feather to leather
IRWIN CRUZ VISITS A PIONEERING OSTRICH FARM AND TRACES THE JOURNEY FROM FARM TO CATWALK
Located just outside the city limits of Cagayan de Oro towards Iligan, the sleepy town of Opol is best known for its lovely beaches. An ideal destination for sun-seeking Cagayanons, the resort town is a quick jeepney ride away from downtown.
But Opol has more to offer than just sun, surf and sand. A unique attraction that could have come straight out of Africa lures visitors from all over the country: the Big Bird Ostrich Farm.
BUILDING A COOP
However, the ostriches on this farm do not parade their regal feathers in the thicket and grass of the African Sahel, but under slender coconut trees swaying gently on a dry hill, rising beyond the rice paddies and surrounded by a two-meter-high perimeter fence.
Located 1.5km inland, just south of the town’s central market, the farm is owned by the Philippine Ostrich and Crocodile Farm Company, a business involved in the raising of animals and sale of exotic meats.
Established by the entrepreneur Heintje Lim and his father in 1996, the farm came out of the original idea to not only introduce this humungous alien bird to the Philippines – something that people had only read about in books or seen on TV – but also to breed it in our tropical weather.
What was a brave, pioneering idea eventually turned into a rather lucrative and profitable one. Now the company has several farms and sells ostrich meat to fine Philippine restaurants that know of its benefits.
Ostrich is a high-protein meat that is low in calories, fat and cholesterol. It has the texture and tang of beef but the nutritional content of chicken and turkey.
And for breeders, the financial rewards are significant. A farmer can rake in about PHP11,206 (USD200) from the sale of cattle meat, but ostrich meat can sell for up to PHP840,450 (USD15,000).
The Lims also discovered another twist in ostrich farming. They found out that the skin was desirable in the fashion industry. So, in 1998, they started to tan ostrich hide and began selling the leather to fashion suppliers abroad.
RAISING BIG BIRDS
Growing as tall as 2.7m, the ostrich is the largest living bird on the planet, weighing up to 130kg (285lbs). It is also one of the fastest two-legged creatures, with the ability to hit speeds of 65km per hour.
In northern Africa and Arabia, people would race on ostriches as they would horses. So let’s make this clear: owning an ostrich is quite different from looking after a backyard fighting cock! Especially if you have 600 of them – which is the number of ostriches Big Bird has on its farm at any given time.
In order to raise the big birds, the farm needed to be large enough to have areas for them to roam about, especially when they reach maturity. The birds also have to be kept in separate pens according to their age, so the right fencing and layout were also necessary. Those who remember their biology would know that the ostrich arrives in the form of an egg.
And ostrich eggs are huge! They are about the size and weight of an American football.
At the Big Bird Farm, there is a medium-sized steel building devoted to incubation. The eggs hatch after 42 days, and the chicks are then kept in sheltered pens for eight weeks. Measuring 10 inches in length and weighing about two pounds, they might not seem particularly fragile, but this is the time when the most mortalities occur, so the utmost care is given.
CHICK CARE
Until they are six weeks old, the ostrich chicks are given a high-protein poultry feed to meet their nutritional demands. Much like other birds, ostrich chicks grow fast - at a rate of 12 inches per month - and consume as much as 120g of food a day. After the first three months, the chicks are transferred to a bigger pen where they are free to roam in the open air.
At this stage of development, the birds lose their cuteness and – much like their human counterparts – become horribly unattractive.
Like teenagers, they break out in spots, walk clumsily and obtain questionable outfits. It is only at full maturity do they gain the graceful black and white that we see in nostalgic National Geographic clips.
Though the ostriches are well cared for throughout their lives, this is a farm after all, and Julius Mugot, head caretaker at Big Bird, reveals that the ostriches are slaughtered twice a week.
While the meat is cleaned and processed for subsequent sale under the Big Bird brand, the skin is sent to tanneries in Zamboanga. From there, they are shipped to the company’s ostrich leather customers at home and abroad.
FOWL IS FAIR
In the global market for exotic skins, the ostrich industry is the largest in terms of volume traded. South Africa, which dominates the market, is the largest producer and exporter of ostrich skins and is responsible for over 80 per cent of production and trade.
