Youngster's burgeoning ostrich farm inspires would-be breeders

While many of his peers have chosen careers that confine them to office buildings in big cities, 23-year-old Wu Jinbiao is constantly outdoors raising ostriches.

In Huichang county, Jiangxi province, Wu has turned what began with 50 birds in 2020 into a business involving 64 farming households and around 2,800 ostriches.

Born in 2003 and raised in the countryside, Wu graduated from a vocational school and worked as a guide at a local scenic area before setting his sights on ostrich farming.

During a work trip, he heard about someone raising ostriches and grew curious.

He visited the farmer and stayed for several days to learn the basics before deciding to venture into a career raising the world's largest flightless birds.

With limited startup capital, Wu believed it would be difficult for a young newcomer to compete in established livestock sectors such as cattle and poultry farming, which already had mature supply chains.

Ostrich farming, by contrast, offered him a relatively new field to explore. He started his ostrich-raising business in 2020.

But getting started proved difficult. Of the first 50 ostriches Wu bought, only about a dozen survived, he said. He knew little about vaccinations or feeding, and there was little local experience for him to draw from.

Quitting, however, never crossed his mind.

"I just kept thinking about how I could raise them better," he said.

For the first two or three years, Wu spent almost every day at the farm, gradually learning how to effectively raise the large birds.

As his operation grew and more farmers began joining him around 2022, however, another challenge emerged.

"The most difficult thing was sales," Wu said.

"When I was raising dozens or about 100 birds, I could sell them. But when the number grew to 500, then 1,000 and more than 2,000, sales became a problem."

Wu began attending training programs on catering, farm management and business models. He also tried different methods of finding customers, from promoting ostrich meat to restaurants to expanding sales online.

Although he had experimented with livestreaming earlier, Wu said he began operating his Douyin accounts more systematically in 2025, having learned how to use product links and conduct sales livestreams.

He now operates two accounts. On days when he livestreams, online sales can reach between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan ($139 to 278), mainly from ostrich meat and related products, he said.

As the business grew, farmers around him began taking notice.

In 2022, some villagers partnered with Wu to raise ostriches. One of the first earned between 20,000 and 30,000 yuan from the venture.

During Spring Festival the following year, the farmer came to Wu's home carrying gifts. Several other farmers also visited.

"They weren't relatives, but they still came to my home and brought something with them," Wu said.

"I felt happy. It gave me a sense of achievement."

The experience encouraged him to help more farmers join the business. Wu now supplies young birds, provides technical support and helps connect farmers with buyers. They generally make around 1,000 yuan in profit from each bird, although returns vary depending on how well the birds are raised, he added.

Wu's own role has evolved as a result. With seven employees handling work including feeding, livestreaming and deliveries, he now spends much of his time visiting farmers and helping them solve problems.

"If they have any problem and call me, I'll go," he said. "Even if they are 100 or 200 kilometers away, I'll go."

Yet Wu admits that his chosen career comes with trade-offs.

He sometimes envies former classmates working in cities. Some travel frequently as tour guides, while others have office jobs.

"They can dress cleanly every day," he said. "We work in farming and get dirty all the time. When we buy new clothes or shoes, we don't even want to wear them to work."

Rather than simply expanding his own farm, Wu now wants to make the business more refined and help develop a more standardized industry.

He said ostrich farming still lacks the mature systems found in conventional livestock sectors, including specialized feed and veterinary products as well as standardized approaches to processing, sales and pricing.

"There isn't really anything for us to copy or refer to," Wu said.

"We have to figure things out ourselves."

zhaoruinan@chinadaily.com.cn