Meat geese?

[DUCKGIRL89]

My dad wants to get some geese to put on his place to breed, and hatch babies from to eat, what are good breeds for meat? And whats a good goose, to gander ratio? Thanks!

 

[hossfeathers]

Nearly all geese were primarily bred for meat production, with weeding and down (and yard guards) being secondary.

Geese tend to be pretty monogamous, so most people don't run more than 2 or 3 geese per gander, and a lot just run one to one.

See if you can get Holderread's Geese book, it is pretty good.

 

[extraordinaryfowl]

If they are for meat you shouldn't have to worry about a gander-to-goose ratio, for they will be slaughtered before the breeding season. I am currently keeping ganders and geese together that grew up with each other and they never have fought.

Holderread's book of Geese is indeed probably the best source for goose info - also Domestic Geese I believe it is? by Chris Ashton is a good book for breeds of geese. You might be able to find these on google books or somewhere similar . . .

Hope that helps!

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
Well, actually no. they wont if hes breeding them. And thank you. It sure does. Would pilgrims be a good one? I relly like pilgrims, and so does he.

 

[Peachesbabychick]

Hey DuckGirl! I don't know anything about geese, but do you think your gonna be able to handle slautering?

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
Oh, thats my dads area

theres no way I can do that

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
She said he would be butchering the offspring from the ones he keeps for breeding.

 

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

Quote:
My geese never got that memo.... Lol..
I keep most of my domestics in trios. If I were you I would go with Embdens.. I know nothing about butchering geese but they are supose to be the best from what people who have bought geese for me to eat told me...

 

[extraordinaryfowl]

Quote:
Well, actually no. they wont if hes breeding them. And thank you. It sure does. Would pilgrims be a good one? I relly like pilgrims, and so does he.

If he's keeping them for breeding then in the breeding season one gander to 1-2 geese is a good ratio. Generally you can run all the geese and ganders together once the breeding season is over until it starts again, although I have cotton patch which are very docile compared to some goose breeds so it could vary -

I've never done any besides Cotton Patch, but Pilgrims are supposed to be a medium-sized goose. They would be great if you wanted an auto-sexing breed.

If you have enough grass, the breeders should be able to live on grass alone pretty well with a little mash here and there, though on grass they grow a lot slower - so for meat birds, they will need a lot more grain if you want them to get large before fall, but again, breeders (at least around here) do pretty well on almost all grass.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
Well, actually no. they wont if hes breeding them. And thank you. It sure does. Would pilgrims be a good one? I relly like pilgrims, and so does he.

If he's keeping them for breeding then in the breeding season one gander to 1-2 geese is a good ratio. Generally you can run all the geese and ganders together once the breeding season is over until it starts again, although I have cotton patch which are very docile compared to some goose breeds so it could vary -

I've never done any besides Cotton Patch, but Pilgrims are supposed to be a medium-sized goose. They would be great if you wanted an auto-sexing breed.

If you have enough grass, the breeders should be able to live on grass alone pretty well with a little mash here and there, though on grass they grow a lot slower - so for meat birds, they will need a lot more grain if you want them to get large before fall, but again, breeders (at least around here) do pretty well on almost all grass.

ok, thanks so much!!! and he wants a auto sexed bird so he can keep the ganders for meat, and sell the baby females.