I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Aug. 2, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
It is a flightless, native Australian bird. It was classified by the state of Minnesota two years ago as an alternative livestock. It is considered a gourmet meal; its body oil is claimed to be medicinal; and its leather is considered to be trendy. It is the emu and several are on display at this year's annual Beltrami County Fair.
Two of the birds are owned by Northland Emu, a breeding farm located 2 1/2 miles south of Debs, and the other two birds are owned by 16-year-old Jeremy Van Wert of Solway, who was given the birds by Northland Emu.
Van Wert is a participant in the Student Training Education Program sponsored by the American Emu Association, which allowed him to work with Northland Emu for about a year so that he could earn his own pair of emu.
Over a 10-month training period, Van Wert visited the emu farm almost weekly helping to care for the birds in all aspects such as feeding and handling. After the trial period, he needed to pass a written exam demonstrating he had the knowledge to care for a pair of emu on his own. He passed the exam and was awarded two emu chicks from Opal Saddoris, owner and operator of Northland Emu.
Saddoris will remain a sponsor of Van Wert in the STEP program for two more years, being there to answer questions he may have about raising the birds.
The four emu at the fair will be calling the southeast corner of the sheep barn home through Sunday, and Van Wert even entered his into a new alternative livestock judging class sponsored by Beltrami County 4-H. The new category came about largely because of Van Wert and Saddoris' efforts. Saddoris said emu, ostriches and llamas are all examples of alternative livestock that could be shown in the class.
Van Wert, an eight-year 4-H veteran, took over ownership of the birds July 13. His mother said the birds have fit in well with their assortment of animals, such as a pot-bellied pig, a duck and goats, and she has grown attached to the birds, also.
"I thought it would be something interesting to try," Van Wert said. "And once I started learning about them, I just got fascinated."
Saddoris said Northland Emu and Van Wert are the only two breeders in Beltrami County, but there are other breeders in Fosston, Gonvick, Nevis and Grand Rapids. She estimated there are about 15 breeders in northern Minnesota and about 75 breeders that are registered with the Minnesota chapter of the American Emu Association.
The emu is a low-maintenance form of livestock, Saddoris said. That is why she thinks they are quickly becoming popular. She and her husband both have 40-hour-a-week jobs and still have time to take care of their five breeding pairs of emu and their eggs.
The emu is being bred for a variety of reasons including the meat, which is 97 percent fat free, but is still considered a gourmet meat. However, according to an American Emu Association pamphlet, there might come a day when the meat will be more practical than breeding cattle because emu operations do not require as much land; the annual overhead is lower; emu adapt to hot and cold temperatures easier; emu eat simple, inexpensive diets; and emu are more environmentally friendly than cattle.
However, Van Wert's birds will not be grown for slaughter. He said he plans for them to become a breeding pair, and seeing the way he and his mother fuss over them, they probably could not kill them anyway.
"There's something about emu that you can't explain," said Jeremy's mother, Pam Abels-Van Wert. "I think it's great."
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