Anyone raise geese for down?

[Wolf-Kim]

Let us know how that goes Omni, I'd be very interested. There is little to no good informative sites about hand-harvested plucking and I too tried to find a video but failed.

DuckBoys, nobody(!) here is saying you should hurt your geese for any amount of money. We know $16 a year isn't much and it may not even be worth the effort. I've heard that geese are extremely intelligent animals, they never forget. A friend of mine ate their favorite's goose's goslings for Christmas one year and the gosling's mother never forgot that they took the gosling and it didn't come back. The goose went from being a real pet to being more standoffish.

Have you ever held a chick that was beginning to feather out? I remember holding many chicks this season and when their feathers come in for the first time, the baby "fluff" sticks to the end of the new feathers. I would often sit around and pull the baby fluff off of their new feathers. It didn't bother any of them one bit, a couple of them decided to help and began to preen and pull it off themselves. I imagine if you timed your down harvesting with the goose's molt, it would be the exact same thing, you are only loosening feathers that a already coming out.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. As for justifications, we each just try to explain how we've arrived at our own opinion. Anytime someone points a finger and accuses something as being cruel, there is almost always going to be a disagreement. Hah! I could open a thread about "pinioning" and would get an earful from every point of view on pinioning.

Omni, make sure to try and get some pictures. Let us know how it goes, I've very curious.

-Kim

 

[Beekissed]

Well go ahead and do it, I'm just saying that waterfowl, like most living things, tend to have opinions about humans who hurt them. A dog that is taken to a groomer that hurts them wll certainly remember that groomer and react accordingly. I dunno though, none of my dogs go to the groomer to get fur pulled out.

Animals don't have opinions. Humans have opinions, which you are demonstrating very well right now. That is your perogative as this is America and an open forum.

Yes, your dog does get his hair "pulled out" at the groomers. When a dog is combed or brushed, hair comes out. This hair was not lying on the surface, nor sandwiched between other hairs just waiting to fall...it is naturally shed when it is "pulled" upon by a comb or brush, just like ours. Geese have an undercoat that sheds easily, just like dogs, cats, rabbits...particularly on their abdomen. This hair-like growth is not true feathers and sloughs off during moulting, nesting, and any old time the bird is grooming itself.

For the last time, this is not a debate about the cruelty of the process, the folks discussing doing it do not feel it is cruel, at this point, and won't be swayed by people who believe their animals are humans. We will form our own opinions about the process when we do it. We are capable of judging for ourselves, at that point, if it is a practice we wish to continue. Thank you for your concern but noone here is "justifying" anything at this point, we are exploring the possibilities and would like to do so without all the sentimental sidelines from someone who has never tried it and cannot venture an informed opinion of the process. Thank you for posting, but we aren't buying.

(Thought I had made that clear in a previous post, but I guess not...

)​

 

[Beekissed]

The article I read about the Mennonites showed them making comforters out of them. Wish I could find that magazine again! The woman who wrote the article went and helped them do this for a day and it was fascinating. The geese weren't flapping or restless at all, just lying there on their backs while these little women pulled out handfuls of fluff. They stuff each row of blocks on the comforter, sow it shut, stuff another row of blocks, etc. The material was all white. They then washed it and hung it on a line to dry.

Most of the down blankets one can buy have a cheaper grade down that is mixed with feathers....they are horrible! The feathers are continually sticking you. The comforters I have have little-to-no feather percentage and they are pure heaven to sleep under.

Can you imagine the luxury and beauty of down throws for the living room that are handmade? I know you can buy them in the store but they don't last and are cheaply made. What wonderful Christmas gifts!

 

[CanuckBock]

I'm very interested in doing this and can't find much on the subject in my local library and nothing online either.

If you do, what breed seems best? How often can you pick their down and what time of year? Do geese get broody and produce offspring as easily as chickens, or has that been bred out of them, as well? How much down would a pair of geese produce in a year?

Hey BK...whilst I never followed any of our gaggles around with a bag collecting moultings...I just harvested a gander. Six goslings, FIVE males - kept best male and the only female.

Buff Tufted gosling​

Too many males so I did what I do. Happy meat harvest...this one gander was so nasty, he was house alone next to his fellow three bros. No female about, he was just a nasty on a stick fella...sure he will taste good though!

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We have American geese (Buff, Buff Pied, and Tufted Buff).

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I have not WEIGHED the down but I can say I harvested a good amount, half a small garbage bag...sans feathers...this is straight down. Got three more to do and I expect to get enough for a good sized pillow.

Now not live plucking...I am harvesting so took 100% of the down--duh!

I keep looking at the hair sheep and passing them up. Sooner or later I'll have to break down and buy a pair. My only problem is that they don't look like the traditional sheep I've built up in my head. If I have sheep I want them to look all big and round.

Then again, I keep looking at the Jacobs Sheep and plotting. Who wouldn't want a sheep with four horns?

Four! They'd be my radioactive sheep.

My flock...herd...mixture of ruminants​

I have Jacobs...since 2003. Canada's first Grand Champion Jacob ewe, ram and 1st placing ram lamb in 2003. Now a closed flock and slowly, ever so slowly, me Jacob flocks passes on due to old age.

