Emu diet ?

[SinMineral]

I live on two acres of land with one acre fenced off. It’s empty right now but has a water troph & a small shelter ready for some mini goats & an emu, & I’m planning on buying a little pool & sprinklers for the animals to use in the summer. I’ve been researching emus for probably 5 months & have found inconsistent information on what their diet needs to be. A book I purchased is telling me they need to eat hay, which I’d never heard of before. I’ve got a 40 pound bag of emu pellets ready to order once the breeder I’m in contact with tells me he has chicks, but now I’m wondering if I need to buy hay as well or if it’s only necessary for emus in small enclosures, as the book mostly talks about keeping an emu in a backyard or 1/4 of an acre. There is alfalfa & several other plants growing in the pasture the emu will live on, & the goats will be given hay too, so I was wondering if it’s even necessary to buy specific hay for the emu to eat. This will be my first time owning emus but not my first time interacting or caring for them, so if anyone has any other care tips, especially dietary ones, please send them my way, thank you!

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Well, I can't tell you about the Emu but what I can tell you is Pygmy Goats are cute as can be until they start peeing all over themselves. So you may want to consider 2 emus vs an Emu and a bunch of goats.

 

[SinMineral]

Unfortunately I’m not the one in charge of getting the goats lol. My grandma has wanted them for a while & finally found someone near us that has babies for sale

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Unfortunately I’m not the one in charge of getting the goats lol. My grandma has wanted them for a while & finally found someone near us that has babies for sale

They're absolutely wonderful for about 6 months.

Hopefully someone can help with the emus!

 

[briefvisit]

'A book I purchased is telling me they need to eat hay'

Hi, SinM. You need to patiently await the advice of those with pet emus. (I am wild emu guy.)

But hay? I think no. Emoooz love grass. And in summer they'll crop dry grass. If nothing else, I wonder how they'd manage to ingest hay: dry and in long strands. (They crop grass on the ground. That's how they get it into manageable lengths.)

The usual discussion is 'dry versus fresh.' For example, you'll get (very good) advice here about things like 'ratite pellets' -- dry. Then it'll move on to fresh: grass in their enclosures? Chopped veggies? like spinach and carrot?

[Americans don't say 'silverbeet'?]

Emus luuurv fruit, both fresh and dried: figs, plums, grapes.

Overall: wild emus, Sin, eat a quality of food that would astonish most pet-emu owners. They eat flowers and berries and seeds -- by the bucket -- as well as grass. They need a varied diet that includes plenty of fresh articles.

SE

 

[AltonaAcres]

Only intact male goats urinate on themselves.

 

[Kelchabre]

I live on two acres of land with one acre fenced off. It’s empty right now but has a water troph & a small shelter ready for some mini goats & an emu, & I’m planning on buying a little pool & sprinklers for the animals to use in the summer. I’ve been researching emus for probably 5 months & have found inconsistent information on what their diet needs to be. A book I purchased is telling me they need to eat hay, which I’d never heard of before. I’ve got a 40 pound bag of emu pellets ready to order once the breeder I’m in contact with tells me he has chicks, but now I’m wondering if I need to buy hay as well or if it’s only necessary for emus in small enclosures, as the book mostly talks about keeping an emu in a backyard or 1/4 of an acre. There is alfalfa & several other plants growing in the pasture the emu will live on, & the goats will be given hay too, so I was wondering if it’s even necessary to buy specific hay for the emu to eat. This will be my first time owning emus but not my first time interacting or caring for them, so if anyone has any other care tips, especially dietary ones, please send them my way, thank you!

My emus and goats are NOT good together! Goats head butt each other and ram each other in the side. They will ram your emus and emus can't handle it. I would caution against emus if you can't provide a separate area from goats.