Fat Versus Meat Production On Ratites
by Daryl Holle
I hear lots of people talking about Ostriches being too fat these days. There are also a lot of processing plants complaining they can’t dress out enough meat per bird during slaughter. If you have Emu, excess fat might be a plus some day as the oil market progresses. However, it is also beneficial to grow some extra meat pounds on Emu in order to help offset the slaughtering expenses.
Can nutrition control the amount of Fat and the amount of Meat on Ratites? You bet it can! A simple way to explain this is to understand the following nutritional principals:
EXCESS FAT PRODUCTION
1. Excess Protein turns into FAT.
2. Excess Energy turns into FAT.
3. A deficiency of minerals, trace minerals, and vitamins causes normal levels of Protein and Energy to become excess protein and energy which turns into FAT.
LOW MEAT PRODUCTION
1. A shortage of Protein results in LOW MEAT PRODUCTION.
2. A shortage of Energy results in LOW MEAT PRODUCTION.
3. A shortage of minerals, trace minerals, and vitamins results in LOW MEAT YIELDS.
An example of the above resulting problems might be feeding a ratite a 50/50 mixture of alfalfa and corn with no mineral, trace mineral, or vitamin supplementation to balance out the nutrient levels needed by the bird. If the alfalfa is 18% protein and the corn is 8% protein, that would be an average of 13% protein in the total diet in a 50/50 mix. 13% protein is low for a constant diet and the bird will not grow very fast or build any more muscle than absolutely necessary. However, if the energy of the alfalfa is 58% and the energy of the corn is 90%, that equals an average of 74% energy in the total diet at a 50/50 mixture. 74% energy is very high for a complete diet for ratites. In this example, you can see there is a possible shortage of protein and an excess of energy. The excess energy will probably turn to fat and the shortage of protein will cause LOW MEAT PRODUCTION.
The third rule that yet needs to be addressed in this example is minerals, trace minerals, and vitamins. Since none of these items were added to the alfalfa/corn mixture, the only source of minerals is coming from the alfalfa and corn. Both of these ingredients are extremely low in the phosphorus mineral. Phosphorus is not only key in bone growth, but also very necessary for muscle growth (meat production). When phosphorus levels are low in the total diet, very little EXTRA meat production is going to take place other than what the bird needs to survive. The low phosphorus level also contributes to a poor utilization of the high energy and again causes even greater FAT production.
In conclusion to the discussion of the third rule, Calcium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Manganese, Copper, Selenium, Magnesium, Potassium, and Salt are also important minerals/trace minerals that assist with the total digestion process and are key to FAT production and MEAT production. Vitamins A, D, and E also help with the digestion/conversion process. In addition, the B-vitamins such as Choline, Niacin, Biotin, etc, help convert body fat to mobilized energy in the bird. If the bird has some body fat but cannot mobilize it for use, it just gets fatter.
Minerals, Trace Minerals, and Vitamins must be BALANCED to the rest of the ingredients in the diet so everything will work together. Dumping in “some of this and some of that” into feed rations is very risky and usually comes out with a skinny bird with NO FAT and NO MEAT or a FAT bird with NO MEAT.
Nutritional diets CAN control the amount of fat desired and accomplish good meat production along with it. These principals of good nutrition are going to play a significant role in the near future for the ratite industry–stay tuned to it, prepare to change with it, or you may be left behind as processors will not want your birds or will dock you severely for them. Our records show a well-fed bird usually dresses out around 70% of the carcass weight into boneless meat. A bird fed an improper diet will dress out around 62% of the carcass weight as boneless meat. If you were the processor, which carcass would you want to buy? The processors are learning fast what type of birds are profitable for them and it will always be the well-fed bird with lots of tender, good tasting MEAT.
| Return to articles menu |