What have the main fronts been in ostrich husbandry research?

 Horizon-scanning the ostrich industry with bibliometric indicators

From the domestication of the ostrich to the deregulation of the industry, the ostrich industry experienced rapid growth and changes in research, intellectual property, innovation and technology transfer. Ostrich production is typical of industrial agriculture, which combines techno-scientific methods with an intensive agro-processing value chain. Since the processing of the leather, meat, feathers and skins requires substantial technological know-how and advanced equipment, it has resulted in vast amounts of research and advisory literature emerging from private companies, co-operatives and industry organisations. Researchers conducting literature studies face an increasingly complex amount of literature, and the ‘research landscape’ is also in a continuous state of change. This article turns a vice into a virtue: it deals with the analysis and mapping of the large volumes of academic literature on ostrich husbandry found in the Google Scholar database (GS) by means of a word analysis of titles and keywords in abstracts to determine ostrich-related ‘research foci’.

The results suggest that there are associations between the deregulation of the industry and increased emerging ostrich research, between the time of political isolation of South Africa and substantially increased global research on ostrich reproduction by 1996, and between epidemiological research and the outbreak of the avian influenza virus between 2004 and 2006. This indicative study contributes to the development of a novel prototype for the prediction of future developments and trends in agricultural research

For more information download article from

http://www.afjare.org/resources/issues/vol_10_no1/5%20%20Pittaway%20%20Van%20Niekerk.pdf

South African ostrich farmers receiving more - August 2008

Main ostrich processors in South Africa have pushed up the price paid to farmers by up to 20% during August 2008. Other ostrich leather and meat producers accept they will have to do the same to maintain supply. Pricing given for a bird, depending on meat, skin and feather grading has topped +/- ZAR 2800.00 per bird. 

One of the main reasons for the price increase was to assist the increasing feed and fuel costs on the farm. 

Many South African ostrich farmers have stopped ostrich farming due to challenging periods where meat exports were halted twice during the past three years and increasing input farming costs.

Concerns in the market are that the costing will need to be passed onto leather and meat prices at some time. The weakening South Africa Rand has alleviated immediate price increases, but may not be sufficient to hold the increases for much longer.

Source S&V African Leather.