With cattle herds at a 38 year old, will other meat animal's make a comeback? I think animals that can reproduce in great quanities would be an advantage, poultry and pork come to mind but goats can reproduce quickly also. I think that animals that are herbavores would be a benefit, since they don't require grains. Don't know if people know that chickens weren't that popular at the turn of the century due to grains were not as widely grown as are today, hence the phrase "A chicken in every pot".. Herbavores like geese would be good in my opinion due to the fact that they have good amount of fat too. Also, geese require very little in inputs too. I probably won't get much support on this cause it takes time to change peoples habits. Any other thoughts on this?
Goats have a very poor feed conversion ratio, and a lot of people don't like goat meat or milk. There is simply no way that chevon can be produced and marketed cheaper than beef. More like the price of lamb, which is twice that of beef. Butchering costs are high, too, because there is little meat for the time it takes to process. Geese aren't cheap to produce either. It takes good pasture and predator control, which costs money, and processing costs are high. For a small family homestead producing their own food, goats (if you like chevon and goat's milk) are a good choice as are geese, if you can do your own butchering of both. Homestead conditions and commercial conditions simply can not be used in a comparison.
goat dont graze, they browse, roughage, branches ect so providing enough large scale proper diet beyond commercial feed isnt realistic.
Geese were very popular and common in Denmark around year 1900. Back then, most of the population lived on small rural farms. Geese could forage unfarmable land (like around creeks and ponds), and they were sent into the field after harvest to clean up what was spilled. Geese were cheap maintenance; most of their food cost nothing and small kids could herd them and protect them from predators. The farmers rarely ate the geese themselves. They were sold to richer people in the cities and towns - the feathers and downs were sold as well. Today geese are rarely seen here. Most people live in urban areas. Farming has become much more effective (no spills), ponds have been filled and creeks have been straightened, so there is not much unfarmable land. Farms are mostly large monocrop industries, and children are sent to kindergarten and school instead of herding geese all day. Some organic fruit farmers are experimenting with geese weeding the orchards. One around here has even thrown pigs into the equation, rotating between pigs, geese and chickens. Chickens eat the bugs and larvae that might ruin the fruit. Geese will weed and eat fallen fruit, and pigs will dig up everything including small trees. All of them fertilize!
Very interesting. and sad too since the old way of life kept families together and gave folks something to do, hard work for one thing. goose girl I am also talking about here in the USA too.
