RT "Bait"

SEE! See that! Now you all know I'm not crazy for being into emu. -- Gee, thanks Rick . Just when I thought I had this emu thing licked. .... Did I say licked? Read down to Osprey's post and my reply about his shark "story" under the "Giant Sunfish" post thread. Dang! - BTW, try emu oil on your Warts. .... Did I say warts, I meant Hot Shots. - Edit: I wonder what Ann & Margret look like?

[This message has been edited by RT (edited 08-08-2000).]

Emu Oil Breathes New Life Into Bird Ranching
August 7, 2000, 11:45 AM

The emu ranching craze that turned into a fiasco in the early 1990s for thousands of entrepreneurs in Oregon and across the nation is showing signs of revival after some determined efforts to market valuable oil rendered from emu fat.

Health and beauty products made with emu oil are selling for $5 to $30 an ounce, making the oil far more valuable than meat from the Australian bird.

The shakeout in the emu business was healthy, clearing out speculators and breeders who made money strictly by selling birds to others, said Ann Olsson, a founder of the Oregon Emu Association and a former president of the industry's national association.

Breeding pairs of the huge birds demanded prices as high as $50,000 when the craze was in full swing.

Just before the emu market crash in 1994, one study predicted 2.5 million of the big birds would be raised nationwide within four years.

But demand plummeted, and with no market for emu meat, ranchers looked for ways to cut their losses. Some slaughtered their birds; others went bankrupt.

The Oregon Emu Association, which once had 150 members, has declined to about 40 active members.

But the remaining emu ranchers, including Olsson, seem determined to stay in business, said Jim Hermes, a poultry specialists at Oregon State University.

"I have invested in this industry with my heart and soul for years," Olsson said.

Emu ranchers say sales of emu meat have gradually recovered while emu leather, which resembles pricey ostrich leather, could be another marketing opportunity.

Olsson now runs Emu Marketing International from her home in Dallas. Her company sells the Allflex brand of emu oil body care products as well as Renaissance by Alexander, a line of face creams and cosmetics containing emu oil, primarily through mail order sales.

She said her interest in emus began as an offshoot of her hobby: raising parrots.

"An emu is just a bigger bird," she said, noting they can weigh up to 100 pounds.

The birds have a bony breast, and only about 25 pounds of rump and thigh meat is marketable. While the meat wholesales for $7 to $12 a pound, Olsson now considers it a by-product of oil production.

Emu oil promoters say the oil has anti-inflammatory and moisturizing properties.

While the science to support those claims is sketchy, demand is up.

"We do lots and lots of business with emu oil," said Linda Lopez, a buyer for Made In Oregon retail stores.

Still, no large corporations or major investors have offered to spend money on a nationwide campaign to push the products into the mainstream.

"We don't anticipate a huge overnight boom," said Margaret Pounder, executive director of the American Emu Association.