Who Uses Weeder Geese?

[babalubird]

Omniskies, thank you so much for the good info.

OK, more questions.

I think I'm still leaning toward the Chinese geese, though the jury's still out. From what you're saying, it isn't that hard to sell the adult Chinese live if they should get too numerous or feed bills when not in use get too high?

Also, from what you're saying, I would be better off to overwinter my weeder geese, keep the same ones year after year, rather than get rid and start out with new goslings each year?

I have to say, I would prefer that--not fond of retraining or butchering if there is a better reason not to.

We're looking into setting up 1, eventually 2 acres in certified organic gardens so want the most efficient weeder I can find.

Also, we live in coyote/bobcat/hawk/owl plagued wild central Texas country. I thought maybe the aggression of the Chinese would be a blessing as I've heard they will charge smaller predators that could take out our ducks and chickens. We will also use/train livestock guardian dogs for the larger predators.

Does this sound like a plan or not? Would you choose the more aggressive Chinese for this reason or still stick with the other choices you mentioned? I'm just afraid the big boys, the Africans, often listed as the second and aggressive choice weeder, would trample our garden. And that the "friendlier", more laid back breeds you mentioned wouldn't have the aggression to go after snakes, my neighbor's bothersome chihuauas, hawks and owls. Also several of us on that little country road have been hit by human thieves. So again if the geese develop a taste for human flesh, as long as it's not mine, isn't really so upsetting to me.

Thanks.

:0) And as soon as you answer this one, I'll probably think of some more questions.

Connie

 

[Omniskies]

No, it shouldn't be hard to sell the adults. To be honest, the Chinese are probably perfect for what you're after. I'm really biased against them because I won't tolerate loud, aggressive animals on the property. I won't even keep a goose that hisses even if I know they'd never go farther than that. Because of that, I'm smitten with the Pilgrims. For what you're after, Chinese might be best (emphasis on the personality, though. I don't want you thinking _all_ geese are evil if you get some Chinese and the personality rubs you the wrong way

.

If you don't have a lot of strangers on your property it won't be so bad _or_ if you have a _lot_ of strangers on your property. Geese are like dogs - if you don't socialize a dog it barks and bluffs (and sometimes attacks) strangers. Once that dog is socialized it mellows out. If you do a "pick your own" program then you'll either need to socialize your goslings or keep them locked up _out of sight_ of the people.

Few things are as annoying as trying to talk over a goose's warning honks.

If you would like to overwinter the geese then by all means. Decide if you want them to hatch out their own eggs in the spring or not. All geese will become more protective and will stake out their own territory in the spring to hatch out their eggs. Chinese are the easiest breed to hatch out in an incubator, by taking their eggs you can either make tasty omlets or try your hand at hatching out new generations.

The hatchery sells goslings for $6-8 each. You can easily get away with $10 per gosling selling them to other farmers as _real_ weeder geese. I doubt my site will be going anywhere, so you can link them to my article as a selling point.

You'll need at least six geese per acre to keep things weeded, so you're looking at a minimum of a dozen geese out in your field, if not more. A dozen geese can easily go through a bag of feed per day in the winter when the grass is gone. They'll make up for that by eating a fraction of that in the spring and summer, but expect the winter expense.

Chinese also lay more eggs than most geese, so you could easily be collecting 50 eggs per goose in the spring. If you don't want to hatch out 300 Chinese eggs every spring, try selling them. Even if you're only getting $3 an egg you're still looking at nearly $1,000 to help cover costs.

Chinese geese _are_ aggressive. But they're tough guys in the same way that chihuahuas are. Your opossums and raccoons may be convinced they should be elsewhere, but Chinese are still small enough for some owls to take down and coyotes may not be too intimidated. One of the tricks you can use to keep your Chinese flock safe (besides having guard dogs, which is probably the best thing you could do), is to keep a few ducks mingling with your geese.

Ducks are great for a few reasons. For one, ducks love slugs and other bothersome insects that your geese will avoid. Tossing a few ducks out in the field is a good way to cut down on the number of grasshoppers out in the field.

Secondly, and this is going to sound awful to some people, ducks are both tasty and slow. Predators are more inclined to go after a duck if they have the chance than a goose. If you have a duck missing at the end of the day you know there's a predator who is slipping by your dogs. It's cheaper to lose that duck than it is to lose a trained goose.

Your geese will mingle with the ducks and they can live together. Some ducks, like your Indian Runners, are exceptionally good at foraging and are great egg layers, too. For the extra expense, you'll have 250-300+ duck eggs per Indian Runner annually to bake with.

For everything you're wanting, you may want to stick with the Chinese. Africans are definitely too big for what you're wanting. My biggest problem with the Chinese are their pesky personalities. If you plan on putting that to your benefit - which it sounds like you are - then they're probably the way to go.

 

[greyfields]

I like Chinese as well. They have a unique vocalization which is distinct to the breed. You can tell one from miles away.

I just wanted to caution you that there is now way to garden and not have to weed... and weed a lot and with regularity. It's not like geese are a magic bullet.

Chinese are prolific and will breed very well. So, what you ought do is let them hatch goslings all winter, weed all summer, then only hold onto your breeding stock over winter. You can ship the kids to auction and then don't have to deal with slaughtering them or trying to sell them to homes.

Omni - It's difficult to answer your question. Generally the gander is embden over the pilgrim goose. The issue is, though, that I don't separate for breeding. So my eggs can be any combination of Embden x Tufted Roman, x Pilgrim, x Embden, x Hybrid (any comination). The only thing for certain is that you can tell on the first few days which ones will turn grey. But, at the same time, Embdens can be sexed by plumage during the first 10 days or so as well. So, I could say that some can be sexed, but I'm not sure which cross or breed they would be. The vast majority of my hatchlings are purebred Embden as I have them in the largest number.

