But in spite of this they make good farming sense.A cow produces only one calf a year whereas a female ostrich can lay an egg every other day.And because the farmers can use incubators and hatched chicks are nourished well and protected from danger,the failure rate on farms is very low indeed and almost all the fertilised eggs will hatch out into chicks which will in turn reach maturity.This is very different from the situation in the wild,where the vast majority of chicks will die or be killed before they grow up into mature ostriches.So it's possible,once the initial outlay has been made,for the farmer to be looking at very good profit margins indeed.

Ostrich farming is still in its early days outside Africa but we hope that ostrich meat will be freely available soon and before long will be as cheap as beef.