Trying to keep some greenery in the goose pen!

[toey]

hi everyone!
i’m trying to keep some kind of greenery in the goose and duck pen but they eat everything
i section off little sections so grass can grow, but as soon as i open the section again everything is barren within the day

i was wondering if anyone had advice on that, i really need some kind of plant coverage as the heavy rain washes away the ground when it’s barren and it’s becoming quite a problem

thank u!

 

[Livia Ammon]

Growing something that is usually considered a weed might help, such as dandelions. Also, giving the plants enough time to get well established and large enough that your flock won’t demolish them first chance they get is usually a good plan.

 

[Goosehill]

The issue is that geese are capable of grazing very close to the ground and many plants won't tolerate that. If you can reduce the grazing intensity then it's not difficult to have geese on a pasture of mixed grass and clover without issue. In this part of the world grass recovery is about 8-10 days for dairy pasture and I've found the same is true for geese on mixed grass/clover/weeds

 

[toey]

Thank you for the advice! I’m going to try everything
I'll try and get a mix of clover weeds and dandelions
I don't know if it's just my geese, but they like to eat every single plant i put in there, including palms, banana trees, all the leaves off my orange tree. I feed them a lot, wheat, grains, corn, vegetables, but they still like to chew on everything that is available

The issue is that geese are capable of grazing very close to the ground and many plants won't tolerate that. If you can reduce the grazing intensity then it's not difficult to have geese on a pasture of mixed grass and clover without issue. In this part of the world grass recovery is about 8-10 days for dairy pasture and I've found the same is true for geese on mixed grass/clover/weeds

Do you have any advice on how to reduce grazing intensity? Do you mean just section it off for 8-10 days and manually chase them off once i see that the grass is low

 

[Livia Ammon]

Thank you for the advice! I’m going to try everything
I'll try and get a mix of clover weeds and dandelions
I don't know if it's just my geese, but they like to eat every single plant i put in there, including palms, banana trees, all the leaves off my orange tree. I feed them a lot, wheat, grains, corn, vegetables, but they still like to chew on everything that is available


Do you have any advice on how to reduce grazing intensity? Do you mean just section it off for 8-10 days and manually chase them off once i see that the grass is low

I don’t keep geese, so take this with a grain of salt. Like, a lot of them. I think the reason that geese graze close to the ground is because their beaks are long and flat-ish on the end. They can grab the very bottom of the grass or whatever and eat it from there.

I’m thinking that to reduce their grading intensity, you’d have to prevent them from reaching the bottom of the grass. Putting a rig up in their beaks isn’t really an option, so I would use something to protect the grass.

I think that making a wooden frame that would lie on the ground and have some sort of metal mesh in it would be ideal. For broadleaved plants, like clover and dandelions, I would get a larger mesh so that the ducks can get to the leaves as they reach up through the wire. For narrow leaved plants, such as grass, I would use a finer mesh. The finer mesh would allow the narrow leaves to came through without the ducks being able to reach through the wire and get more than they should. Also, their feet would be less likely to slip through finer mesh.

I would recommend a frame height of 4-6 in, although your real limit is the width of the lumber you can find. Good luck!

 

[toey]

I don’t keep geese, so take this with a grain of salt. Like, a lot

that sounds ingenious actually! i will definitely try it on a small patch to see if it works

 

[Goosehill]

Thank you for the advice! I’m going to try everything
I'll try and get a mix of clover weeds and dandelions
I don't know if it's just my geese, but they like to eat every single plant i put in there, including palms, banana trees, all the leaves off my orange tree. I feed them a lot, wheat, grains, corn, vegetables, but they still like to chew on everything that is available


Do you have any advice on how to reduce grazing intensity? Do you mean just section it off for 8-10 days and manually chase them off once i see that the grass is low

LOL yes they love to chew and will try anything that requires further investigation. A couple of mine chew the timber on their shelter every morning at daybreak and young trees need to be protected with wire mesh.
To reduce grazing intensity there needs to be more area of grass per goose, I use a movable fence to keep them off areas that need to recover for 8-10 days, graze them for 3-4 days on that area and then move them to another area.