Emu Farm Field Trip

Have you ever had the opportunity to visit an Emu Farm? If you haven’t, I can honestly say that it is worth your family’s time. We had the opportunity to visit an Emu Farm on Friday February 19, and as we are always seeking to show our children how farms are run, we took a homeschool caravan to a tiny town in Alabama. The farm we visited was owned and run by a small homeschool family, and their six year old son delighted in showing us the treasures around his family farm.
We were shown how to candle (check for fertility) an egg by the young man and his mother. They had at least a hundred or more fertile eggs warming in their incubators. The Farmer allowed us to hold and watch an egg as a baby emu was trying to hatch its way out of that egg. It was explained to us that this baby emu would take all day to hatch from its egg. Our tour within the hatchery allowed us the opportunity to see and hold day old emus. From there, we were able to see some emus that were only a few weeks old. All in all, the tour of the hatchery was interesting and educational.
The Farmer explained to us why they raised emus and how they made money from their farm. They sell emu oil which has many uses including treating arthritis and some even use it to treat burns. Another product they are able to sale is emu meat although they tend to lose money when they allow people to buy the emu meat. The emu meat is a healthy source of red meat that is lower in fat, but higher in protein and other nutrients than other red meat. Emu meat is included as an American Heart Association’s heart healthy meat. Although emu meat seems to be a great way to feed the family a healthy meat, emu farmers seem to gain most of their profit from the emu oil.
To say the least, we were quiet fascinated with these awkward looking creatures by the time we visited the pens that held the adult emus. The adult female emu emits a sound that reminded me of a marching band in the distance that has an excellent set of drummers while the adult male emu makes a growling or groaning sort of noise. They would take off running sometimes, and they could certainly run fast. Some were quiet curious about the visitors who were staring at them and taking pictures. It amazed me, but this farm had over 3000 emus in residence. This was such a fascinating field trip.