First ever of my lambs on left from 2003 & second year of lambs from 2005...twins Regina & Rex
My mowers...mowing up one of me turkey runs​

Am older now, so switched to Dorpers...hair sheep. Thought I could skip shearing...but traded clipping for shearing...same sorta thing (less effort, I clip the top, bellies on most shed off...not so on all Jacobs...) and had to buy a clipper since I have a shearer...sigh.

Misguided COW bird amongst the SHEEP

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Jacobs have a gene that splits the horn core...so horns like a cow has, but gene that splits that horn core into multiple "horns." I have two horns, four, five and six horned (Regina!)...what can also happen (so be forewarned) is the gene that splits can become so severe...it splits the eye socket...in the skull. You get what is deemed "split eye". Full twin ram to Regina, Rex had type 3 (worst kind) V shaped notched eye lids...in terms we can understand, his eye lids could not function to blink and clean his eye balls because the top half notch was missing! I kept him intact as a ram lamb and at six months of age, my vet sedated (way hard on ruminants...some jest die on the table), and fixed his notched eyelids. He is alive and well, born 2005...so that boy is over 11 years old now.

Rex - putting my red ACD to sleep...counting jest ONE sheep!​

I wethered him AFTER the operation and kept him for his cloud soft fleece I harvest annually from him. Dreamy boy...totally delish!

Love my dotty spotty ploycerate piebald sheeps!



Jacobs trimming grassy areas for us

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You also mention that you figure hair sheep are not "big & round" like reg sheep...well my Dorpers are...

Fire prevention...mowing our ditch ​

Sheep TV - a day at the beach (umbrellas?), eh​

This be registered Dorper Melissa...she be BIG and most certainly ROUND...and gettin' rounder as the grazing goes along!

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Melissa and daughter D'Arcy

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Duro...she l00ks all SHEEP to me...

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And the HAIR I left unclipped...must be comfy...for they be using each other to rest heads upon. So BK...clip away and use that to stuff beds and whatnots...hee hee...

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So what I want to know...how do I CLEAN this down now that I have some?

I dry pluck (don't get me started on scalding...wet sopping smells like a dog scalding ain't MY cuppa tea!). I have nice dry down...am told to throw it in the freezer for a few days in case, jest in case there are any creepies (never noted any but what the hay, do what they say, eh).

So Beekissed...you run across any methods to CLEAN that down you were suppose to collect (and did you get any geese...how about them hair sheeps?).

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[poultrykeeper08]

i dont think you can pick thier down . Well you could but i think it would deffinitaly hurt them ! Maybe when they moult you could go around and pick up thier feathers ??

 

[fullhouse]

From what I understand most down is a byproduct of raising geese for slaughter.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Some cruel people raise the geese, and then (in the spring i think) hold the geese down and pull the down out of the goose. I think it is so cruel.

 

[Beekissed]

I read an article once in Country Woman, where the Mennonites raise geese for this purpose. They pull down from two strips on the abdomen that would normally slough off for setting on eggs. They say it is not a painful process and they regrow it shortly. I think they said they could do this two times a year but I can't remember and can't find that mag anymore.

I did read where most commercially obtained down is from slaughter of geese raised for pate. Now THAT is a cruel process, if ever there was one! They basically confine those geese, shove a tube down their throats and feed them so much corn product that their livers become enlarged and softened. Nasty!!!

Down isn't pinfeathers, but a more hairlike growth, therefore not as difficult to remove. The cheaper down has some small pinfeathers in it, I believe.

Folks used to raise geese for just this purpose in the old days, when down mattresses and pillows were more prevalent.

Actually, this post is not to weigh the merits of the process but to find out more information. Please refrain from posting your opinions about cruelty to the animals, as this is not related to the original question. Thank you!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I can say my opinions if i'd like, as I am not breaking any rules. I was stating how cruel it is. As for you wanting information, I think it would be easier to look up this cruel practice online. It is like ripping hair out of your head. Only the goose should rip out its down when it is ready to. Also, froie gras (i think thats how its spelled), is also a very sick and cruel process, like you had stated. Thank you and have a nice day.

but a more hairlike growth,

So it doesnt hurt when you rip hair out of your head? Just asking.


Read this:

Not only is hand-harvested goose down frowned upon, it is actually banned in most countries around the world.

Why, you ask?

Well, hand harvesting was (and still is according to this particular eBay seller) a method used to collect goose down in various parts of the world. This method involves taking live geese & ducks (yes, I said LIVE) and then pulling the feathers and down off of them by hand (ala the name 'hand-harvested goose down')

Does hand-harvesting hurt the live goose or duck?

YES, absolutely it does! How would you like having the hair pulled out of your head, or worse yet, your fingernails pulled out while you were being restrained?

From this site: http://www.down-feather-bedding.com/healthyliving/2006/11/whats-deal-with-hand-harvested-goose.html​

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I was just trying to inform you on live-plucking.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/194639/bird_plucking_goose_down.html?cat=47

I dont think that there is a humane way to harvest down from geese. Other then, if the geese are humanely killed for meat, then to pluck the down out.

I dont want to turn it into a debate either.

ETA: I think this website has some information, but my internet is being very slow for some reason, even though I have DSL. But here it is http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/poultry/species/geese-raising