Emu Ranch: South Western Emu Ranch
SOUTHWESTERN EMU RANCH
28600 W. Tumbleweed Pass
Canyon, TX 79015
South western Emu Ranch has jumped on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon. The demand for quality, low fat food has created a new market for emu products. Interesting financial information is provided in the form of an Operational Costs Table and Projected Income Statements for the first four years.
- BUSINESS CONCEPT
- MARKETING PLAN
- OPERATIONAL PLAN
- INITIAL START-UP COST
- STRATEGIC PLAN
- FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Business Concept
The emu is a large bird which originally came from Australia and belongs to the big bird family group known as the ratites, which includes other birds such as the ostrich (found throughout Africa and south western Asia) and the Cassowary (also found in Australia).
The emu ranch will be in the business of "ranching", or raising, emu birds for two main purposes. The first purpose is to raise newly hatched emu chicks to the age of a year or older, pair them off and sell them as good quality adult emu breeding pairs. The second purpose is to raise a portion of these chicks to the age of twelve months or older for the purpose of slaughter for their lean red meat, oil and skin for leather products.
The breeding pairs will be sold nationwide to other emu ranchers, who are established in the business or are just starting. At first, this will be the emu ranch's main target market, because of the high profits that can be made by selling adult emus as breeding pairs.
The emu ranch's secondary market will be the slaughter market, whose main products consist of prime cuts of emu meat, ready for shipments to restaurants, residential orders, worldwide markets and in the future, shipment to supermarkets. High quality leather from the emu's skin, and five to six liters of emu oil, which is currently being used in the cosmetic industry, will also be distributed. Additionally, the medical industry uses the oil for therapeutic rubbing oil, skin and facial moisturizing lotions and medical applications used for treating the skin of burn victims.
The raising of emu birds for breeding pairs or for slaughter is unique, because the emu breeding pairs, when at their peak of producing fertile eggs, will produce at the end of an eighteen month cycle. Between forty five to fifty adult emus will be ready for slaughter or to be sold as breeding pairs at eighteen months to two years old. In other words, one breeding pair will produce more meat and leather in eighteen months than one beef cow breeding pair, not including the amount of high grade oil that forty to fifty adult emus will produce. Each adult emu will produce seven liters of fine organic oil, that is non-allergenic to human skin.
Right now the emu industry is in a breeder's market stage, which means that the nation's emu ranchers are raising and selling their adult emu birds as breeding pairs, instead offer slaughter. There are substantial profits that can be made in raising and selling emus as breeding pairs, given the large volume of emu ranches that are starting each year.
A proven emu breeding pair can be sold at $8,000 to $30,000 depending on the historical number of fertile eggs the pair has produced each mating season. Proven breeding pairs may lay between thirty to fifty fertile eggs per mating season.
Therefore, if the emu ranch started with ten proven breeding pairs that would lay on average thirty-five eggs each, of which, at the end of successfully raising all of the emu chicks to eighteen-months to two-year-old adult emus, the total number of adult emus would be 350. If these are sold at $15,000 per breeding pair, the total gross amount of sales, without the subtraction of the initial start-up costs would be (.5 × 350 × $10,000 = $1,750,000). An example of our secondary target market, would be the current slaughter market which is paying between $500 to $800 for each adult emu bird ready for slaughter. Therefore, 350 × $500 for each adult emu for slaughter is $175,000.
