out feed efficiency
-could possibly live Mai ly off of alfalfa
-forage: some, less than 1% on average
-expanding slaughter facility. Noticed a lot of local ranchers and farmers come to them to offer much larger slaughter facilities
-data collected: not looking to release data at the moment
-go to American Ostrich association for weight gain and other data
-started local markets, some restaurants, fud ruckers in California, shipping to taiwan
-tracking characteristics: get to Ave weight and see meat produced, Ave behavior for health monitoring, egg production, egg size,
-offers on site housing

 

[shamorunner]

Amaroo farms from TN and SC. Emu Operations, vertically integrated on meat, emu oils sold as is rather than a final product. Notes below from a phone call a week and a half ago. Some of the conversation was also on rheas but most numbers are emu oriented as they are no longer seeking rhea production with the occurance of dogs getting out in the area

Amaroo (website also available)
-largest emu producer in the USA
-4000 emu
-ships to all 50 states
-to get big you to be in the 100s
-$100 butcher fee per bird, over 4-5$ per lb of bird
-$250-260 per bird for feed costs, already & +$14-15 per lb of meat minimum to work as an operation
-have to sell at $20+ for ground meat, $40+ non-ground meat pound to make rhea productive with his operation
-butcher in Kentucky, usda for everything
-picked emu for oil market initially
-lookup a guy grinding up rhea for medicine, bones and all, no other information provided
-doesn't sell live animals, not as many buyers and easily saturated
-to graze they'd need 10s of thousands of acres, limited grazing as only what is able to grow in paddocks while birds are in other enclosures
-rhea need higher higher fiber content
-has emus farmers handbook
-rhea stink, maybe more similar to an ostrich
-plant in Kentucky is certified for all rattites, had to teach everyone how to do it and is there every time they process
-400x400ft fence, 50-60 emu per rotate, tries to give fresh pasture

 

[shamorunner]

Rattite Management, Medicine, and Surgery by Thomas Tully Jr. And Simon Shane
Waybackmachine link, still on Amazon as of posting

This one hasn't come in the mail to read yet but contains 214 pages. I'm expecting good content and am hoping to see some new content compared to other sources in this thread, ideally Rhea info as this thread is more dedicated to rheas with a slight to farming ratites

48 Sources from this specific book
Wayback machine link

 

[shamorunner]

Rhea and Other Ratites by Donald Bruning

This one I ha e seen recommended a couple times as reading material online and managed to snag a cheap one from ebay. Still in the mail so I can't properly vouch for it at the moment but am hoping it'll contain some decent knowledge to make it viable

 

[shamorunner]

Is Adoption better than artificial rearing?

This continues to corroborate the increased benefit, specifically weight gain, of a rhea raising the chicks over artificial rearing. The other major concentration of sources comes from multiple sources throughout The Welfare of Farmed Ratites. As of current, the five page article is publicly available for viewing and/or download

 

[shamorunner]

Effect of cottonseed oilcake meal on ostrich growth performance, meat chemical composition and sensory attributes by K. Schoon

126 pages. The pdf is currently free as of posting. It does contain some information on rheas but is definitely geared towards "cottonseed oilcake meal" and it's impact on ostriches. Still reading as of posting