Newsletter - 12 October 1998

Publishers of the "World's Largest Ostrich Newsletter"

This newsletter goes out to 14,859 people in 141 countries

In this packed issue

1)  Message from Steve Warrington
2)  How to develop a product your customer wants to purchase
3)  Feeding For Performance - Part 1
4)  Developing a meat market
5)  See you at OstrichFest 98
6)  Enter our FREE Competition - win a beautiful decorated egg
7)  In future issues
8)  Unsubscribing

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A message from Steve Warrington

As autumn is now well and truly upon us, the Christmas buying season
is fast approaching.

Orders for some of our products - especially large quantities of
feathers and boas cannot be completed this year - it seems that
these are very fashionable items at the moment and our new feather
and boa pages on the Internet have produced an amazing amount of
orders. On reflection we should have put these up some time ago
but hindsight is always 20-20!!

So if you need feathers or boas - order them now - generally we
are on a 3 - 4 week delivery for non stock items.

The annual OstrichFest 98 is being held later this month and again
we will be attending. I have included more information in this
newsletter - and we will be on stand 306 and 308 displaying a
huge plethora of Ostrich goodies - see you there.

In November / December I will be in Australia, which by an
absolutely amazing coincidence is when the England cricket team will
be there to win the Ashes!!  I will write to our all our subscribers
down under separately with exact dates and a schedule - and I'll look
forward to meeting you - I'll even let you buy me a tinny or two!

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How to develop a product your customer wants to purchase.

You already have an idea of the type of product you wish to
provide to customers when you structure and name your company.
If you have examined your interests, budget, the economy, company
goals, etc., then you have begun to narrow the product choice.

Assuming you have chosen a product to sell, product development
is the next step you take. In all phases of development the
customer must be considered.

If, for instance, you design a drinking straw for children that is
too long for their arms, the product will not do well in the
marketplace.

The new product begins with a strategy. Once the product is chosen,
it needs to compared to company objectives, then tested conceptually
by the target market. Mock-ups of products, sketches and promotional
material are needed at this stage.

A focus group made up of your target market would give the company
knowledge of what the consumer would buy. An example: Frito-Lay
spent a year interviewing 10,000 consumers about the concept of a
multigrain snack chip.

The company experimented with 50 different shapes before settling
on a thin, rectangular chip with ridges and a slightly salty,
nutty flavour.

The next step is the last one before monetary outlay for the
product - business analysis. Here we need an estimate of the costs,
review the strategy and do a legal examination. Costs could include
R&D, production and marketing. The company can estimate how many
units must be sold before reaching the break-even point.

The strategy could call for a certain number of units sold in a
certain length of time to recuperate product costs. An examination
of all the factors involved at this stage could reveal success or
failure. Also as important in the strategy, is the relationship of
the new product among existing products. It needs to fit
synergistically so as not to hinder sales of other products.

Legal concerns can be those of patents, trademarks, etc. Development
is the next step. This is the area that is mostly unused among
companies, and ranchers are no exception. A prototype will be made
at this stage and tested to meet the standards that were set for the
product. The company uses in-home placement of the product to gain
feedback from consumers who use the new product as well as a
competing product.

The product is now ready to test in the marketplace. The product
will be for sale on a limited basis in a defined area to determine
whether consumers will actually buy the product. Different ways of
marketing the product will be tried at this stage. About one-third
of the products test marketed do well enough to go to the next
phase. Shopping mall sampling with questioning is a useful
technique.

Commercializing is the next step, which includes positioning and
launching of the new product. Positioning is the image that goes
with the product which places it in a specific position in the mind
of the consumer. A fur coat, for example, is associated with "high
class" where toothpaste is associated with a common, everyday
necessity. Rollouts can be nationwide or regional. Budgetary
considerations make the decision as to which one to use.

Sales and Marketing Consultancy programs are available from
Ostriches On Line in conjunction with the contributors
of our Sales articles.

