Emus have been around for a long, long time in Australia, and have been in this country for twenty-plus years. They originally came here to be seen in zoos and private collections. In 1989 a group of Emu farmers in Texas formed the American Emu Association, and that group now has 3,000 farms across the country as members.
Starting in America as an oddity, the Emu has quickly become
a new and booming agri-business due to the low overhead needed to raise the birds, their rapid ability to pro-create, and their
benevolent donations to the human race. Emus are used in products such as pain medication, oils, heart-healthy meat, soft leather and
fine feathers.
With the threat of extention past, these unusual birds are raised on farms all over the world, and their numbers are steadily increasing.
Emus are very hardy, easy to raise, affectionate and docile, and much more cost-effective than beef or dairy herds. Standing
nearly 6' tall, and weighing up to 150 pounds, Emus are much more docile than Ostriches, which can be vicious at times. Emus
live 25 years and produce chicks almost as long. Eggs are laid in the winter, frequently starting during the pair's second year,
sometimes during the third. Ranchers must collect the emerald green eggs and incubate them in order to get a large hatch. Left
undisturbed, the male Emu would sit on a clutch of 8 or 9 eggs and hatch them himself, not paying any attention to the hen
during the incubation process.
Chicks are hatched after 52 days of incubation, and are black and white, striped like a skunk, from head to tail. They teach
themselves to eat and drink, and go outside after a couple weeks of being pampered under heat lamps in a protected
environment. The babies grow exceptionally fast - nearly a foot a month. They love to run, and the larger the pen, the more comical the flock will be. They do what we like to call the "Happy Dance" -
jumping up and down like pogo sticks and falling on the ground to roll over like dogs, only to jump up and run their traditional
40 miles per hour around the pen. When given daily attention, the birds actually become affectionate like pets.
Emu meat is red, tender and delicious and contains more iron and protein than beef, but less fat and cholesterol than turkey.
Tasting strikingly similar to fine beef, it's being served in better restaurants as an alternative to that juicy Filet mignon.
