Just Inquiring...Can Geese Survive off Grass?

[Evadig]

There's a family of Canadian geese that's come to visit my yard. They eat almost nothing but grass. My Chinese geese eat grass too, but act starving if they don't get pellets. I am wondering are they just spoiled or do they actually need the pellets? Three are ganders and one is a female. I can see why she would need pellets but what about the males?

 

[Grind Hard Farm]

They need other sorts of nutrition than just grass.

 

[AGeese]

Mine are grass fed now, but I still toss them apples, pears, and romaine lettuce.

 

[Berd Man]

I believe they can survive on it, but it depends on climate, rainfall, and what’s in the pasture. In southern Indiana we have grass most of the year. And there’s an abundance of high protein clovers and other nutritious broad leaf plants for them.

The various feeds are not horrible or anything, I feed them to start geese out in brooders. But geese survived for a long time without the contribution from Purina. I think if your geese are kept confined then the feed has to be there, but if they have the right environment I’ve seen them exist on grass, weeds, roots, cattails, etc… just fine. There are some of my goslings that hatch naturally and their moms don’t like it when I come to close, I leave feed for them sometimes but they just honk suspiciously and give me the eye and take their goslings elsewhere.

 

[Goosebaby]

Wild geese can fly away to feed on whatever they want wherever they want, domestic geese don’t have that option.
Young grass is high in protein so it’s nutritionally pretty good, but towards summer and in winter “depending on climate” it’s growth slows and nutritional benefits dwindle. Different grass types also vary.
Most domestic goose breeds have become much larger than their wild counterparts and their metabolisms may not be as efficient in some cases, so they require more feed to support their larger bodies, especially when growing, molting, and laying so depending on your yard, grass may not be enough.
Wild goslings are born typically near some sort of natural waterways where algae varieties give them the extra protein and B vitamins they require.

You have Chinese geese which is a light weight breed so they’ll probably do alright on grass for the summer but bump up their protein and vitamins when they molt as a precaution and keep an eye on your grass to make sure it doesn’t get overgrazed. Some of my heavy breed geese don’t do well on only grass.

 

[Evadig]

Wild goslings are born typically near some sort of natural waterways where algae varieties give them the extra protein and B vitamins they require.

Mine have a pond that they swim in alongside the Canadian geese, so they should be getting nutrients from that too.

Thank you for all the information. I was hoping to cut feed costs a bit at least though spring and summer, but they act so starving…the grass is your typical backyard grasss with a lot of clover and weeds mixed in.