Embden for meat and eggs

[NamahKatana]

We are thinking of raiseing Embden geese for meat and eggs. I'm curious of how good their meat is as I'v never had goose lol Is their a good market for meat geese? Would you suggest a different breed/bird for good meat?

 

[psue]

Hello,
We had Embden for Chistmas... YUM!

 

[Oregon Blues]

I suspect that the market for goose meat is quite small. The birds are quite expensive compared to turkey. Especially since turkey is often on sale, and even sold as a loss leader, at the holidays.

It's hard to pay $11 a pound for a goose when turkey is 25 cents a pound on special with a purchase. Several of the markets around here give a turkey for free if you buy $100 worth of groceries.

There are enough people who want to try goose that I think they would buy enough birds to support a very small operation of raising and selling geese for meat. I sure wouldn't jump into a 5,000 bird operation. I don't think you could sell that many roasting geese.

I love roast goose and think it is worth the price for a special event. However, if you are going to try to make money raising geese for meat, I suggest you start very small and test your market.

 

[NamahKatana]

I suspect that the market for goose meat is quite small. The birds are quite expensive compared to turkey. Especially since turkey is often on sale, and even sold as a loss leader, at the holidays.

It's hard to pay $11 a pound for a goose when turkey is 25 cents a pound on special with a purchase. Several of the markets around here give a turkey for free if you buy $100 worth of groceries.

There are enough people who want to try goose that I think they would buy enough birds to support a very small operation of raising and selling geese for meat. I sure wouldn't jump into a 5,000 bird operation. I don't think you could sell that many roasting geese.

I love roast goose and think it is worth the price for a special event. However, if you are going to try to make money raising geese for meat, I suggest you start very small and test your market.

That's what I though. I wouldn't sell them for a whole lot. We're just going to start with a pair.

 

[pete55]

Over herein the UK the main trade for goose meat is with the Embdens. However the 'true' Embdens are massive birds weighing up to 28lbs and there's not many folks wanting to buy such a heavy bird for the table or an oven that it would fit into!

There's is a smaller strain of 'Embdens' called the Legarth strain and develped in Denmark. These are smaller birds around 12-15lbs, fast maturing and give excellent feed convertability to weight. These dress out well and the paler flesh seems to be more desireable. More importantly its of a size that a family can deal with.

The market here is very good around Xmas but it pays to research your strain, maturity rates etc.