For Kentuckians allergic to beef, a new ostrich farm is ‘rethinking’ red meat

A lifelong cattleman and animal nutrition expert, Brent Williams had spent decades around livestock. Beef wasn’t just a part of his diet; it was a part of his identity.

“My nickname since fifth grade has been Beef,” he said. “Beef has been part of my life, both personally and professionally, since I can remember.”

But about seven years ago, Williams began experiencing unexplained symptoms after meals that seemed to linger for months. Hives would break out all over his body. A doctor told him to start carrying epinephrine shots everywhere he goes.

After eight months of searching for answers, he finally learned the cause of his health problems: a tick bite.

In 2019, Williams joined the nearly 20,000 Americans who are diagnosed every year with Alpha-Gal Syndrome, a condition linked to bites from the Lone Star tick that causes an allergy to a sugar molecule found in mammals. For many patients, that renders beef, pork, lamb and other red meats strictly off-limits immediately. In severe cases, anaphylactic reactions can be life-threatening.

For Williams, the diagnosis posed a deep, personal challenge. The animal products he had spent his career producing had turned against him. They were making him sick.

But with the help of his friends and business partners, they have turned that challenge into a new agricultural venture unique to the Bluegrass State. Williams, his wife Kandi, his friend and partner W.D. King and wife Morgan Hayes are betting big on ostriches.

At Alpha Roost Farms, the first meat-producing ostrich ranch in Kentucky, the four cattle-to-ostrich handlers are hoping the world’s largest bird can fill a growing niche created by the rapidly expanding tick-borne illness. Their answer to the red-meat allergy epidemic isn’t plant-based burgers or laboratory-grown proteins. It’s ostrich.

Raised on Kentucky pastures, just west of Danville, the birds produce dark red meat that looks and cooks much like beef but is safe for many people with AGS because ostriches are birds, not mammals.

“For somebody with Alpha-Gal Syndrome, ostrich is the closest flavor and mouth profile to beef,” Brent Williams said.

After five years living with the illness, “there’s only so many ways you can cook chicken and turkey and fish,” Williams told the Herald-Leader. For a cattleman by trade who still makes a living through beef nutrition, “you start to really miss that taste of beef,” he said.

The two families, who launched their new farm last year, are building a following centered on producing an allergen-friendly alternative they hope will appeal to AGS-sufferers and adventurous Kentucky foodies alike.

King and his wife Hayes, a doctorate-level agricultural engineer, entered the picture in 2022 when King was laid off from Alltech in Lexington. Brent sold King, who also raised animals for food, his feed. The two got to talking, and Brent asked King what his future plans were.

“I joked, ‘Hell, I’ll just start raising ostriches, because it’s halfway between a chicken and a cow,’” King said. “Brent said, ‘Are you serious? If so, I’m all in.’”

“We’re rethinking red meat,” said King. “I’ve been around chickens — all kinds of birds — my whole life. Since I was a kid, I’ve raised birds. And so you think, ‘Oh, it’s just another animal,’ but when you’ve got a 9-foot chicken looking at you, it’s a different story.”

Adult ostriches feature long, feathery necks with powerful legs and curious personalities. Behind their novelty appearance lies a carefully managed livestock operation both families are firmly committed to. Every bird is sourced sustainably and enters their emerging breeding program on open acreage in Central Kentucky.

The resulting meat surprises many consumers.

Despite coming from a bird, ostrich resembles lean beef more than chicken. It is dark red, high in protein and notably low in fat. Producers often describe it as having the flavor and texture of beef while retaining a nutritional profile associated with poultry.

It’s still challenging to make that distinction for everyone.

Until recently, Alpha Roost hauled its birds hundreds of miles to Pennsylvania for processing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates ostriches and emu under the Poultry Products Inspection Act, which is different from Federal Meat Inspection Act most independent Kentucky meat processors abide by.

