RIRDC - Research Compendium 1993

Rural Industries
Research & Development Corporation

Research Compendium 1993 - 1994

Research Project

EMU PROCESSING AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Objectives

To eliminate skin and meat stress damage during the transport of emus.
To evaluate emu meat and leather products.
To determine the effect of dietary energy on growth and fatness of emus.
To reduce slaughter costs in the area of defeathering and skinning.

Background

Emus are being farmed throughout Australia. Commercial slaughter commenced in Western Australia in 1991 and is expected to commence in all other States by the end of 1995. It is estimated that an annual slaughter of over 125,000 birds is possible within three years.

Processing product development and marketing remain the major problems for the industry, particularly considering the need to increase slaughtering and product sales from 6000 birds slaughtered during 1993 to the possible 125,000 by 1997.

Research

Trail slaughtering has been conducted to assess transport requirements, improve feather removal, determine the effect of electrical stimulation on meat quality and determine the shelf life of emu meat.

Skin quality, growth, food consumption and welfare of emus toe trimmed at day old has, been determined.

The emu's response to dietary energy has been determined.

Outcome

Information on transport requirements, slaughter technique and product quality has been collected. A :"Manual of Approved Emu Cuts and Items" and video tape of slaughter and cuts preparation is available. An emu meat poster and recipe leaflet was also prepared.

Toe trimming at day old dramatically improved the quality of skins taken from emus. While toe clipped chicks took longer to commence feeding growth was not affected beyond 3 weeks of age and there was a tendency for toe clipped birds to eat less.

There was no response to dietary energy levels (based on poultry values) above 10.5 MJ per kilogram of feed until the birds reached their fattening phase at 50 weeks of age when birds feed the high energy diets finished at an earlier age saving $10-15 in feed cost.

Implications

Emu meat can be handled similarly to all other meats and could be expected to find a market as a high protein, low fat gourmet meat. The cuts manual has been approved by AQIS and adopted as the industry-endorsed trading manual.

While tow clipping at day old dramatically reduced skin damage with no apparent detrimental impact on bird growth and welfare it has welfare agency implications which are get to be addressed by the industry. Work in this area is continuing.

This research demonstrates that the best feeding option for emus is to feed compete, finely milled diets, formulated to achieve the least cost per unit of dietary energy, to 50 weeks of age and then fatten birds for slaughter quickly by feeding fat supplemented high energy diets.

RIRDC Project No: DAW-34A

RESEARCHERS: Paul Frapple, Peter O'Malley

ORGANISATION: WA Department of Agriculture

3 Baron Hay Court

SOUTH PERTH WA 6151

PHONE: 09 368 3333

FAX: 09 474 2479

PUBLICATIONS:

WA Dept of Agriculture. Emu Farming Background Information. Department of Agriculture Western Australia Miscellaneous Publication No 12/94