Anyone use their geese for meat (or at least sometimes)?

[The goose girl]

Thanks! I don't know but I almost felt bad making the post. LOL Geese are raised so often as pets. Eat a chicken or a duck...but say geese and it feels like you are saying dog or something. hehe I've never had goose actually. But I like the flavor of duck.

Haha, that is so funny. Here in Denmark geese are never raised as pets. People think I'm crazy for having a pet goose - a few even hinted at animal cruelty since "geese are not meant to be pets". You'd think I was trying to keep a dolphin as a house pet from the reactions I get. When I go for a walk with my new goslings, the question asked is always "When are you going to eat them?". When I say I intend to keep them as pets, people think it's a joke. When they find out I'm serious they step back and look nervous (since I'm obviously loony).

I did raise some Embden type geese for processing. IMHO, 12 weeks is too young. The meat will be much more structured and tasty if you wait until they're 21-30 weeks. To me they taste a lot like duck. I don't know about the weight.

 

[jdywntr]

Haha, that is so funny. Here in Denmark geese are never raised as pets. People think I'm crazy for having a pet goose - a few even hinted at animal cruelty since "geese are not meant to be pets". You'd think I was trying to keep a dolphin as a house pet from the reactions I get. When I go for a walk with my new goslings, the question asked is always "When are you going to eat them?". When I say I intend to keep them as pets, people think it's a joke. When they find out I'm serious they step back and look nervous (since I'm obviously loony).

I did raise some Embden type geese for processing. IMHO, 12 weeks is too young. The meat will be much more structured and tasty if you wait until they're 21-30 weeks. To me they taste a lot like duck. I don't know about the weight.

I got the same reaction for raising ducks in the suburbs first for eggs and then for meat. People could not grasp why I would want a dirty smelly animal in my yard.

Even now that we have moved to the country people find it amazing that I process my own birds. DH will not help (so far) but he does want to go hunting but told his friends I would say no so I told him I'd be fine with him hunting as long as he helped to process the deer and they called me so that I could learn how too.

 

[Habibs Hens]

i purchased 10 meat birds last month

they dressed after skin removed aswell as insides to 2.5KG thats about 5lbs

 

[Miss Lydia]

i purchased 10 meat birds last month

they dressed after skin removed aswell as insides to 2.5KG thats about 5lbs

5lbs for a dressed out goose?

 

[Habibs Hens]

5lbs for a dressed out goose?

yes i processed them and i even pulled the skin so no weight of skin on dressed bird

took out innerds and then weighed the bird whole and it weighed 2.5kg

i even chopped one up and weighed it and again 2.5kg

personally i thought that was a little underweight for my liking

they where all 1 year old ganders

 

[Miss Lydia]

yes i processed them and i even pulled the skin so no weight of skin on dressed bird

took out innerds and then weighed the bird whole and it weighed 2.5kg

i even chopped one up and weighed it and again 2.5kg

personally i thought that was a little underweight for my liking

they where all 1 year old ganders

Sounds under weight thats why I was asking. to be 1 yr old ganders. What breed? Embdens?

 

[Habibs Hens]

Sounds under weight thats why I was asking. to be 1 yr old ganders. What breed? Embdens?

yeah i agree they did seem underweight 5 embdens and 5 talouse

i think i know why

i brought them solely as meaties from a farm breeder although the breeder never intended them to be meaties (they just had too many ganders and i got a deal on them as meaties)

when i processed them the same day they arrived they where filled with tiny stones and grass nothing else in gizzard

and stank of lake water

i have a feeling they where not fattened up but left to free roam on pure grass so hence developed at a slower rate

as all where 2.5kg

my embdens that are my pets are only 5 months old and are about the same size as the ones i processed

 

[Miss Lydia]

yeah i agree they did seem underweight 5 embdens and 5 talouse

i think i know why

i brought them solely as meaties from a farm breeder although the breeder never intended them to be meaties (they just had too many ganders and i got a deal on them as meaties)

when i processed them the same day they arrived they where filled with tiny stones and grass nothing else in gizzard

and stank of lake water

i have a feeling they where not fattened up but left to free roam on pure grass so hence developed at a slower rate

as all where 2.5kg

my embdens that are my pets are only 5 months old and are about the same size as the ones i processed

Thats what I was thinking , they sound more like a large roasting hen. How did the meat taste? like chicken? lol

 

[Habibs Hens]

Thats what I was thinking , they sound more like a large roasting hen. How did the meat taste? like chicken? lol

the meat was lovely

it was fibrous like chicken meat

bright red like lamb

and had a very slight game taste to it

made a curry from 1 and pilaf rice from about 6 of em and a few occassions

and the rest got in freezer whole for a mild roast

 

[zooweemama]

This is SO helpful you guys- really! I have read and re-read this entire thread several times. I know people like to use Embden for meat- but I really still am leaning towards Pilgrim. I love that they are on the Critical list. I wouldn't be mixing breeds (my Brown African will be housed near our house at night and if we do other geese they will get their own large house by the pond) and I think it would be easy to sell off the extra goslings (or juveniles) of this pretty breed of goose. Since I could tell the gender easily. Eat the extra boys to keep the numbers even, sell off what we do not need in general (although I plan on processing as many as I can- freezing whole, grinding some into ground meat, part it out like a chicken for dishes...). The more I read, the more we want to try this. But we need to find a goose to eat first. What if my kids hate it? LOL