If you are of a certain age, your first sight of the fabulous feathered creatures that are ostriches may well have been from a book or of the glamorous Octavia in Pipkin. All big eyelashes, big feathers and big necks.

Although certainly fascinating to look at, ostriches are the last birds you expect to see romping around the fields of damp old Scotland. They live in Africa don't they? They like hot climates, sandy environments and wide open plains...er....don't they?

Well, it seems that the giant birds are just as happy running around the 'wide open plains' of Clydesdale or, in really bad weather, the specially built pens and sheds of a Braidwood smallholding owned by Tom and Eileen Gibson.

With the capacity for up to 80 young chicks at any one time, the Gibson's ostrich farm buys in eggs, incubates them and then rears the young animals. They are then taken to the abattoir which specialises solely in the slaughter of ostriches.

She said: "We get the meat back to sell to various outlets including the Hamilton Farmers' Market and we sell the hides to the abattoir who sell it on as leather."

Since selling the steaks, burgers, mince and other cuts at the Hamilton Farmers' Market their produce is fast becoming a family favourite.

She said: "The Farmers' Market has helped tremendously. We have a lot of regular customers who come back every month to stock up. I think the meat is so popular because it is so versatile and it tastes really good. ItÕs a bit like beef, but is very low fat and low in cholesterol.

"The market has opened up a whole new customer base for us. We already sold to local restaurants, but the market means more people are being exposed to our product. The first market we attended, we sold out of all our stock by lunchtime."

Apart from selling the meat and leather, enterprising Eileen also produces beautiful hand crafted ornaments from the ostrich eggs which she sells at the Hamilton Craft Fayres.

"There is little market for the eggs as food, so I create caskets, clocks and other ornaments from the blown eggs which I sell at the Craft Fayres. IÕve been doing that for around two years now and they sell very well."

So how did a former head teacher of a Coatbridge primary school end up rearing ostriches and selling decorated eggs?

"I had been head teacher for 11 years and I decided it was time to try something new. My husband and I had heard about ostrich farming and decided to look into it, " said Eileen.

The couple then went on specialist training courses before taking delivery of their first birds and the business grew from there.

Now Eileen has an additional role. She's part of what she terms "a very loose gathering" of local farmers who are keen to increase the number of Farmers' Markets in South Lanarkshire and become an organised trading group.

She said: "Along with South Lanarkshire's Town Centre Manger, David Evans, myself and some other regular market stallholders are trying to build on the success of the Hamilton Farmers' Market and develop our own website to share information. We've been linking in with the Scottish Association of Farmers' Markets and we hope to have our site up and running within the next couple of months."

Hamilton Farmers' Market takes place on the third Saturday of every month at Townhead Street, Hamilton from 9am until 2pm. The Craft Fayres take place in Hamilton Town Square between 11.30am and 4pm on the following Saturdays: May 26, 2001, June 30, 2001, August 25, 2001, September 29, 2001, November 24, 2001.

Business South Lanarkshire - Spring 2001

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