The above was written by Deborah Torbert.

If you would like further information about how we can help
you with all your sales and marketing requirements, please
review our Internet site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/consultancy/consultancyindex.html

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Feeding For Performance - Part 1
The Feed Itself!

I have been asked hundreds of times how a rancher can tell the
difference between a good quality feed that is designed for
performance and a not-so-good quality feed with no performance
factors in mind other than to keep the birds alive (hopefully). The
answer is never simple as there are as many ways to design feed
formulas as there are people that design them.  The common variables
that differ in formulas are ingredient selection (source),
ingredient amounts (levels), the ingredient ratios (one ingredient
to another), and the ingredient quality with the word "quality"
meaning the ingredient inherently has the maximum amount of
nutrients contained therein with the least amount of adulteration.

Once the feed formula itself has been put together with Source,
Levels, Ratios, and Quality in mind, then the next trick is to get
that formula mixed together as it was intended (manufacturing
quality).  The last steps in "feeding for performance" is correct
"feeding management" along with a high level of "farm management".

The result of all this effort is a "performance feeding program"
that is well thought out and always will be the most cost
effective for any operation.

Instead of just writing about "Feeding for Performance", I have
designed a series of QUIZ questions that you can answer for yourself
and then RATE yourself as to your knowledge about performance
feeding in your operation.

The questions are an accumulation of my experience with feeding
birds and relate to key areas of Blue Mountain's ongoing research
with feed performance results and feeding practices.

Your final RATING at the end of the series should give you a good
idea of the "Performance Potential" of your bird operation and a
clue to areas that need improvement.

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Feeding For Performance - Part 1 THE FEED ITSELF!

To each of the following questions, answer YES, NO, or DON'T KNOW.

Most questions are in reference to the feed tag (label) statements.
If there is no complete ingredient listing on your feed tag,
answer "Don't Know".

1.  Does your feed tag list collective term ingredients such as Grain
Products or Processed Grain By-Products?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

2.  Does your feed tag list collective term ingredients such as Plant
Protein Products or Forage Products?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

3.  Does your feed tag list collective term ingredients such as
Roughage Products?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

4.  Does your feed tag list collective term ingredients such as
Animal Protein Products?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

5.  Does your feed formula contain the ingredient Meat and/or Bone
Meal?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

6.  Does your feed formula contain the ingredient Fish Meal?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

7.  Is "added" Magnesium ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

8.  Is "added" Potassium ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

9.  Is "added" Copper ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

10.  Does your feed formula contain the ingredient Oyster Shell?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

11.  Does your feed formula contain the ingredient Fossil Shell
Flour?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

12.  Does your feed formula contain the ingredients Grass Meal or
Beet Pulp?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

13.  Does your feed formula contain the ingredients Rice Hulls or Soy
Hulls?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

14.  Does your feed formula contain "added" Active ingredients of
Rumensin, Monensin, or Lasalacid?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

15.  Is there more than one ingredient listed with the word "oxide"
in its name?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

16.  Is there more than two ingredients listed with the word
"chloride" in its name?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

17.  Is added "Manganese" ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

18.  Is added "Selenium" (Sodium Selenite) ABSENT from your feed
formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

19.  Is added "Choline Chloride" ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

20.  Is the added Vitamin A content of your finished feed "less
than/greater than" a range of 8,000-20,000 iu's/lb (or 17,600-44,000
iu's/kg)?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

21.  Is the added Vitamin D content of your finished feed "less
than/greater than" a range of 2,000-6,000 iu's/lb (or 4,400- 13,200
iu's/kg)?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

22.  Is the added Vitamin E content of your finished feed "less
than/greater than" a range of 100-300 iu's/lb (or 220-660 iu's/kg)?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

23.  Is the added Selenium content of your finished feed "less
than/greater than" a range of 0.1-0.3 ppm or mg/kg?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

