How many people know what an emu is? Well the animal dictionary says that they’re the second largest, flightless birds in the world. They can weigh from 80-130 pounds and can run at a speed of 30 mph. They stand at a height of 5 to 6 feet. The male emu, which is smaller than the female, incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks. They have coarse brown plumage, small rudimentary wings, short feathers on the head and neck, and powerful legs that are used for running and kicking. The female has a pouch on its windpipe that enables her to create a loud booming noise.
The Berra’s Paint and Quarter Horse Farm is home to two of these large birds. The farm is also home to Katie Huffman and her family, who have had the emus since she was in 2nd grade. The family has had eight emus over the years, but has sold four of them and butchered two for the meat. Katie’s family butchers them for their red meat, which she says tastes like beef, but has no fat. They also butcher them for their eggs, which they eat, feathers, and hide. They now have 1 pair of emus, a male and a female. They get fed a mixture of ground up oats and corn, and drink water and they sometimes eat grass.
The farm is made up of eighty acres, and is also home to about 40 Paint and Quarter horses, however they are kept separate from the emus. The family sells hay, straw, and they also board a few horses for other people. Katie’s horses name is Jesse and she also has a Border Collie named Cubby. They have two colts so far this year and eight more on the way. Katie is in 4-H, and shows horses at horse shows. She has many responsibilities around the farm such as helping unload hay wagons, riding the 2 and 3-year-old colts, feeding the horses, and cleaning stalls and the barn.
The emu is native to Australia and were once a favored food of the Aboriginal people, who would catch their prey by drugging them with plants that they put into the watering holes or attracting them by imitating their calls. The preferred habitats are a wide range of places including deserts, dense coastal scrublands, eucalypt woodlands, and forests. The emus of the wild dine on native fruits, vegetation, and ground-dwelling insects. Adult birds are usually found in pairs or parties are highly nomadic. In the breeding season they move into areas of recent large rains. The emu can use it’s large legs to swim across wide streams and rivers to get to grasslands.
