Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504200017
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELVIN E. MATTHEWS JR. SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``We started out with cattle," he says, but "with 20 acres, you can't really raise cattle.''
While 20 acres is too small to raise cattle, he says, it can support numerous ostriches.
``So we started thinking about the potential end market, and we came down to ostrich being a very viable, very realistic long-term investment.''
Now, three years after they began, Mark Gwin and his wife, Mary Ann, have just raised their first ostrich chicks at their Blue Ridge Ostrich Ranch in Vinton. They hope to acquire more chicks and begin looking at the market this year.
Their objective, explains Gwin, who has a master's degree in food technology and science from the University of Tennessee, is to ``forge an industry that is a red-meat industry. What you've got with ostrich is a very low-fat red meat, similar to beef in texture,'' one that indeed is lower in fat than chicken and turkey.
As a food commodity, ostrich has become quite popular with Europeans (Belgians, Germans, French) and Japanese, he says. ``We've already got an international market. It's just forging a domestic market.''
The value of ostrich isn't restricted solely to meat. Their leather, Gwin says, has been ``compared to shark's skin, elephant skin... It's very tough and very durable and, in fact, very pliable.''
The feathers, he says, are used in industrial applications to remove dust from tiny computer parts.
Gwin is optimistic about the prospects of ostrich meat finding a market in Roanoke. ``You've got some very good restaurants in the valley, plus you've got the Hotel Roanoke coming into the valley. They're going to want some type of interesting new items."
But he says, don't look for ostrich meat in area restaurants or on grocery store shelves just yet. ``It's so new to the region. It would be something at this point that we would need to talk about having a cooperative of growers in the area to set enough numbers to support somebody that wanted to market the product.''
Gwin, who's employed full-time at Golden West Farms in Bedford, acquired his birds from Tennessee.
``They are adaptable to any environment. They raise them in Canada, in Alaska - anywhere that cattle can forage, ostrich can grow. That's another reason that we felt that they would be viable for the Roanoke area.''
In terms of profitability, Gwin expects this to be his ``payback'' year. ``We haven't raised many chicks yet, and that's obviously your payback.''
Still, he looks at the venture as a long-term investment.
"Its not really a quick payback. We didn't get into this for it to be a big payback on the first year. This is more of a long term. I see it as a good, solid investment in a growing commodity market.''
Aside from acreage considerations, Gwin has an additional incentive for raising ostriches instead of cattle. ``You're going to average probably 40 to 80 eggs per animal. ... If you could get 50 chicks from an ostrich, compared to one calf, there's quite a difference in the payback.''
Gwin, however, acknowledges that ostrich ranching has its drawbacks. ``You get some vet bills. The birds will injure themselves. You have to learn how to handle them, and that has been a pretty big learning curve."
Though he currently is the sole employee in his business, Gwin says he hopes to expand.
``We would like to make it into a regional industry so that we did employ people, especially if we can develop a slaughter market. That, he says, ``is my ultimate goal.''
Blue Ridge Ostrich Ranch, Route 2, Box 290, Vinton, VA. 24179, can be reached by calling 890-3439.
by CNB