24.  Is added Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12 ABSENT from your feed
formula?     Yes___No___Don't Know___

25.  Is added Thiamine and Niacin ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

26.  Is added Biotin and Riboflavin ABSENT from your feed formula?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

27.  Is the average Calcium content in your finished feed "less
than/greater than" a range of 1.5% - 2.0%?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

28.  Is the average Total Phosphorus in your finished feed "less
than/greater than" a range of 0.85% - 1.0%?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

29.  Calculate the Calcium to Phosphorus Ratio (divide average
calcium percent in finished feed by the Total Phosphorus percent
in the finished feed).
Is the Cal/Phos ratio "less than/greater than" a range of 1.5
to 1 - 2.0 to 1?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

30.  Is the added Salt content in your finished feed formula "less
than/greater than" a range of 0.35% - 0.65%?
Yes___No___Don't Know___

There you have it!  Already 30 questions and we have only lightly
covered the BASICS of good performance feed ingredients and certainly
NOT all of them.  It would take at least another 100 questions to
do a thorough job of finding the true feed performance value, but
this should be enough to help identify if your feed formula is on
track or not.

SCORING: Each question has a value of 5 points for "NO" answers only.
"YES" answers and "Don't Know" answers count 0 points.

YOUR NUTRITIONAL RATING:

150 = EXCELLENT POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE VALUE
130-145 = GOOD POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE VALUE
110-125 = FAIR POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE VALUE
90-105 = NOT-SO-GOOD POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE VALUE
Below 90 = NO POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE VALUE

The number of questions you answered with "Don't Know" is a
tell-tale clue as to how well you know your feed and whether it is
capable of meeting your performance expectations or not.

The more questions you "Don't Know" about your feed, the more likely
it is not a performance feed.

YOUR "DON'T KNOW" RATING:

Number of questions answered with "Don't Know":

0 = You definitely know your feed very well.
1 - 2 = Understandable, but you should try to find answers soon!
3 - 5 = Start searching for answers immediately and verify accuracy!
6 - 10 = Knowledge about your feed is seriously lacking!
Over 10 = Your performance feeding program is NOT in your
knowledgeable control and may not even exist!

Keep this Bulletin and your scoring as we will be using it again for
FINAL scoring!

‘Til Next Time

--------
Daryl Holle is a Ratite nutrition consultant for Blue Mountain
Feeds, Inc. and you can contact him by email at
ostfeed@rmi.net

Daryl has written an excellent Ratite Feed Book which is available for
purchase from our internet site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/reference/ratitefeedbook.html

and you may purchase Blue Mountain and GoldRush feeds from our
Internet site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/feed/feedindex.html

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Developing a Market

The Ostrich Industry is in a difficult situation right now.
Farmers feel that they have to keep their birds as cheaply as
possible until the market is developed.  No market can be developed
until you have a product that is marketable.

There is this belief that so long as it is Ostrich the product must
be right.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

No industry sells a product successfully unless they know their
product, research their product and work on manufacturing techniques
to ensure the product is right before they try to market that
product.  If the product is not right the company does not
succeed.  Ostrich Meat is proving to be NO different.

In the case of Ostrich Meat production - the manufacturing
techniques are the feed and feed management as well as the
processing by the abattoir and meat processor.

No matter how well the birds are processed the processor cannot make
a bad product into a good product.  No one can blame the processor
for downgrading birds when they are presented with an inferior
product no matter how much that bird has cost  to produce.

To date the market has been presented with inferior quality and
variable quality meat.  Too many consumers having tried it once,
been disappointed after all the hype are going to have to take three
times the effort to get them to buy it a second and repeat times.

We are all used to eating Beef - now and again we get a particularly
bad piece.  We are not put off, because we know that this was just
one bad piece and the next time it will probably be OK.

While developing the Ostrich Meat market we cannot afford ANY poor
tasting meat because the chances are that the consumer eating that
piece of meat will be eating it for the first time.

