Goose lovers – please help!!

[CelticOaksFarm]

Every state is different, Although I would check with yours on the Sebbies and being tested for showing. The babies you have from us arent tested as they left here before we tested. Only the adult breeding stock is tested here in FL.

I know some states have limited staff and take longer than others. We have to buy our NPIP books of forms here, but results are fast turn around if you test during the slower times.

 

[Marty1876]

Hmmm.... This maybe problematic, but they accept the papers, so I'll just nip them over to the vets tomarrow. As long as they have a paper showing results to be negative from a certificed tester, we'll be good. Fair is this week (part of it) and next, so I've got to see the vet tomarrow!

Glad we got to chat!

I still have the metal bands on the others legs, but I guess I should do the wing thing, like you to mark them.

 

[psue]

NPIP is on our list of things to do....but first to get into the new house across the street and build winter duck, goose and possibly turkey houseing as well as at least one more coop. I honestly think we'll get ahold of the testers this winter as they are really booked up right now.

 

[ultasol]

Yeah, toulouse are not a good goose if you want to raise meat birds. Their value is in companionship and exhibition. If you want a bird that would be better for meat and show, there are breeds that are more economical and easier to raise. I remember the first toulouse baby that hatched here... she hatched under a broody sebastopol and I took her in tucked in my shirt feeling so blessed and full of wonderment. She was beautiful from the very first second I saw her.

This year I hatched successfully in the incubator for the first time. They grow very fast. The youngest ones hatched in mid-June and everybody has outgrown the brooder already. The youngest goslings sleep in a coop inside the shop and know the routine. In the morning I let them out and they march in a line to the door to the pasture, in the evening I tell them it's 'bedtime' and start to herd them towards the door and they all march right in.

Geese are quick learners.

Celtic is good to point out that not every bird may be of the quality that should be bred. With the ones that are young, you won't be able to get more than a basic idea until they are a year of age or more.

The same gosling I spoke of earlier was taken to a fall show because I really liked her head and neck but her keel was crooked (which is a big fault for this breed) and I knew two people very experienced with toulouse would be there. At this time she was 7.5 months old. Both really liked her and advised me that young birds often go through periods when their keels are crooked, as they grow quickly, and told me to keep an eye on it. As of March, her keel is straight and she looks wonderful, and she is still growing!

I really like that white african gander out with the group. He's pretty.

 

[ultasol]

The NPIP tester in my part of the state passed, so our area is currently in limbo. In order to get tested we are technically supposed to pay mileage and travel fees if someone comes, but these fees are quite expensive considering the reimbursement rates they get. After the spring shows I was talking to our state avian vet about the possibility of pulling blood myself and having someone just come out for a site inspection, and he seemed to think this would work fine. I haven't done it yet as I was out of town three weeks helping family then studying for a licensing exam which I just took.

In some areas NPIP may be easy to get, and in other areas it can be nigh on impossible. I don't know if the state vet shows up at shows in your area, but he does at ours. I've had my silkies and geese swabbed several times (I volunteer for it, if there is a problem I want to know) and if you show be on the lookout as a similar opportunity may present itself.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Actually Toulouse are a highly sought after farm yard goose.

Quote: In the US is where the dewlap came to be highly popular and standard for show birds (exhibition). Toulouse are still kept and bred as the original production type birds meant for meat.

We happen to have both the production (in grey only) as well as exhibition (in buff only), since they both have a purpose.

 

[Iain Utah]

Marty, good luck at the fair!!!!

Just for fun... here is a pic I took yesterday of my own dewlap babies. The greys are 10.5 weeks old. The buffs are between 12-14 weeks old.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Marty, that is why I mentioned it. We dont call out the tester for ever new round of goslings, it is a once a year test normally here of the breeding stock only. Since they been on your property now for months with birds from other sources they should have also been tested by your NPIP. Only if you bought juveniles or adults this fall would they be covered under our NPIP # for the fair. Prior to that you are just buying off spring from a NPIP cleared flock. Now that you are NPIP you cant buy hatching eggs or birds from anyone who is not also NPIP.

Good luck to the girls at the fair.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Iain thats a cute picture.

 

[psue]

NPIP here is free but spring into early fall they are usually booked solid. I wouldn't want them to come out right now anyway as several of my hopeful breeders are not yet old enough and we have a few that are being raised for meat that are.