Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510130009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MAYBROOK LENGTH: Long
``They're very friendly and curious,'' he explained.
And although his inquisitive followers can reach speeds of 40 mph, they kept pace with the unhurried stride of their keeper. Only occasionally did they break away. Usually, it was two of the males, who would stretch their necks up high, trying to gain the height advantage, then they spread their useless wings, hissed a sort of bird-brained battle cry, and charged at each other.
None of this sparring got very serious, though, Warthen stopped to explain. As he did so, of course, his flock stopped with him. He said a group like this, that has been together since the members were chicks, already has established its own pecking order, so to speak.
He started walking again. They followed.
``I keep saying I'm going to take one to the cock fights,'' he added with a sly grin.
Clearly, Warthen enjoys his status as one of the few people in Virginia and across the country who have ventured into the peculiar world of ostrich farming.
At least it's unusual in this part of the world. Ostrich farming is a prominent industry in South Africa, and has been around for more than 100 years.
In the U.S. and Virginia, however, it only started making inroads in the last decade. About 3,500 ostrich and emu farms are in operation in the U.S., according to the American Ostrich Association in Fort Worth, Texas. Emu are the smaller, Australian cousins of the ostrich.
In Virginia, the number of ostrich and emu operations is less than 200, said Linda Drain, president of the Virginia Ratite Association. It is one of three statewide organizations - the others are the Virginia Ostrich Association and the Virginia Emu Association - that count ostrich and emu farmers among its members.
By definition, ratites are large, flightless birds with a distinctive flat breastbone. Drain said Warthen's Featherquest Farm near Mountain Lake in Giles County ranks as one of the larger ratite operations in the state.
Warthen currently has 29 adult ostriches, four ostrich chicks, two emus and nine rheas, which are another smaller ratite native to South America. He also operates an exotic parrot-breeding business that includes about 250 parrots.
He shrugged at the numbers with nonchalance.
``It's what I do,'' he said. ``I raise birds.''
As he continued to walk and the ostriches remained in tow, he pointed to something in the grass just outside the fence. It was about the size of a modest cantaloupe. ``Wonder how long that's been there,'' he said, picking up the object with less care than you might expect.
He flashed his sly grin. It was an egg that had rolled under the fence. ``Makes a heck of an omelet,'' he quipped, ``but it's kind of hard to do one sunny-side-up.''
The truth is Warthen and other ostrich farmers don't raise the birds to eat their eggs, although he has tried ostrich eggs and reports that they taste just like chicken eggs.
The real reason for raising ostriches is for their meat and skin, which is turned into leather. A mature ostrich can yield about 100 pounds of meat and 14 square feet of leather, Warthen said.
The hide is used primarily for boots and other leather goods. The meat is a dark meat, similar to veal or venison, and it is low in fat and cholesterol.
Warthen, 40, began ostrich farming in May 1993, but he had his eye on the industry for several years before that. He waited until he finished veterinarian school at Virginia Tech in 1992.
He already had the parrot-breeding business, which he had started in 1982. In fact, it remains his bread-and-butter business.
He breeds several dozen varieties of parrots and hand-raises their offspring to make them tame around people. Then he sells them to pet stores. His most expensive variety, hyacinth macaws, can bring as much as $30,000 a pair.
Warthen keeps his breeding pairs in outdoor cages, except during cold weather, when he moves the cages into a barn.
The parrots bring a sound to Warthen's 35-acre spread that sets it apart from the neighboring cattle and sheep farms. It's like walking onto the set of a Tarzan movie.
What's also funny is that the parrots share this habitat with a half-dozen or more barn cats. That doesn't concern Warthen, who said his high-priced birds with their sharp, curved beaks can take care of themselves just fine.
``The birds would kill them.''
In veterinary school, he watched the demand for ostriches and ostrich prices steadily climb. By 1993, when prices peaked, a male/female pair of fertile adult ostriches was selling for as much as $70,000. Chicks went for $6,000 a pair, and single eggs cost up to $1,500 apiece.
Warthen bought 48 two-month-old chicks that were hatched in Florida from eggs that had been imported from South Africa. To avoid the trauma of a long drive, he chartered a jet to bring the young birds home and had them in his barn within four hours after picking them up.
Warthen said he could have opted for private practice after getting out of school, but there already were two veterinarians in the region who worked with exotic birds, and he didn't want to relocate. Besides, there was something about getting into an industry during its infancy that appealed to his entrepreneurial spirit.
He was further delayed by skeptical banks, reluctant to loan him money for start-up costs. They either looked at him like he was crazy, he said, or, after he showed them the numbers, they thought it looked too good to be true.
The numbers can be persuasive.
A female ostrich produces an average of 40 chicks a year, Warthen said, although he has heard of some that have produced 150 in a year.
Sold as breeding stock, at the going rate of $15,000 a pair, which is down from peak 1993 prices, a single female still could generate $300,000 worth of offspring a year. Sold for slaughter, with ostrich meat now fetching about $30 a pound, the offspring of a single female could generate $120,000 a year - and that's not including additional revenue from the sale of leather and feathers.
``A lot of people see those kind of dollar signs and they think they're going to make a million dollars,'' Warthen said.
He certainly hopes that happens in his case, but he is much more realistic. He said that introducing a new meat into the American marketplace is a high-risk venture.
The hope is to first develop a market in gourmet stores and specialty restaurants, then expand into more traditional supermarkets and eateries.
Linda Drain at the Virginia Ratite Association said she knows of only one restaurant in Virginia that serves ostrich, the Dockside Restaurant in Franklin. She said ostrich meat is also available at Farm Fresh stores in Virginia Beach.
``It's an awkward stage for the industry right now because we're in a transition period between a breeder's market and a slaughter market,'' she said.
In the meantime, Warthen seems content to wait it out. Ostriches are low-maintenance. He devotes only about an hour of his day to their care, and feed costs are relatively cheap at about $4,000 a year. Plus, he has the parrot business to keep him afloat.
But he sees a day when ostriches may rank up there with chicken, beef and pork.
``I think 20 years down the road, it could happen.''
by CNB