THE GAEDEiN AND FIELD. December, 



316 



Ostrich Farming. 



Last month we printed an article 

 on Ostrich Fanning in South Afri- 

 ca. Tile following interesting arti- 

 cle on the industry in America is 

 from the Agricultural Gazette of 

 N.S.W. :— 



— The Industry in America. — 



All the large ranches are irri- 

 gated fronv a main ditch running 

 through the property, so that pro- 

 N-ision i}iay be made for supplying 

 water to the feeding paddocks 

 which are alongside, and also in 

 order that ample water may be 

 pro\ided in the run and feeding 

 paddocks for the birds' drinking 

 purposes, and to allow of their 

 Ijathing when they so desire. 



The feeding paddocks ot "corrals" 

 as they are in\'ariably called in 

 America, are arranged side by side 

 along the main ditch, and each 

 run paddock has five or six feed- 

 ing paddocks attached to it. 



These feeding paddocks are from 

 6 to lo acres in extent, according 

 to the area of the run paddock 

 to which they are attached, the 

 idea being to have the total areia 

 of the feeding paddocks for each 

 run paddock about one-third of the 

 size of the run paddock ; thus if 

 there are six lo-acre feeding pad- 

 docks attached to one run pad- 

 dock, or a total area in feeding 

 paddocks of 60 acres, the run pad- 

 dock will be about 180 acres. On 

 some of the ranches the whole of 

 the run paddocks are used as com- 



QNLEY PARK PRESERVED 

 FRUITS & JAMS 



^CHAS. TERRY, Manufacturer). 



Made from locally grown fruit ol 

 best selected quality. 



Ifrery tin guaranteed. Pure and 

 unadulterated. 



Storekeepers supplied direct from tbe 

 FACTOEY, UNLEY PARK, or from 

 B. F. DEANS, di8tributing Agent. 

 Wayinouth Street, Adelaide. 



n WILL PAY FRUIT GROWERS TO 

 TBY UNLEY PAUK WHEN 

 SELLING. 



POULTRY. EGGS. 



Singer's Egg Producer 



KnsurcH i)li nty of eggs ami healtliy cliicks 

 Packets, 1/-, 1/6. Tins, 5/-, 8/-, 13/6. 



Enquire ot — 

 S.A. FARMERS' CO-OPERATIVK 

 UNION, or their Agents. 



bined run and feeding paddocks, 

 although there should be some 

 kind of strong growing perennial 

 grass planted in all the run pad- 

 docks. 



The feeding paddocks are only 

 made available one or two at a 

 time. They are planted with vari- 

 ous leguminous plants, such as 

 alfalfa (.lucerne), clovers, field-peas, 

 or cowpeas ; while some are kept 

 for cereals, such as barley, oats, 

 wheat, and millets of various 

 kinds ; the idea being to have some 

 kind of green feed all the year 

 round. 



— Lucerne. — 



Lucerne is the main stand-by 

 among the legumes, and bariley and 

 the millets among the cerieals for 

 winter and summer feed respective- 

 ly. The run paddocKs are sown 

 with some kind of hardy perennial 

 grass that will grow without much 

 irrigation. If irrigated, this por- 

 tion of the land is only as a rule 

 subjected to what is called " wild 

 Hooding." 



All the paddocks that are irri- 

 gated a're allowed to dry well be- 

 fore the birds are allowed in, as 

 the ostrich does not thrive with 

 wet feet. 



The men looking after the birds 

 see that theiir water supply is kept 

 up, collect the eggs and any loose 

 feathers lying around daily, look 

 after and at once isolate any birds 

 showing signs of sickness, and so 

 on. 



When any of the birds are fiit to 

 be plucked the mob containing 

 them is driven to the plucking 

 crushes. As each bird is to be 

 deal with, a bag, in the form of a 

 large stocking, is put over its head, 

 when it at once suljmits to any 

 operation that is necessary to de- 

 nude it of its valuable feathers, 

 which are invariably clipped, al- 

 though the operation is called 

 " plucking." 



— Mating. — 



The idea in the minds of many 

 people that ostriches " mate " for 

 life has been quite exploded on 

 thesie large ranches. If two birds 

 of opposite sexes are kept together 

 for any length of time they will 

 form a sort of attachment, but let 

 either one out among the ilock 

 on the ranch they at once take a 

 freer view of their duties in this 

 respect. 



The greater number of birds in 

 the Ari/.ona ostrich farms are of 

 South African stock and type, but 

 it has 1)een recently demonstrated 

 that an infusion of Nu1)ian or Red- 



necked blood has increased, not 



only the physical stamina of the 



birds, but also their capacity for 

 producing valuable feathers^ 



The ostrich breeder has always 

 to contend against the possibility 

 of a proportion of his young birds 

 reverting to the wild type, and 

 thus, while, perhaps producing an 

 equal weight of feathers per year, 

 producing them of an inferior quali- 

 as far as the greater proportion is 

 concerned. 



Although the birds having the 

 most valuable feathers are the 

 ones utilised for breeding, still 

 there seems a tendency in the pro- 

 geny to get back to a more medi- 

 ocre type. 



Experts ' say that this is largely 

 because the breeding of ostriches in 

 captivity on scientific principles 

 has not yet extended over a suffi- 

 cient number of generations to fix 

 the improvements that have un- 

 doubtedly been made in their 

 feather-producing capacity by care- 

 ful selection. In this regard there 

 is yet great work to be dome by 

 those who thoroughly understand 

 the art of type-fixing in animals. 



In selecting breeding birds, too 

 often are the males only carefully 

 selected, while the inferior females 

 are less carefully culled out. In 

 this way, too, much reliance is 

 placed upon the power of the male 

 animal to reproduce, his kind from 

 inferior females, and while the 

 resulting birds are usually better 

 than their inferior maternal parent 

 it takes many generations to get 

 the inferior points of the progeny 

 brought up to even a fair stan- 

 dard. 



To breed first-class ostriches a 

 good type of female bird is more 

 important than a good male type, 

 and this is especially so at pre- 

 sent owing to the types, even in 

 the best males, not having yet be- 

 come permanently fixed. 



— Hatcliing. — 



All the eggs proposed to be used 

 for hatching are first carefully se- 

 lected and numbered or marked ac- 

 cording to parentage, and after 

 this is completed their numbers are 

 again reduced by excluding all bu 

 the largest and most correct' 

 formed ; the rejected eggs are so 

 to those who work them up in 

 ornamental or useful articles 



The o.striches are all kept t 

 mobs or Hocks, according to a 

 and ainlity to agree. Those 

 similar age have often to be divi 



