Ratite : Meat and poultry
Red meat is now on the “wing” into innovative restaurants and some meat markets. The latest in meat products is from the “ratite” family of flightless birds. It’s lean and tastes like beef, but contains much less fat. In fact, ratite meat is even lower in calories than chicken and turkey.
What are Ratites?
Ratites are a family of flightless birds with small wings and flat breastbones. Ostrich, emu and rhea are members of this family. Ostrich is native to Africa; emu, to Australia; and rhea, to South America — particularly the grasslands of Argentina.
When fully grown, ostriches — the largest birds in the world — stand about seven to eight-feet tall and can weigh 300 to 400 pounds; emu are about six feet tall and weigh 125 to 140 pounds. Adult rheas are about five feet tall and weigh 60 to 100 pounds. The birds are 95-percent usable as meat, feathers, oil and leather.
How are Ratites Raised?
Newly hatched chicks usually weigh about two pounds and are about 10 inches tall. Young ratites must be sheltered in a warm place for their first weeks of life. Adolescent and adult birds are allowed to roam freely in fenced pastures or pens. Ratites need daily exercise to avoid leg and digestive problems.
The closely woven wire fences must be 6 to 8-feet high because ratites can leap over a 5-foot fence. Ratites are fed on grain supplemented by pasture. Ostrich was the first ratite to be raised in the U.S. There are now about 1,000 ostrich growers in the U.S. raising about 100,000 birds. Emu are now raised in at least 43 states by about 10,000 families (3,000 are in Texas). The emu population is about a million. Rheas are the newest U.S. farm-raised ratite, but at over 15,000 birds, are the largest population of farmed rheas.
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