OK Corral Ostrich Farm
Nation’s Largest Ostrich Farm in Oro Grande
Doug Osborne, owner of OK Corral, raises ostriches. And he loves it. It was a random career change from his days as a financial adviser and happened somewhat on a whim.
“I gave some to my mother as a present in 1991,” Osborne explains. “She had a little ranch in Covina, and when my sister got married, she took the horses with her. My mom had these empty corrals, so I had some ostriches shipped out from Texas.”
His mother woke up the next day to the birds. “She did real well with them,” he continues, “but then couldn’t continue.” He took over the ostriches after 20 years on Wall Street.
“Now that I’m sixty six,” he says, “It’s good to have a job that physical. Keeps you going.” His interesting job has landed him on a myriad magazine and newspaper covers, the J. Leno Show, Good Morning America, Modern Marvels: The Egg, Jim Hall’s You Oughta Know, and twice on Discovery’s Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe.
“That’s still a favorite,” says Osborne. “They still play that one.”
The ostriches are used for meat, jerky, feathers, eggs for food and art projects and more. “We use everything from the bones to the meat to the tendons,” he says. The eyeballs are used for opthomological research, he is delivering three skeletons to a museum in San Franciso, and ostrich bones are now a popular dog treat at upscale dog stores.
He sells a lot of the feathers to Renaissance Faire people. “We pick them up every day off the ground.” The hides are used for wallets and belts. Most of the meat is sold to Whole Food stores and Fuddruckers Restaurants.
The egg shells are worth more than the food part of the egg. People come to the farm to buy eggs, one of which will feed twelve people. “You can go to the Summit Inn and they’ll make you a big old ostrich egg omelet,” laughs Osborne. He teaches his customers how to not break the shell, and to use a straw to get the egg out. “We sell thousands of eggs every year.”
Osborne is now the only ostrich production farmer in the U.S. There are a few farms with a few hundred, and a few hundred that raise ten or twenty. Osborne raises a few thousand on two different properties and is by far the largest ostrich farm anywhere in the United States.
He used to have to compete with imports. The ostriches would be slaughtered in Africa, shipped to Australia for processing, and then imported into the U.S. The cheap labor and government subsidies made it tough to compete. Then the bird flu hit, and the chicken industry lobbied successfully for trade agreements. Osborne’s business rode in on the coattails of the new laws, which in the end, meant no more imported ostrich.
The impact on his business? “I tripled my prices, and now I’m making profits,” he says. “It’s been really nice.” Osborn says he lost a couple million getting in the game, so now he’s catching up.
So his random adventure is finally paying off, and Osborne loves what he does. “I’ll do anything for my birds,” he says.
ABOUT THE FARM
The OK Corral has not only ostriches, but emus, peacocks and two huge 200 lb dogs. The farm is open by appointment and is host to schools, tour buses, families, churches, home schools and more. “You name it, and they’ve been here,” says Osborne. “The animals stop what they are doing and come over to visit. There’s an 8 foot ostrich you can get your picture taken next to. It’s really fun. I built it for myself, and I hope everyone enjoys it.”
OSTRICH EGGS
Ostrich eggs start in April, and in May Osborne will start incubating 1000 eggs at a time. “We got 1700 babies on the ground last year,” he says. He’s been feeding them a more expensive feed this year but thinks it makes a big difference. “It’s the best money can buy, and the ostriches are responding.” The feed bill? $25,000 per month. He says, “It’s expensive to play in this game.”
OK CORRAL OSTRICH FARM
8308 East Puritan Street Oro Grande, CA 92368-9742
(760) 964-4233
http://www.unitedstatesostrich.com/