Most of the raw skin goes to Japan where luxury goods from ostriches are big status symbols. Here, the hide fetches 10 times the price of cow leather. The country imports an estimated USD50 million (PHP2,499 million) of exotic leather every year.
The United States remains the world’s second biggest importer, where ostrich skin is used for cowboy boots and often finds its way onto runways as handbags, shoes and coats.
In 2001, the Philippines was the sixth largest exporter of ostrich leather to the US, exporting about USD112,387 (PHP7 million) worth of goods.
STILL GROWING
Heintje Lim believes that ostrich farming is still at its infancy in the Philippines and he is confident about its prospects. He reports that the demand for ostrich meat and hide has been steadily increasing. And apart from their business’s expansion, he has seen farms open in other parts of the country such as Luzon.
Ostrich offers a profitable alternative to traditional livestock farming in the Philippines. Not only is the meat a high-value commodity, but its by-products add significantly to farm income. With more and more players opening up new ventures, it is certain that the Philippine ostrich industry is here for the long run, and not something that will just fly away.
HISTORY OF OSTRICH FEVER
Ostriches – along with emus, their Aussie cousins – are the birds that have been around the longest on the planet. They belong to the family of birds called ratites and have existed since the cretaceaous era.
They used to live as far east as China and as far north as the Mediterranean. Cave paintings in Egypt show that ostriches have been hunted and even farmed since time immemorial. Large herds of the big bird lived along the western coast of southern Africa when the Dutch arrived in the 17th century.
During the colonial era, ostrich plumes were all the rage in Europe, with people using them to decorate everything from hats to palaces. After gold, diamonds and wool, ostrich feathers were South Africa’s fourth most important export commodity.
In the United States, the first ostrich farm was established in 1906, but like the farms in South Africa, it was mainly for the feathers.
After the First World War, the plumes went out of fashion and this might have saved the poor old bird from extinction. Ostrich farming was not revived until the late 1970s, mainly for its meat and leather.
Ostrich leather is one of the toughest around. After kangaroo, it is the most durable farmed hide available. It is no wonder that it has been a staple material for cowboy boots. One female ostrich alone can produce 14sq ft of leather, enough to make three pairs.
Apart from its strength, ostrich leather is prized for the quill pattern. Quilling is a tedious process which involves pulling the quills from the sockets either with pliers or by hand. This prevents hemorrhaging after the feathers have been plucked.
Ostrich on the Catwalk
SPECKLED LEATHER
European luxury maletiers have always dabbled with exotic leather to extend the range of their palette beyond calfskin. Amidst everything from crocodile to iguana, ostrich remains a favorite.
One of the houses that often uses the skin is Valextra, the newly revived Italian leather goods label. Shelves in its 1850 palazzo/flagship store on Milan’s Via Manzoni contain minimalist handbags bereft of any logo. This is a refreshing breather in a fashion world where everything screams with brands. The house simply lets its fine leather do the talking, like the ostrich pastel used for its briefcases.
Gucci also uses ostrich in bags, but it is American designer Marc Jacobs who dared to employ the hide on footwear, both for Louis Vuitton and his own label. His Vienna Minimalisa ankle boots for Vuitton start at USD2,000 (PHP100,300) a pair.
Meanwhile, Donatella Versace also got involved in this year’s spring/summer collection. A beige mid-length ostrich coat was included in her monotone desert-colored collection.
LEG LEATHER
However, it is ostrich leg leather that is spreading like wildfire. The pattern is different from the leather taken from an ostrich’s belly. The leg contains scales running down its middle which increase in size as they approach the knee. It is a tougher, albeit smaller version of another designer darling, the python.
At home, Manila-based shoe designer Brian Tenorio has used it in his limited edition designer line. A black pair of Oxfords are good value at USD260 (PHP13,000). Avant-garde Parisian souliers, Guy & Yvon Rautureau, have produced lightweight, turquoise ostrich leg loafers for their label, Freelance; while Valextra has been filling Bergdorf Goodman stores with ostrich leg handbags that command USD3,100 (PHP154,958).
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