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

[flockman]

Zooweemama,

You could let Sarah and Chuck breed and process their goslings. I have read that Africans grow and gain weight very quickly and are a little more lean than the European derived breeds. I considered them but was worried about noise and aggression. Or if you like goose meat then you could have pilgrims and Africans for meat! Our embden goes in tomorrow for processing. We are so excited to try goose! We are also ready to have the noisier goose gone. The buff geese are much quieter. Good luck with your endeavor.

We tried heritage breed chickens this year instead of cornish cross. Our 17 week roosters were between 2.5-3.5 pounds. Legs are much bigger but the breasts are much smaller. We saved the largest rooster to stay with hens to produce the next years chickens. We have not tried them yet. We have been reading up on soaking in a brine to tenderize the meat.

 

[zooweemama]

Zooweemama,

You could let Sarah and Chuck breed and process their goslings. I have read that Africans grow and gain weight very quickly and are a little more lean than the European derived breeds. I considered them but was worried about noise and aggression. Or if you like goose meat then you could have pilgrims and Africans for meat! Our embden goes in tomorrow for processing. We are so excited to try goose! We are also ready to have the noisier goose gone. The buff geese are much quieter. Good luck with your endeavor.

We tried heritage breed chickens this year instead of cornish cross. Our 17 week roosters were between 2.5-3.5 pounds. Legs are much bigger but the breasts are much smaller. We saved the largest rooster to stay with hens to produce the next years chickens. We have not tried them yet. We have been reading up on soaking in a brine to tenderize the meat.

I had thought about the Africans but because we got the geese solely for pets - we'd mentally have a hard time doing that. So we had thought that if we got another breed - that it would be easier to mentally separate ourselves from them. I don't know. Those BA geese are louddddd though haha. I am not sure we'd want a dozen of them running around for 16 weeks haha! We love the 2 we have. We have considered letting Sarah hatch a few a year and sell off most of the goslings for pets. With a return policy (no money back but if they find they cannot keep the goose, and as long as it is healthy - we will take it back). I'd like to avoid domestic geese being dropped off at local rivers and lakes. I think we need to find someone who sells geese for meat and buy one. So that we can process it and cook it. See if it's something we could do before we ended up with a dozen geese we don't know what to do with. We have our fbcm cockerels - less than 16 weeks yet. They are not a small breed but it just seems like so little meat right now. A few more weeks and time to process the obvious non-breeders. I'm excited and nervous to do it. Excited to taste but nervous to process. :| I'd love to hear how you like the goose and the chicken! Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

 

[LightningTFarm]

Zooweemama,

You could let Sarah and Chuck breed and process their goslings. I have read that Africans grow and gain weight very quickly and are a little more lean than the European derived breeds. I considered them but was worried about noise and aggression. Or if you like goose meat then you could have pilgrims and Africans for meat! Our embden goes in tomorrow for processing. We are so excited to try goose! We are also ready to have the noisier goose gone. The buff geese are much quieter. Good luck with your endeavor.

We tried heritage breed chickens this year instead of cornish cross. Our 17 week roosters were between 2.5-3.5 pounds. Legs are much bigger but the breasts are much smaller. We saved the largest rooster to stay with hens to produce the next years chickens. We have not tried them yet. We have been reading up on soaking in a brine to tenderize the meat.

What breed of heritage chickens did you try? I am thinking of raising some chickens for meat in the future, but don't necessarily want to raise Cornish X's. As for tenderizing chicken, you can either soak it in brine overnight, or soak it in buttermilk. Either will do.

 

[Oregon Blues]

So we had thought that if we got another breed - that it would be easier to mentally separate ourselves from them. I

If you are thinking about buying a different breed specifically to raise for meat, then I recommend the Pomeranian. They dress out well and they are easy to have around, being calm natured and quiet. It's a breed that is centuries old and has been bred for all those centuries to be a premium table bird.

A well bred Pom is shorter and much thicker than other breeds, and that thickness is meat.

Plus, they are so beautiful to look at, so you have joy just from looking at them.

 

[flockman]

What breed of heritage chickens did you try? I am thinking of raising some chickens for meat in the future, but don't necessarily want to raise Cornish X's. As for tenderizing chicken, you can either soak it in brine overnight, or soak it in buttermilk. Either will do.

We raised white rocks. Not cornish x's. They are not as meaty as a cornish x but they weren't gross to raise like the CX. We had 2 soaking in a brine, which we are fixing for dinner.

Today we get back the goose that was processed. I wonder how much it will weigh... When I know I will have to let you know.

 

[flockman]

Well we got back the goose. It was 10.6 lbs dressed out. Not sure when we will fix it yet but I am excited.

 

[watchdogps]

We raised white rocks. Not cornish x's. They are not as meaty as a cornish x but they weren't gross to raise like the CX. We had 2 soaking in a brine, which we are fixing for dinner.

Today we get back the goose that was processed. I wonder how much it will weigh... When I know I will have to let you know.

Gross to raise? How's that?

 

[flockman]

The Cornish X have all laid by the feed and water and not moved much. They barely walked, and pooped all over each other.

 

[razvanM]

I raise geese just for meat,and they are perfect,I want to start raising duck for meat too,I like like the flavour waterfowl have,they are very tasty.Plus they are fast growers,and you can grass fatten them so its really econamicall.This is what I call low cost farming with great results.

 

[psue]

a friend told me to only feed Cornish cross during the day and keep their food and water as far apart as you can to make them move