ISSUE No. 6
1. Moving Forward
2. Principles of the WOA
3. Dissemination of Information
4. Who are your Directors?
5. Slogans
6. Country Liaisons
7. Email Address - Hotmail
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1. Moving Forward
The Mission of the WOA is to provide a positive direction for the Ostrich Industry through "Communication, Dissemination of Information and Development of Industry Standards".
Much has been accomplished during our first 9 months and our membership has grown to 31 Countries and 73 members. The Board of Directors (BOD) are very aware of the need to fulfil our obligations as set out in the Mission Statement. All board members have their own businesses to run and carry out their duties to the WOA on a voluntary basis. Everyone is well aware of the need to optimise the time we have available and we have therefore implemented a number of modifications to make more efficient use of
this time.
Conferences require a tremendous amount of time and organisation and since all assistance with organising these conferences is voluntary, the BOD has recognised that to effectively present a professional conference, it is necessary to direct our focus to one annual conference per year.
In our few short months of existence, Craig Culley, our hard working secretary, has received a number of requests on different issues - we need to define policy statements when replying to such requests. The membership pages of the Web Site also need to be expanded to provide members with more information and this is targeted to take place in the coming months.
We all know the industry is contending with many issues to achieve a successful transition from breeder phase to commercial phase. This is a primary reason that the BOD founded the WOA and we are committed to ensure we all achieve this transition since it is as important to us all as it is to all members.
2. Principles of the WOA
I. To promote a professional world wide ostrich industry based on sound and ethical livestock principles.
II. To encourage members and non-members alike to utilise modern agricultural trends in all aspects of animal welfare and humane ostrich agri-processing
III. To constantly review and update consumer information.
IV. To ensure all ostrich products are brought to the market place with the highest quality and consistency by recognising that all stages of the production/value chain are completely interrelated.
V. To establish world wide production and marketing standards that form the cornerstone to correctly support the sales of quality ostrich products.
VI. To develop procedures for the implementation of these principles which will enable the ostrich industry to compete in the marketplace with modern livestock and agri-processing methods.
VII. To provide the leadership, knowledge, guidance and dissemination of correct information to accurately recognise these principles and to encourage their implementation.
3. Dissemination of Information
One aspect that has concerned the BOD since our industry opened up has been the proliferation of what we define as "misinformation". The Board members were asked to write down just a few items of misinformation being spread in the industry today. Within 24 hours we had 50 and all of us could think of many more. The list is very long.
What do we mean by misinformation? The list has been arranged into categories. Below is one item of misinformation from each category to give you some examples:
BREED
- Blues lay less eggs than Blacks
PRODUCTION
- Birds have to be slaughtered after 12 months of age or the follicles are not mature on the skins
FARM MANAGEMENT
- Ostrich males should be separated from females during the off-season and put on a starvation diet so they will be more aggressive next season.
PRODUCT QUALITY
- The diet fed ostrich has no effect on the quality of the meat, fat, skin products.
FEED MANAGEMENT
- Birds eat more if Feed is always left out for them
SYMPTOMS
- Late Season chicks are weaker than First of the Season Chicks
FEED FORMULATION
- Fiber is Fiber, no matter what the source of the Fiber is.
We will shortly begin a series to educate on all these subjects. For each statement there will be an explanation as to why the particular statement is not true, backed up by studies where these have been carried out or required. These will be posted to the members list on a regular basis and we invite every member to please, please participate in discussions.
** Participate if further clarification is required
** Participate if there is disagreement with explanations provided
** Participate with your experiences that support the explanations provided.
** Participate with your experiences that contradict the explanations provided.
** Participate with personal comments
** Participate with your observations and your input
Your participation is very important to your fellow members, to the BOD and to the ostrich industry as a whole. The more you participate, the more the industry advances and the rewards to all become increasingly evident.
We would like to develop idea into a forum which will begin to dispel many of these myths that make little sense in modern professional livestock production - and even more so for Ostrich.
The BOD knows that this new forum will help support members in their quest for knowledge and in their efforts to develop a greater understanding of how to achieve a professionally run and operated ostrich business.
4. Who are your Directors
Recently there was reason to define your Board of Directors. When I did this, a very interesting factor appeared. For the longest time I have heard the myth "Blue Mountain only wants to sell feed" and never could understood why people would say that since we have shared more meaningful research information than any other in the industry to date, done more to help further the industry and shared more research results than any others in the industry. All of us are in business to sell something. When you analyse your board of directors, this is what you find and maybe it explains even further why I could not understand this "feed selling" myth?
