166 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



September, 1913 



® OstricK Farmi]\£^ ® 



Ostrich farming has betn more or 

 less seriously considered in Aus- 

 tralia for a number of > ears, and 

 there are throughout the Common- 

 wealth several farms on which os- 

 triches are bred 'in fairly large 

 nunibers. Port Augusta and Pol- 

 talloch in this State being well 

 known. It is, howe%er, only in 

 South Africa that the industry 

 has really taken hold, and Its 

 value to that country greatly ex- 

 ceeds that of any other industry. 

 In the United States there are 

 man}- large concerns, but the 

 qualitv of the birds and their pro- 

 duct are said to be somewhat in- 

 ferior. In Europe ther^ is at least 

 one farm of this description. It is 

 situated near Hamburgh, and the 

 quality of the birds bred there is 

 said to be very fine. 



Very glowing accounts of the fat 

 l)rofits to be made go the rounds 

 from time to time, hut some at 

 least of the figures sometimes pub- 

 lished might not be any the worse 

 for a little pruning. Without go- 

 ing to extremes, however, there 

 seems to be abundant evidence 

 that verv good returns are obtain- 

 ed by the majority of those who 

 take to the business. 



In a recent issue of the Agricul- 

 tural Ciazette of New South 

 Wales, Mr. T. J. Herbert, Advis- 

 ory lixpert in Ostrich Farming, 

 publishes an interesting account of 

 what has and is being done. He 

 writes — 



" For a num'ber of years ostrich 

 farming was confmed to the Cape 

 Colony, with the exception of an 

 attempt by the Fre,tich to estab- 

 lish it in Algiers. I^ater on, people 

 of other countries began to turn 

 their attention to the o.strich, and 

 a number of birds were taken to 

 North and South America, India, 

 and Australia. The Cape farmers 



became alarmed at the prospect 

 of much competition from outside, 

 and a Bill w^as introduced and 

 passed by the Cape Parliament, 

 imposing an export duty of Cioo 

 on each ostrich taken from the 

 Colony, and £io on each egg, 

 which has since been amended to 

 " total prohibition of ostriches and 

 their eggs from the Cape." This 

 afterwards became law throughout 

 the South African Union States, 

 and spread from there to German 

 West Africa and the Portuguese 

 territory of Mozambique. 



Several shipments of birds have 

 from time to time been imported 

 into Australia. In 1873 the Meil- 

 bourne Acclim-atiz,ation Society 

 imported some ; and later, in 1881, 

 Mr. W. Blalcolm set ■ about estab- 

 lishing ostrich farming in South 

 Australia, and imported a number 

 of birds. A farm was started at 

 Gawler, and a large number of 

 young ostriches were successfully 

 hatched and reared. About this 

 time an Act was passed by the 

 South Ajiistralian Government;, 

 with a view to encouraging the in- 

 dustty, by offering the fee-simple 

 of 5,000 acres of land to the party 

 who first placed 2yo ostriches over 

 one year old upon the land. Mr. 

 Malcom's venture was formed into 

 a company, and ultimately the 

 required number of ostriches was 

 reared and placed upon the land 

 near Port Augusta. The conditions 

 of the Act being complied with, the 

 fee-simple of the 5,000 acres was 

 granted by tfte Government. 



The country in the neighbour- 

 hood of Port Augusta, with an an- 

 nital average rainfall of only 9 

 inches, must be classed as inferior 

 pastoral land. Vet the birds have 

 thriven, and a Hock of 700 birds is 

 now pasturing on the farm with- 

 out any artificial feeding, except 

 the chicks. These are fed, imtil 



they are a few months old, on lu- 

 cerne and bran. One and a half 

 acres of lucerne are grown on the 

 farm, watered from the town 

 water supply. 'The farm is great- 

 ly handicapped by not being able 

 to produce more green fodder, 

 otherwise a greater number of 

 chicks could be reared. 



Mr. W. H. Williams, the present 

 manager of the company, came 

 from South Africa with his par- 

 ents when five year^ old. His father, 

 the late Mr. Thomas Williams, 

 served his apprenticeship to Mr. 

 A. Douglas, the pioneer of ostrich 

 farming in South Africa, a high 

 premium bfeing demanded in those 

 days to learn ^the management of 

 ostriches. The company ■ secured 

 Mr. Williams' services, and he 

 came out under contract to take 

 the management of their farm at 

 Port Augusta. The knowledge of 

 the father became instilled in the 

 son, who afterwards became man- 

 ager. 



Mr. Williams, like many other 

 breeders of ostriches, prefers let- 

 ting the birds do part of the incu- 

 batmg of the eggs, removing them 

 after the birds have been sitting 

 from two to three iveeks, and plac- 

 ing them to An incubator. Four 

 Cyphers machines of 40-egg acpa- 

 city, are in use. 



Birds from this fa^rm were, with 

 one or two exceptions, the origin 

 of all the ostriches now pasturmg 

 on the various facms throughout 

 the Commonwealth. . 



To. make a test as to what ex- 

 tent lucerne feeding will improve 

 the plumage of ostriches, ^ir. Wil- 

 liams sent eight birds to Melrose, 

 to be grazed in a lucerne paddock. 

 The feathe'rs were clipped and sent 

 to a Melbourne manufacturer, real- 

 ising £7 per clip each, more than 

 do'uble the amount realised from 

 the same birds when grazed on 

 the scantily grassed paddocks at 

 Port Augusta, thus af5ording a 

 good object lesson to the man 

 who can grow lucerne for this pur 

 pose. 



The exeq'itors of the late T. R 

 and S. Bowman have a flock of 

 400 birds running on their statioTi 

 near Lake Alexandrina, the nucleus 

 of which came from the farm at 

 Port Augusta. 



Ostrich .arming in New Sout 

 Wales to-day can be considered we 

 l)eyond the experimental stage 

 For a number of years the indus- 

 try comprised only a few bird 

 owned by Mr. J. Barracl|uli, o 

 South Head, near Sydney. Unde 



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