Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Emu Farming Vs Rabbit Farming

One emu enthusiast was asking whether emu farming is like what Rabbit Farming was few years ago.

It is a valid concern, since many hundreds of people lost their money in the MLM-kind (Multi-Level Marketing) of business model of Rabbit Farming. It's not the MLM model that brought this business downswing, but the ultimate end-use was not defined in the business. People who sold the rabbits mentioning the goodness of its meat, never tasted it. It's so sticky or so rubbery, when cooked. It's not a hard meat, as it is mutton or quail or chicken. Indians do not eat this kind of meats. So, the meat never took off. When there is no end use for the product, it cannot grow forever. So, the ultimate stop came in.

Emu Farming is entirely different. First, it is not MLM model. You pay and get worthy emu Chicks. The Emu meat is very nice and affordable for people to buy it. If you look at my previous posts, I have explained about the emu meat requirement and supply. There are several meat shops are popping up. The business is very hectic. I am getting regular call for asking to buy Leg-bend emu chicks for meat purpose. Since, the emu meat is getting very popular and the demand is keep increasing.

One thing, I noticed, would be a hurdle in fixing the price. The feed cost is very high, when we consider growing emu for meat purpose alone. So, either the feed cost must come down, or the meat cost must go up, say to Rs.750/kg.

With the current supply and demand situation for emu meat, I bet it would reach up to Rs.750/Kg, soon.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Emu Meat - Some Commercial Aspects

Emu Meat is already getting into food plates in some selected cities in India.

There was a hype in the Emu Farming community for not going into slaughtering. That is, we need more emu birds to feed the population if they are tasted and addicted to emu meat. Verily True. But, if we wait for the time to come, the small farming community will find it unable to feed the emu birds and chicks, and eventually collapse. This is a happening in Tamil Nadu now.

In an average, a Emu chick eats 0.5 Kg per day for first 12 months (Note, in an average... actually it increases from 100g to 200g and upto 650 grams per day when it reaches 12 months). When it reaches 18 months, it will start eating 1000grams per day. But the growth is from 450 grams it will reach 45, 000 grams - a whopping 100 times growth in 18 months.

Let's look into some statistics of Emu Meat's commercial aspect:


If you look deep into the chart above, you will see Fully grown Emu (18+ months) weighs around 40-45 Kg. Let's take 40 Kg in a moderate account.


Live Weight: 40 Kg
Feather, etc: 10 Kg (considered waste, but somehow people can sell it for some money.)
Meat: 20 Kg (In Indian conditions, we don't completely remove bones in the saleable meat)
Bones: 5 Kg (reasonably big bones)
FAT: 5 Kg (the fat shall be blood-free, means, no blood droplets shall be found in the fat).

To feed enthusiastic and health-conscious upper middle-class and above, they will be frenzied about this meat. It is beleived that rheumatism subsidies after eating emu meat. Currently they are paying around 300-450 per Kg, but when the demand is high, and the supply is low, the price will go up. Now more people will be frenzied about emu farming, and jump into it. Just remember, we are still growing emus in a seasonal agri-business industry.

In simple terms, for regular daily demand of emu meat, we have only a seasonal supply, which obviously shows the demand is always going to be higher than the supply. This simple fact tells you about the future of emu farming.

Other hype is that there is a huge export market out there. Export Market is there, but not huge. Even if it is cost effective to produce in India, India is still not considered a hygienic source to import from. Many western countries shun India as a source for Emu Meat. This is a image problem. Only orchestrated effort from Government of India can do to overcome and rebuild.

Okay, when you are selling the meat like hot cake on cash-terms locally, why do you want to export at a lower cost in credit terms. Moreover, If you cannot meet the local demand, why do you think of exporting them. So, just forget about Export of Emu meat.

Have you tasted the emu meat, yet?


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Emu Slaughtering in Chennai

Emu Slaughtering has started in small scale in various cities of Tamil Nadu State. The response so far is so good. The current price is Rs.300/kg to Rs.350/kg, depend on cities. However, no stock carried away to the freezer for next day. All sold out on the same day.

Interesting.... isn't it?

In Chennai, VCEmufarm has started a joint called, Maya & Maya Food joint in the following address:

" MAYA & MAYA Food Joint "
114-F,Shanthi Colony Main Road,
Anna Nagar, Chennai - 600 040.
Call : 97891 74466 / 94420 10168
E-mail : mayaandmayaemuproducts@gmail.com
Web : www.emufarms.in / www.vcemufarms.com


In Dindigul, Jeevan Emu Care India and PAN Emu Farm have started their meat sale for some time.

Soon, it will spread to other parts of the nation too.

Look for freezers in your local city superstores for Emu Nuggets, and meat products.