Monitoring the health and productivity of farmed ostrich flocks

The Australian farmed ostrich industry is in a state of T transition. Since reestablishment in this country after anabsence of about 60 years, the industry has expanded rapidly, both in numbers of producers and birds. Until recently, most flocks were small and individual birds were of considerable value. Accordingly, veterinary attention has focused on the health and productivity of individual birds. However, a program of sustainable commercial slaughtering has now been instigated, resulting in the slaughter of young mature birds to produce high quality leather and meat. The monetary value of individual birds has also dropped substantially in recent months. With these changes, the overall performance of the flock, rarher than individual birds, will become increasingly important. With the shifting emphasis towards flock performance, there will be an increasing need for veterinarians to monitor the health and productivity of farmed ostrich flocks. Monitoring programs have been developed for many livestock industries, including poultry (RJ Jenner, personal communication), to provide an ongoing assessment of the health and productivity of animal and bird populations. However, no published information is available about similar programs for ostrich flocks. This paper briefly reviews issues relating to the development of monitoring programs for ostrich populations, and presents a case study to demonstrate the potential uses of monitoring information for ostrich producers and their veterinarians.