Four of us - Alan Stables, Stan Stewart, Maria Isabel Sylva and myself
We are all developing our own businesses through investing in the BM systems. Having done so, we have all learnt a great deal, witnessed first hand the results, and it is this that has brought us all together to make this a meaningful and progressive association. As the first of the group to invest in BM "internationally", I have also been in a position to share the results of my limited research given my very limited resources.
We have all recognised this misinformation that has abounded as making no "common livestock sense", studied what is required and implemented that into our businesses. We have also learned that to do this alone is simply too large. We recognise the need that we have to work together as our industry is so very small in livestock production terms. This is the only way to generate the volume to reduce our operating costs and to develop the full support infrastructure required by all producers.
We are also motivated and frustrated by the demand for the products and lack of coordinated, consistent and quality supply that alone we cannot supply.
One of us, Daryl Holle, is the developer of all the BM systems. What most may not know is that Daryl started simply farming the birds. Daryl has a background of pioneering advanced nutrition in Dairy to make a living from his own production livestock (not to sell feed). As an individual, he invested in his own research and development based on his studies of production livestock nutrition over many years and that resulted in the birth of BM Feeds as the local farmers could see the results he was achieving. Daryl then created the other BM systems to follow the path of "production livestock" standards to help the Ostrich industry to become a viable industry.
Those of you who were in Chile and were hosted by Isabel, will remember her 3 month chicks in the pen close by the house where we all enjoyed her hospitality. In late June she took a few photos - I think they tell their own story and just why we are all so committed. The file size is too large to send the photos as an attachment to this newsletter, but they are available at http://www.world-ostrich.org/chile2003/chick_growth.html along with a few other photos from different
parts of the world. All small people recognising that "together we grow and alone we flounder"...........
5. Slogans
Here are a few slogans that I would suggest we can all work to develop?
"Unleash this Giant"
We know the potential of this industry or none of us would have invested in it. Most members are seeking the "key" that unlocks this Giant. Many of you will have joined the WOA hoping to find answers. Of course there is no "quick fix" but
..............
"Together we Grow - Fragmented we Flounder"
A few years ago, a visitor from Australia with a large production unit, that sadly I hear is no more, asked me "why can't we all work together?" He went onto state:
"I get enquiries for meat of a volume that alone I know I cannot supply for many years to come. � Instead of working together, the industry continues to compete against each other for the small outlets on price, slowly killing each other."
Consolidating different "production centres" would enable those markets to be accessed...........
"Pooling Resources"
Recently I was sent the Beef production statistics for Brazil. If you do the production projections on a pretty substantial project, even 10 years from now the total meat production would be 0.5% of their total Beef Production. If we pool resources how much faster we can all grow?
**Shared experience
**Shared marketing
**Shared research
**Shared exchange of genetics
**Shared product development
**Shared training costs
- the list is endless.
Very little in business is "free" but costs can be substantially reduced when shared and the benefits significant. "Together we Grow - Fragmented we Flounder".
Please email your thoughts to [email protected] on how we, as an Association, can develop these slogans and grow together.
6. Country Liaisons
BULGARIA - Dessi Daskalova
BRAZIL - Roberto Leando
CANADA - Michael Sunderland
CHILE - Patricio Maureira
COLOMBIA - Gary Jordan Rubio
ECUADOR - Antonio Marques
EGYPT - Hesham Khalifa
Report from Egypt is that the Egyptian Ostrich Association was formed on 1st July, 2003. On behalf of us all I would like to pass on our congratulations and wish them every success.
MEXICO - Joel Lopez Perez
PAKISTAN - Sayed Asad Husain
VENEZUELA - Rafael Paiva
A COUNTRY LIAISON is somebody who wishes to participate in information exchange between their own national country and the WOA. Information requested for example is on their own national association, events and ostrich related magazines.
This role is purely a voluntary one.
If you are interested in being the COUNTRY LIAISON for your own country, please contact the Liaison Committee at [email protected].
7. Email Addresses - Hotmail
Some members have Hotmail email addresses. Hotmail provide a very limited capacity for holding email and once the mail box is full the messages bounce. The mailing list administrator has been receiving a large number of bounced messages from Hotmail Accounts. If this goes on too long, he has no alternative than to delete that member from the mailing list. Please, if you have a Hotmail email account ensure that the mail box is emptied regularly so that it does not become over full.
If you change your email address please notify the Secretary at [email protected]. When notifying of email address changes, please provide your name as on the membership registration, your old email address and your new email address to ensure that the correct changes are made.
Any comments or contributions please send either to this list at [email protected] or privately to
[email protected]