My Aunt and Uncle attempted to farm Emu and Ostrich starting in ~1994 when it was “about to boom” and spent their life savings on property in rural TX to start an Emu farm with the idea that Emu oil was going to be the next big thing.
Obviously it didn’t work out and within only a few years they switched to cattle and Bison (I bought a bison that lived out its days on the ranch till it died).
I think the bottom just fell out of the Emu market, and so it was a long shot bet on commercial alternatives that consumers just didn’t buy into.
If you look at the map on the page, there’s a little dot in Texas with ostrich right near their old farm in New Ulm. I didn’t realize it was so localized!
Knowing what I know now, they were most likely caught up in what was the ag equivalent of crypto - “hopes of getting in early on a huge future market”
Seems to be a common way to lose one’s life savings
Note: Bison and Ostrich are effectively impossible to farm - the complications costs and infrastructure are just too high cause they are really hard to manage and quite dangerous