We have potentially the BEST red meat possible.  It is tender, good
tasting, low in fat and RED.  It can be eaten by people banned from
other red meats.

To develop the market it HAS to be perfect EVERY the time.

So what makes good quality meat.  The faster meat muscles grow, the
more tender and tasty it will be.  That is the goal for quality meat
production. Slow growing muscles usually indicate a poor nutritional
program and will result in tougher meat with odd tastes.

To grow muscles fast with a consistent taste, the nutritional
program MUST be geared to that endeavour. High levels of trace
minerals and vitamins help utilise the protein, fibre and energy in
the ration to do just that.

Historically this industry has been geared to skin and feather
production, slow growth rates to produce a 95-100 kg slaughter bird
at 14mths.

Survivability was poor.  Any feed company now managing to come up
with a formulation that keeps the birds alive is considered
successful.  Growth rates generally are still too slow for meat
quality.

The Ostrich is unique - it can survive in environments where no
other species will survive.  It simply goes into survival mode at
the cost of muscle development.  Meat production is not about
survival it is about fast growth - the target should be 95 kgs
at 7 mths and 120+kgs at 10 and  130+ at 12mths.

This is achieved by using a well balanced feed formula made with
ingredients from good sources that does NOT push chicks to
grow - rather it allows them to grow at their true genetic
potential.

Keeping out competition to protect a home market is NOT the answer
to developing a market.  The answer is to produce a Quality product
that the consumers will want to keep buying.

Good Nutrition is the Path to Profitability

Fiona Benson lives in Cape Town and is a Ratite nutrition consultant
for Blue Mountain Feeds, Inc. You can contact her by email at
fiona@blue-mountain.net
Please note the new email address.

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See you at OstrichFest 1998

Ostriches On Line will be at Tulsa in booth 306 and 308.

Dates for the convention are

29 October 1998 - 1 November 1998

We have added full details and a booking form on our Internet
site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/aoa/98ostrichfestindex.html

Please mark your calender now and we look forward to seeing
you in Tulsa!

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Free Egg competition

Enter our Competition - a chance to win a superb decorated
egg ......  AND IT'S FREE

The winner will be announced in our November newsletter.

Even if you have already entered during a previous month, you may
enter again at:

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/general/freecompetition.html

This gorgeous egg has been hand carved and decorated by our good
friend Tom Yanez from the Creative Side and we encourage every one
to enter.

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In future issues

Our next newsletter should be available within 21 days or so
and will feature information on new decorated eggs and other
products on our Internet site.

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Unsubscribing

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To unsubscribe, please review the full instructions on the Internet
site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/general/unsubscribe.html

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Don't just do something, sit there

We can't be everywhere - although we would like to be, and it would
be great to hear some news and views from your part of the world. It
doesn't take much, and you don't have to send something every
week - just an article or item that is topical and informative, a
chance to get your name and company printed (for free) and a
view from your part of the world.

This newsletter now goes out to 136 countries on every continent
and there is no deadline - just send us an email with your
contribution that you want to include and we will take care of the
rest.

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This material is copyright Ostriches On Line 12 October 1998

No part may be reproduced, copied or otherwise used without the
express written permission of Ostriches On Line.

All views and opinions in this newsletter are ours unless it
was a contributed article.

Ostriches On Line are responsible for all material contained herein.

You can receive this newsletter by First Class Airmail. To subscribe
to the printed version please visit our Internet site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/general/newsletter.html

The ISSN Number of the Ostriches On Line newsletter is 1520-8052

Thank you for choosing and visiting Ostriches On Line

Steve Warrington
================
Ostriches On Line - The World's Largest International Ostrich Company

119 N 10th Ave     Melrose Park    IL   USA     60160         E&OE

Tel +1 708 345 7989   Fax +1 708 345 8584

Member: Melrose Park Chamber of Commerce

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steve@ostrich.com