April 5, 2006
Bulletin #101

Table of contents:

Bulletin #101

"Understanding the Productive Value of Alfalfa (Lucerne)"

By: Fiona Benson, Blue Mountain International
By: Daryl Holle, Blue Mountain Feeds

Guidelines to Valuing Ostrich

"A Guide to Valuing Ostrich"

A Publication of the World Ostrich Association

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Bulletin #101

Understanding the Productive Value of Alfalfa (Lucerne)

Key factors to the success of any commercial livestock production are the ability to accurately determine the productive value of your livestock and the productive value of the inputs.

Working with producers from many countries, the limiting factor all too frequently comes down to the ability to obtain Alfalfa of the right quality. This is having a serious impact on the commercial viability of ostrich production and the ability to achieve the production benchmark targets recently published.

Personally I stopped actively producing ostrich until I was in a position to control my own Alfalfa production. At the time I had to depend on purchasing Alfalfa in a market where supply and demand was the only criteria that set the prices, price was not related to quality at all. I could see the difference in bird performance from one batch of Alfalfa to the other. When the Alfalfa is below a certain quality it does not feed well and it is not possible to reformulate to make up for those lost nutrients without putting other aspects of the ration out of balance, with the resulting loss of performance.

When I was living in Spain, I walked a number of fields in the alfalfa producing regions and talked to the dehydrating plants that export to a number of countries. They admitted to having difficulty achieving high standards. A major ostrich producing country told me that they could not grow alfalfa as it took too much water. The evidence points to the fact that very few understand how to quantify the productive value of Alfalfa in livestock nutrition and therefore establish a price differential when purchasing or its value by comparison to other crops.

In the United States Alfalfa is the 3rd most valuable crop behind Maize and Soybean, the other two major ingredients for productive livestock rations, including Ostrich.

Blue Mountain has brought together published articles and papers written by a number of different authors to illustrate the important contribution of quality alfalfa in commercial livestock profitability. The document covers:

· Why Quality Alfalfa is important in Livestock Production
· Why Quality Alfalfa is important in Ostrich Production
· Defines Quality Alfalfa
· Explains how to calculate the productive value of Alfalfa
· Identifies the positive environmental contribution of Alfalfa, including return on water consumption
· Describe how to take Accurate Samples
· Explain how to understand lab tests
· Identifies the economic value of Alfalfa

The Blue Mountain Alfalfa Guide can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:

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Guidelines to Valuing Ostrich

A Guide to Valuing Ostrich

The threat of compulsory slaughter as a result of ostrich farmed within the control ring of infected premises has resulted in governments and producers seeking guidance on how to value ostrich should compensation become payable. It is also an extremely important subject when purchasing new breeders and establishing a commercial price.

A strong commercial environment and good farm records are required to support the establishment of market value. The only method currently used for valuing Ostrich is the “WPWP” system (“What People are Willing to Pay”). Anyone who has owned ostrich in a country after their breeder market has collapsed will have experienced prices that were several thousand dollars or even 10s of thousands of Dollars and finally having difficulty giving their birds away.

Avian Influenza and other diseases are real threats to livestock production, with the current threats emphasizing the need to put our industry onto a proper commercial footing as quickly as we can and with excellent channels of communication throughout the industry.

The Bird Valuation document has been published by the World Ostrich Association (WOA) and is available free to members. There is a small charge of £12.50 to non-members. You can join the WOA for a membership fee of US$100 per annum by clicking on the following link:

Other documents published by the WOA to support the industry development are:

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Blue Mountain Ostrich Nutrition E-Bulletin ©April 2006