The Reasons You Should Begin Now In Raising Your Very Own Ostrich

Ostrich farming 1st became into being because of an expedition to find ostriches to exploit their feathers. These types of wild ostriches were captured in the East of Africa and moved to S. africa to be trained and farmed. This occurred in the early 18th Century.

Farmers uncovered by grouping ostriches, they can get the feathers more often. The first exports of ostrich feathers took place in 1838 but it was not until 1863 that ostrich farming became a reality.

Around the same time, the farming development of producing lucerne through irrigation permitted the necessary feed for the farmers. This enabled a rather dry area such as Oudtshoorn the opportunity of being self sufficient for ostrich feed, and certainly assisted the development of the livestock farming industry in that area.

Such was the nice income from feathers, by 1913 feathers had become the fourth largest revenue earner for South Africa, behind gold, diamonds and wool. It was from such income that the owners constructed their impressive homes known as feather palaces, bringing in building materials and decor from abroad at exuberant costs. Quality was the order of the day as each feather palace attempted to outdo its neighbor in style and elegance.

It was then the fashion industry that was the key factor for the progress of the feather market, but as fashions come and go, so did the desire for the ostrich feather. Hats that decorated ostrich feathers no much longer became practical. It was difficult to keep such a hat on a motor car, the new transportation method to come out during the 20th Century. As the men folks went to war, females also had to take on the role of manual labor, and practical clothing became a necessity. Items considered superfluous such as feather hats went out of style. Therefore the great collapse in desire for ostrich feathers led to the death of the ostrich farming industry.

It had been only after the world wars, that the ostrich raising group started out to look into the ostrich leather industry. First transferring their skins to London, UK to get tanned, and then later on, adding the knowledge to suntan themselves, ostrich leather was marketed as a luxury product. Stuff such as handbags were made from ostrich leather using its distinctive follicle pattern so that it is an unique leather, easily identifiable and both strong and pliable. Fashion houses indexed on the trend and launched ostrich leather items in their collections as expensive items.


 

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