Meat Geese - Slaughtering Process

[Vadard]

I’m thinking about adding geese to my flock, mainly for meat. I’ve got some idle pasture that would support quite a few geese, but I think I’d start small, maybe 4-7.

I’ve kept and slaughtered chickens, quail, and rabbits for meat, and in each case the animals to be slaughtered were kept separate from the rest of my flock and then harvested when the time came.

I’m curious about how people handle this with their geese. Do you keep the breeders and slaughter some of the offspring each year?

And do you segregate those to be killed from the rest of the flock, or just carry them off one by one?

Just curious how to best handle this without stressing the rest of the flock (or gaggle?) too much.

Thanks.

 

[Berd Man]

I keep geese for meat and the way I like to do it is keep breeding pairs as permanent residents on the farm and then process the spring goslings that autumn for meat (18-24 weeks old).

I always make sure that the night before the slaughter the geese selected for meat are separated and moved to another pen so that the permanent flock does not witness or hear their deaths. You will want to keep them from eating for about 6-8 hours before processing anyway to avoid the geese being full of manure or undigested food.

You may already know ,but certain breeds tend to clean easier for meat. White geese or buff geese (lighter in plumage color) leave less noticeable feathers on the cleaned carcass, whereas African or Tolouse geese may have darker pin feathers behind that need to be plucked with tweezers for that table ready appearance.

If you scald for feather removal be sure to do a full 2 minute scald at 160F. This has been a huge help as geese do not process like chickens. They really benefit from the additional time and need some agitation while in the scalder to get through the thick layers of feathers and preen oil.

I did try a duck wax dip following 2 minute scald and it leaves the bird very professional looking it’s just expensive to buy and the 2 minute scald really does make it easier to remove the feathers.

As for the goose meat itself, my family and I prefer it to beef. We cook the breasts like steaks, and the rest is usually great as burger, stews, etc… there is loads of fat (except on Chinese geese) on geese and we render all of it out and save it for cooking.

 

[Vadard]

I keep geese for meat and the way I like to do it is keep breeding pairs as permanent residents on the farm and then process the spring goslings that autumn for meat (18-24 weeks old).

I always make sure that the night before the slaughter the geese selected for meat are separated and moved to another pen so that the permanent flock does not witness or hear their deaths. You will want to keep them from eating for about 6-8 hours before processing anyway to avoid the geese being full of manure or undigested food.

You may already know ,but certain breeds tend to clean easier for meat. White geese or buff geese (lighter in plumage color) leave less noticeable feathers on the cleaned carcass, whereas African or Tolouse geese may have darker pin feathers behind that need to be plucked with tweezers for that table ready appearance.

If you scald for feather removal be sure to do a full 2 minute scald at 160F. This has been a huge help as geese do not process like chickens. They really benefit from the additional time and need some agitation while in the scalder to get through the thick layers of feathers and preen oil.

I did try a duck wax dip following 2 minute scald and it leaves the bird very professional looking it’s just expensive to buy and the 2 minute scald really does make it easier to remove the feathers.

As for the goose meat itself, my family and I prefer it to beef. We cook the breasts like steaks, and the rest is usually great as burger, stews, etc… there is loads of fat (except on Chinese geese) on geese and we render all of it out and save it for cooking.

Ok, that makes sense to me. Sounds like geese might be coming to my farm. I appreciate all the info you shared!

 

[gooseapplefarms]

I bought two batches of geese last spring/summer. First was Toulouse and Buff. I bought all straight run expecting to get mostly males, but I believe I received mostly females. The Toulouse were quite a bit smaller compared to weights claimed online. I processed 3, the heaviest of which was about 13lbs live weight, and they were around 6 months old or so. Overall, the meat quality was fine, but I was unimpressed with the size on the table, they were much like the "Young Goose" you can find at the grocery store.

The Buff females are smaller than the Toulouse. I kept 3 of those, 2 females and 1 male, which is what I happened to receive. The Buff male is pretty good size.

Subsequently, I bought 8 African geese, 4 males and 4 females that same year. I planned on processing 2 of the males, just never got around to it. This breed is also significantly smaller than weights claimed online. The females I haven't weighed, but I'd guess they're around 8lbs live weight if that. Very light birds. The males are a little more respectable, I'd say closer to 12lbs. They're about 8 months old at this point, so I don't expect they're grow much larger.

I received 5 embden males in December. One died in shipping, one died from unknown causes at about a month old. The 3 remaining are 9 weeks old or so, and are already bigger than my buff females and the Africans. I'm hoping I can raise these to > 20lbs live weight, I want a big bird for the table. Current plan is to raise them until around October at the latest, so about 10 months.

