Ostrich: the new red meat

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — "Ostriches represent a red meat that is far superior to anything you can buy," says owner of American Ostrich Farms Alexander McCoy.

"In a few years time, 2 years to 15 years, you're going to see ostrich everywhere, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

I spoke with the owner of American Ostrich Farms Alexander McCoy, who says he discovered ostrich meat while living in South Africa, training for Ironman.

"I got sick of eating chicken, chicken eggs, chicken breast. and i found ostrich, its 97 percent fat free, lower in cholesterol, higher in iron, extremely healthy for you but it tastes just like beef," says McCoy.

He says after trying ostrich, he learned the environmental impacts of raising the animals.

"It's so environmentally sustainable, it uses a third of the water, a fraction of the land and emits virtually no greenhouse gas emissions," McCoy says.

"So I couldn't get it in the u.s and so i took it upon myself to make it happen."

The Wood River Valley native gave me a full tour of his operations.

"We started aquiring ostriches from around the country," McCoy says. "Now we have the most varied genetics of any ostrich farm probably in the world, but certainly the United States."

McCoy raises raising the ostriches from egg to chick to adult, until they are ready to harvest for meat.

"As you can see from these guys they grow about a foot a month, so these guys are about 6 or 7 feet tall they are only 6 or 7 months old, they grow extremely quickly." says McCoy

He says along with raising these birds for meat, they also use almost every part of the animal to create other ostrich products.

"The bones, the necks the skin the feathers, we don't waste any part of this animal," McCoy says.

American Ostrich Farms is on 120 acres and right now they have about one thousand birds, and are looking to expand to 2,000 in the next few years.

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