“Ostrich is a very interesting product, because it comes in as a bird and leaves as a red meat,” said Hayes. “USDA has to inspect the live animal with a poultry background, and then the meat gets inspected as though it’s a red meat.”

Alpha-Gal becoming more common in Kentucky

This month, Alpha Roost launched an online store to deliver ostrich meat across most of the eastern U.S. It’s an important milestone for the growing company that has faced raised eyebrows from some in the culinary community since launching.

Yet, King says ostrich farming is starting to become more popular. It reflects a growing reality across Kentucky and much of the South as nearly a half-million Americans are reporting red meat allergies as a result of tick bites.

Kentucky ranks among the states with the highest number of Alpha-Gal Syndrome cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Lone Star tick’s range has expanded dramatically in recent years. Patients often describe years of confusion before receiving a diagnosis, as symptoms can emerge hours after eating mammalian meat and vary widely from person to person.

Climate scientists and public-health researchers have warned that warming temperatures are contributing to expanding tick habitats in many regions. As encounters with ticks increase, so too do concerns about diseases and conditions they carry, including AGS.

The allergy is triggered by galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose — commonly shortened to Alpha-Gal — a sugar molecule found in mammals but absent in birds. That means patients who can no longer eat beef or pork may still be able to consume poultry products, including ostrich.

Humans, monkeys and apes don’t naturally have Alpha-Gal proteins in their bodies, said Dr. Matthew Wilson, the primary doctor and founder of Tri-State Allergy in Ashland and Huntington, West Virginia. Almost all other mammals do, so when they’re absorbed into human tissue, the immune system sees them as foreign objects.

By eating red meat, humans develop what Wilson called “good antibodies” that allow us to tolerate Alpha-Gal molecules.

“These ticks are reprogramming our immune systems and making us produce bad antibodies,” he said. “It reverts us back into an allergic state.”

Many newly diagnosed patients describe feeling overwhelmed. Some must relearn how to grocery shop. Others discover that ingredients derived from mammals can be hidden in everything from gelatin capsules to processed foods. The condition can alter family traditions, holiday meals and social gatherings built around food.

Williams, it turns out, is extremely reactive to red meat. Even smelling cooked beef is enough to cause symptoms, and he’s developed lactose intolerance, too.

“I am very, very strict in my diet,” he said. “I take very little risk, because I was so sick for so long. I vividly remember how it feels, and I don’t want to do that again. I’m highly sensitive and highly strict.”

Across the country, ostrich producers report hearing regularly from customers who have recently been diagnosed with AGS and are searching for alternatives. What was once a niche livestock industry is increasingly intersecting with a growing public-health issue.

The trend also highlights a broader shift occurring in rural America.

“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t see a newly diagnosed Alpha-Gal patient,” Wilson said. “It’s unbelievably common.”

Because it’s becoming so frequent, Wilson said people shouldn’t assume they’re free of Alpha-Gal symptoms just because of what the tick that bit them looks like. Virtually any tick could be harboring the ability to reprogram your immune system, so people should focus on preventing the bites. He said he recommends treating clothing with synthetic insecticides containing permethrin and covering the skin with DEET before going outdoors in the spring, summer and fall.

Those who develop symptoms shouldn’t consider it a life sentence, Wilson said. Contrary to popular belief, most people can eventually begin reintroducing red meat into their diet as long as they aren’t re-exposed to a tick bite. The reason many people believe that Alpha-Gal sticks around for life is that repeat exposure essentially resets the clock, he said. It can be difficult to completely go Alpha-Gal free.

Alpha Roost hopes it can help Kentuckians and others get through Alpha-Gal without making sacrifices: a little taste of normalcy.

Austin R. Ramsey

Lexington Herald-Leader

Austin R. Ramsey covers Kentucky’s eastern Appalachian region and environmental stories across the commonwealth. A native Kentuckian, he has had stints as a local government reporter in the state’s western coalfields and a regulatory reporter in Washington, D.C. He is most at home outdoors.