Emu Farming Made Easy: December 2014

We are now at the end of our emu growing season on Vancouver Island. The breeders are ready to usher in a new generation, the chicks are now 6 months old and called juveniles (juvies) and the harvest of mature birds for meat and oil is complete. We are looking forward to 2015 as most of our emu husbandry infrastructure is in place. Next year's blog will be more anecdotal and only sprinkled with occasional textbook entries as needed.

So far in this emu farming blog we have discussed topics like breeding, egg incubation and hatching and housing. The greatest teacher of course is experience and as a new emu farmer you could look to others in this field to coach and mentor you. Unfortunately they are few and far between. They probably won’t be found in your neighbourhood and there won't be many in your province or state. Not a lot of seasoned emu farmers are on the Internet and fewer still are on social media. If you google emu oil, you will see that there are a lot of online retailers of emu oil products. However their websites usually don’t describe emu farming practices in the detail that you will need to be successful with this undertaking. Over the years we have researched and gathered information from many countries and will share these findings with you here. Some are in book form; others are websites or PDF files. We hope you find this list (which is in no particular order and not complete) useful in your emu farming business.

The Emu Farmer's Handbook,
Phillip and Maria Minnaar, Induna Co. TX, 1992

The Emu Farmer's Handbook, Volume 2,
Maria Minnaar, Nyoni Pub Co, TX, 1998

A Benchmark Study of Husbandry, Transport, Lairage and Improve Skin Quality of Ratites: Volume 2 Emus, pdf 229 pages, Dr. Philip C. Glatz, AU Government, RIRDC Project No. SAR-22A, 2000

The Ratite ENCYCLOPEDIA, Ostrich-Emu-Rhea,
Claire Drenowatz, Editor, Ratite Records Inc, TX, 1995

Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals: Husbandry of Captive-Bred Emus, Second Edition, Primary Industries Report Series 90, pdf, CSIRO Pub, AU, 2006

Husbandry & Medical Management of Ostriches, Emus & Rheas, James M. Jensen, James H. Johnson, Stanley T. Weiner, Wildlife & Exotic Animal Teleconsultants, TX, 1992

Husbandry Guidelines for Emus, Kelly Swarbrick, pdf, 126 pages, Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, AU, 2009.

The Australian Emu: Embryonic Development, poster, UCDavis, CA, 1997 (order through anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=21559)

Medical Care of Emus, Margaret Wissman, article, (found at http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/emus.html, FL, 2006