Church: High Mound Baptist Church, Horton
Favorite Bible verse: “I like the whole book.”
Favorite hymn: “Amazing Grace”
Hobbies: Farming and growing produce
Family status: Married for 50 years to Ozyleah; two daughters; four grandchildren
Troy Halbrooks is someone you should know because he not only served as Blount Association’s moderator for a while, but he also has been raising emus for more than eight years.
Q: What did you do as associational moderator?
A: The moderator serves as the executive committee chairman throughout the year to moderate the four quarterly meetings and to take care of any business that we have.
Q: What did you gain from that role?
A: I enjoy the Lord’s work. In a leadership position you’ll gain friends and lose friends. From a spiritual standpoint, you have to take a stand for Scripture, and some people don’t like the principles of Scripture standards.
Q: Why do you raise emus?
A: For monetary reasons and because they have heart-healthy meat and the oil is valuable in medicines and cosmetics. It is a slowly growing market.
Q: What does this activity demand of you?
A: It’s not a hard task. The birds get up to about 120 pounds, so you have to have a good fence to keep them in. They are docile. Some of them you can pet.
Q: What do you get from raising emus?
A: I’m 73 and it keeps you busy and keeps you active especially when you start catching the birds.
Q: What sparked your interest and led you to begin raising emus?
A: I read an article in a magazine about emus, then visited a couple of farms and bought some birds.
Q: How do your family members support you?
A: Completely in agreement. Not really any need for help [since] I only have six birds right now.
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