I also breed muscovies (well, I have some anyway, I don't have ducklings yet). The males dress out to 8-10lbs, basically the same size as the medium sized geese. The breast filets are much larger on the muscovies and the meat quality is probaby better IMO. They also only take 13ish weeks to get to processing size compared to 16-24 weeks for geese (or longer). The downside is, geese mostly eat grass, muscovies mostly eat feed, though they will eat quite a bit of grass in a tractor when they're young.

My plan is to keep buying different breeds of geese, I have French Toulouse and Romans, and more embdens on order. I'm going to keep the largest males and females and try to keep a bigger breeding flock. I think this will take a long time to come together fully.

WARNING: Graphic processing details below.

As far as processing them goes, I don't do anything special. I catch the geese I want to kill from the coop, and then I kill them elsewhere. I withhold feed from the entire flock the night before. I imported a dry plucking machine from Italy, and then I wax them. Part of the issue I have with this process is the dry plucker can rip the skin around the thighs and neck if you're not careful with it. The wound in the neck lets too much hot water/wax onto the neck meat and it turns grey and has to be tossed. I haven't sorted out the best wax temp/cooling time yet. Most of it comes off in small flakes and is quite tedious. Sometimes a bird takes 5 minutes, sometimes 30+ minutes to get all the wax off, but the wax generally does pull just about everything.

I also do muscovies the same way. I found that a 22lr to the head and then bleeding them through the mouth makes the neck easier to pluck and save. The muscovies are really tough birds to kill, if you slit their throats, they take forever to lose consciousness. Personally I find it completely unsuitable. The broomstick method is quick and easy on the females, mature males have really, really strong necks. The downside to this method is the bleed out into the neck cavity, and it's easy to pull their heads all the way off and make a big mess (again, if you're waxing, you don't want to expose the meat to the wax).

I watched a youtuber process some ducks, and he likes to 'pith' them in the brain and bleed out through the mouth. I will probably do some birds this way next, as it solves a lot of the issues I'm having.

 

[Berd Man]

I bought two batches of geese last spring/summer. First was Toulouse and Buff. I bought all straight run expecting to get mostly males, but I believe I received mostly females. The Toulouse were quite a bit smaller compared to weights claimed online. I processed 3, the heaviest of which was about 13lbs live weight, and they were around 6 months old or so. Overall, the meat quality was fine, but I was unimpressed with the size on the table, they were much like the "Young Goose" you can find at the grocery store.

The Buff females are smaller than the Toulouse. I kept 3 of those, 2 females and 1 male, which is what I happened to receive. The Buff male is pretty good size.

Subsequently, I bought 8 African geese, 4 males and 4 females that same year. I planned on processing 2 of the males, just never got around to it. This breed is also significantly smaller than weights claimed online. The females I haven't weighed, but I'd guess they're around 8lbs live weight if that. Very light birds. The males are a little more respectable, I'd say closer to 12lbs. They're about 8 months old at this point, so I don't expect they're grow much larger.

I received 5 embden males in December. One died in shipping, one died from unknown causes at about a month old. The 3 remaining are 9 weeks old or so, and are already bigger than my buff females and the Africans.

 

[gooseapplefarms]

@Goose Smith I think your reply got truncated, it's just a quote my text.

 

[Berd Man]

@Goose Smith I think your reply got truncated, it's just a quote my text.

Yes, i was trying to ask if those weights were dressed out carcasses or live weights. I am looking at adding embden to my flock because I had Chinese geese and they dressed at 5pounds.

 

[JRies]

following good honest conversion.

 

[Vadard]

I bought two batches of geese last spring/summer. First was Toulouse and Buff. I bought all straight run expecting to get mostly males, but I believe I received mostly females. The Toulouse were quite a bit smaller compared to weights claimed online. I processed 3, the heaviest of which was about 13lbs live weight, and they were around 6 months old or so. Overall, the meat quality was fine, but I was unimpressed with the size on the table, they were much like the "Young Goose" you can find at the grocery store.

The Buff females are smaller than the Toulouse. I kept 3 of those, 2 females and 1 male, which is what I happened to receive. The Buff male is pretty good size.

Subsequently, I bought 8 African geese, 4 males and 4 females that same year. I planned on processing 2 of the males, just never got around to it. This breed is also significantly smaller than weights claimed online. The females I haven't weighed, but I'd guess they're around 8lbs live weight if that. Very light birds. The males are a little more respectable, I'd say closer to 12lbs. They're about 8 months old at this point, so I don't expect they're grow much larger.

