Ostriches are farmed for meat, leather, and feathers across South Africa and globally. As the world's largest birds, they have extensive space requirements and social needs that intensive farming struggles to meet.
Ostriches in intensive farming systems face welfare challenges related to their evolutionary heritage as large, fast-moving birds adapted to open African savannas. Confinement in small paddocks prevents the sustained running behavior that ostriches are highly motivated to perform. Feather harvesting from live birds, common in the industry, involves restraint and plucking of growing feathers that are painful to remove. Slaughter of ostriches requires facilities designed for their powerful kicks and size; inadequate facilities result in injury to both animals and workers. Extensive farming systems that provide large enclosures, social groupings, and enrichment opportunities produce better welfare outcomes and are increasingly associated with premium product quality premiums.