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Flocking to High Quality Products

An interview with the owners of Montana Emu Ranch

Penni, Don, what an incredible operation you have at Montana Emu Ranch. My guess is that not many people know too much about these beautiful birds. Can you tell us a little bit about what makes them special?  

Having been carbon dated back as far as 80,000,000 years ago, emus are basically unchanged.  Because of this they are very adaptable to most environments which make them compatible with our Montana weather and environment. They are also very prolific, producing on average 30 offspring annually per breeder pair. A good pair of breeder birds can be productive for 20 plus years and their lifespan can go for up to 35 years.

Emu oil has endless benefits in terms of skincare it seems. Can you share how you first learned about emu oil and describe how it can help people?

Emu oil is an ancient remedy that has been used by the aborigines of Australia for eons. The emu is to the aborigines as the bison is to Native Americans. The emu is a source of protein, bones for tools, hides for clothing and shelter, oil for skincare and wound care. Because emu oil is composed mostly of unsaturated fat—which include 5 Omega oils—it brings balance to the skin. This function has many health benefits. Emu oil is also a very effective anti-aging ingredient that can reduce wrinkles and effectively decrease the signs of aging. Emu oil is also very beneficial in treating a variety of skin disorders.

The process sounds tricky, timely, and specific. Can you tell us about how you harvest this oil and how you keep the birds’ well-being first and foremost? 

Our birds always have clean shelters with fresh bedding, fresh well water, and free choice feeds.  They are raised in large pens and shelters that are adequate to house the number of birds we allow in any given pen. Emus are raised as agricultural animals. Hatching takes place in late winter and throughout the spring months. By June 1, June hatching is complete for the year. Birds 16 to 18 months old are processed humanely at a local Montana State Inspected facility. Western MT Growers Co-op, located in Missoula, distributes the meats throughout Western Montana. Bones and organ meats are sold as pet food to raw dog feeders. The fat of the birds is frozen and then shipped to a facility that will render it down in to crude oil, then take it trough a refining process which will make it into a very stable oil that is used in personal care products as well as supplements for internal use.

They say it takes a village and as a business owner I'm sure you know all about that. Tell us about how you work with other local companies and local talent to produce your goods.

We do much of this business out of our own facility in that we produce and raise the emu. We have our own FDA regulated facility that operates under GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards to produce our personal care as well as pet and livestock products. We have an outside facility located in Kalispell that produces our nutritional supplements. CHS in Great Falls mills the emu feed of which we purchase 24 tons at a time, in bulk. Nationally, we have a broker network that works to maintain distribution in retail outlets as well as introduce new items and train staff to the advantages of using Montana Emu Ranch Products.

If someone goes to your website to learn about your products, they'll learn that the fat from which you make oil is rated in the top 2% of the country. Can you share how you maintain such a quality product? If it relates, can you also describe what it takes for the oil to be 100% refined?

A couple reasons our emu fat is ranked so high has to do with feeding a well balanced and nutritional diet along with clean, deep well water. This keeps the Omega oils in proper balance and takes minimal refining as the fat is basically toxin free. No added hormones or antibiotics are used in the feed program. Our birds are high yielding due to a low stress environment and quality feeds. The refining process uses low heat. Mainly, it is the filtering process that cleans up the fat and removes any impurities and/or free fatty acids (proteins) that would shorten shelf life and make the oil unstable. We end up with a very active yet odor free oil that is then combined with mostly plant oils to produce a very high quality, all natural line of skincare products. Montana Emu Ranch products are marked under a couple brand names including Emutrients (for our skincare and supplements) and EMUgency/EMU Plus (for our specialty products for pain management and wound care).  We are also introducing a line of CBD products under the EMU Plus logo.

With any business it's important to recognize hardships as well as successes. Can you share a notable hardship in recent memory and perhaps a notable success that brings a smile to your faces?  

Our greatest success is helping people by bringing them quality products. We hear from them daily and they thank us for doing what we do. As far as difficulties, this last year has been a test. Although store business is down slightly, our internet sales have climbed significantly as people tend to do more shopping from home.

Lastly, since it's so important to have a genuine love for these creatures, what is the best part of caring for these emus on a daily basis for both of you?  

As I said above, keep them in a clean and stress-free environment with free choice feeds and fresh clean water. Emus are not pets, they have a purpose. The better they are taken care of, the better product we can produce. As they say, “Garbage in, Garbage out”. A product can only be as good as the raw ingredients that are used to make it. This goes for our feed program as well as all the ingredients that go into our products.

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