I received 5 embden males in December. One died in shipping, one died from unknown causes at about a month old. The 3 remaining are 9 weeks old or so, and are already bigger than my buff females and the Africans. I'm hoping I can raise these to > 20lbs live weight, I want a big bird for the table. Current plan is to raise them until around October at the latest, so about 10 months.

I also breed muscovies (well, I have some anyway, I don't have ducklings yet). The males dress out to 8-10lbs, basically the same size as the medium sized geese. The breast filets are much larger on the muscovies and the meat quality is probaby better IMO. They also only take 13ish weeks to get to processing size compared to 16-24 weeks for geese (or longer). The downside is, geese mostly eat grass, muscovies mostly eat feed, though they will eat quite a bit of grass in a tractor when they're young.

My plan is to keep buying different breeds of geese, I have French Toulouse and Romans, and more embdens on order. I'm going to keep the largest males and females and try to keep a bigger breeding flock. I think this will take a long time to come together fully.

WARNING: Graphic processing details below.

As far as processing them goes, I don't do anything special. I catch the geese I want to kill from the coop, and then I kill them elsewhere. I withhold feed from the entire flock the night before. I imported a dry plucking machine from Italy, and then I wax them. Part of the issue I have with this process is the dry plucker can rip the skin around the thighs and neck if you're not careful with it. The wound in the neck lets too much hot water/wax onto the neck meat and it turns grey and has to be tossed. I haven't sorted out the best wax temp/cooling time yet. Most of it comes off in small flakes and is quite tedious. Sometimes a bird takes 5 minutes, sometimes 30+ minutes to get all the wax off, but the wax generally does pull just about everything.

I also do muscovies the same way. I found that a 22lr to the head and then bleeding them through the mouth makes the neck easier to pluck and save. The muscovies are really tough birds to kill, if you slit their throats, they take forever to lose consciousness. Personally I find it completely unsuitable. The broomstick method is quick and easy on the females, mature males have really, really strong necks. The downside to this method is the bleed out into the neck cavity, and it's easy to pull their heads all the way off and make a big mess (again, if you're waxing, you don't want to expose the meat to the wax).

I watched a youtuber process some ducks, and he likes to 'pith' them in the brain and bleed out through the mouth. I will probably do some birds this way next, as it solves a lot of the issues I'm having.

Thank you. I appreciate you sharing your experience with several breeds.

The main reason I’m looking at geese is their grassy diet, that said, I’ve been looking at moscovies, too. I just don’t want another processed feed-dependent critter right now.

I also harvested wild geese infrequently as a kid, and we always liked it in gumbo or made into sausage.

I basically want a critter that will eat grass all year then harvest out at s as decent weight in the fall. Kinda like a free-range turkey that won’t roost and poop on my roof. Geese fit the bill so far.

I’d be curious to hear more about others’ experiences with harvest weights in different breeds. I’m leaning toward American buff, embden, off red pilgrim but I really just want whatever will be relatively non-aggressive & easy to deal with and will grow the fastest.

Thanks again to all.

 

[Berd Man]

Thank you. I appreciate you sharing your experience with several breeds.

The main reason I’m looking at geese is their grassy diet, that said, I’ve been looking at moscovies, too. I just don’t want another processed feed-dependent critter right now.

I also harvested wild geese infrequently as a kid, and we always liked it in gumbo or made into sausage.

I basically want a critter that will eat grass all year then harvest out at s as decent weight in the fall. Kinda like a free-range turkey that won’t roost and poop on my roof. Geese fit the bill so far.

I’d be curious to hear more about others’ experiences with harvest weights in different breeds. I’m leaning toward American buff, embden, off red pilgrim but I really just want whatever will be relatively non-aggressive & easy to deal with and will grow the fastest.

Thanks again to all.

I did a small experiment with a dozen brown Chinese where from day 1 they were solely raised on pasture, without feed of any kind, and then processed for meat at 21 weeks. I thought the meat was delicious as did several members of my family when they were informed it was not steak they were eating but goose breast. I will say that they were much lighter and less fatty than what I see online sold as frozen goose, mine were between 4-5 lbs. I liked free range Goose a whole lot more than free range chicken. We also were able to render about 1-2 cup of fat from an entire Chinese goose skin (they don’t have much fat anywhere else). This year I’m going to see if crosses between Tolouse and African are heavier and meatier. I am truly surprised more people don’t embrace geese. It’s nice to be in good company here