 

[Omniskies]

Understandable, Greyfields. I had forgotten about color sexing Embdens at a young age. I may have to hunt down an Embden or two to play with

Incidentally, I haven't found any information about it so far, but do you know if Tufted Romans can be color sexed like Embdens at a day or two old?

Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Greyfields. Weeder geese do an excellent job and will save you tons of hours of work, but they won't get everything. They have an aversion to most broad-leafed plants, whether those plants are part of your garden or just plain weeds. Use them for the majority of the weeds, and for the great fertilization, and have someone come up behind them to pluck out what they leave behind. If you go into this thinking you'll never have to touch another weed as long as you live you'll end up being disappointed.

 

[babalubird]

Thanks, Omni and Grey Goose. No, I know I'll still have to do some weeding, but crabgrass and coastal grass here will be our biggest problems, I think, and hey, since geese like grass....

Our property is a total of 16 acres, currently only occupied by our 4 horses, on property often plagued w/drought during the summer. I thought our raising chickens, ducks and the like would be an income source that might not compete so much with the pasture and the horses' food supply. I wonder now, however, that if the geese wouldn't be too much competition with the grass when I am finished with them in the gardens. Hmmmmm.

I was surprised to hear they would go through an entire bag (50 lbs???) per day during the winter. This is, I guess, why I read in other accounts, that one should "invite them to Christmas dinner".

You've given me much to think about which I know I must. Thanks to both of you, Omni and Grey.

Connie

 

[Omniskies]

I'm using those statistics with my own flock, which may be a little higher than what you see. I have a little over a dozen Pilgrims and American Buffs I wintered over and they go through nearly a full 50lb bag of food a day when they don't have access to grass.

From May to around January I use a mixed feed to cut costs. By mid-January I'm back to feeding high quality egg pellets to help with egg production. Over the spring and summer the geese will happily eat grass with some egg pellets on the side.

Geese can be expensive to winter over - especially a large flock - unless you plan on making money on them somehow. ie. Selling eggs, goslings, down, or meat geese. In many places there is a high demand for Christmas or Thanksgiving goose.

As an aside, geese aren't as effective at eating grass as you might think. I kept my flock in a closed pasture that's no more than a quarter acre, if that, and I still had to mow half of it down to keep it at a croppable height. I doubt they'll be too much competition for your horses.

 

[bargain]

We love our weeder geese - we have brown chinese and also white chinese (they are assigned different areas.)


I have no trouble selling the adults. I presently have some brown chinese eggs for sale if you need any. They do a very good job weeding and fertilizing.

Thought I'd put a picture of them on this

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.

 

[downtime]

I know this is an older thread, but rather than start a new one I figured I'd bump this one up.

I have a few quick questions on using geese as weeders. My husband and I are in the hunt for a farm, so while we wait for the perfect place I'm researching fun stuff like weeder geese!

Any thoughts on the toulouse breed?

Does anyone know if geese will bother lavender?

I read a brief bit about food aversion training in sheep in regards to weeding on Christmas Tree farms, has anyone tried this with geese, and how?

 

[Gilleez]

I think geese will bother anything if there is a shortage of pasture, but they prefer pasture.
grasses and clovers especially plus all the other stuff that make up pasture. Maybe a bit of lavender for flavor!

 

[downtime]

Thanks! I have read about using them in mint and herb fields, so I thought perhaps they wouldn't bother the lavender too much. We're looking to start a lavender farm, but given we have full time jobs, would like to "employ" some geese as extra farm hands to help on the chores, especially while we're building the farm into full time employement. I have never keep geese, or any fowl for that matter.

There is a Toulouse that lives in the river near me, I'm assuming it outgrew it's cute 'goslingness' and was left there because there aren't any farms anywhere nearby it would have escaped from. As I understand it, heavier breeds like the Toulouse aren't great fliers, so that seems like the best guess. He/she is pretty amicable, although not to the point of allowing actual direct contact. DH decided he liked this goose and I know he wouldn't appreciate being chased and pinched, so what I've read on them seems personality wise they would be a good fit for us. I am wondering if they will be a bit too heavy and actually damage the crops. I doubt we would get them working on the planted acreage the first year, as the lavender would be more 'young and tender" and therefore more appealing as a snack.

Also, I'm wondering if a breed that does tend to be more aggressive would be better for open field/open range work as far as predators goes.

I'm planning on fencing the areas we want them to work in, and providing night time shelter, however lavender needs a lot of direct light, so they will be in an open field during the days, and we won't be home. I'm starting to wonder if Chinese might be better, even if more aggressive. I guess if we end up with weeders they will be more my responsiblity than his anyway, so if they are aggressive I'll be getting pinched, not him. I'd rather not get pinched of course-I mentioned weeder geese to my mother who laughed and reminded me of my childhood trama of accidently discovering a Canadian nest and being chased by a very unhappy gander.

Someone also mentioned feed, I'm wondering if anyone has a round about estimate on feed costs for over wintering. I realize this varies by location and flock size, but I don't know how much a 50lb bag of feed costs. Also, if anyone has considered trying to approach local markets to see about greens that are past the sellable date for human consumption but haven't gone bad yet as a winter suppliment. Again, I'm at the "research" stage and haven't gotten far enough into goose diet to know if this is even feasible. I would prefer to overwinter a flock rather than restart each year training new geese. Plus, in a very unfarm like way, I can't imagine "rewarding" their hard work on the farm all year by selling them to become Christmas dinner. I'll be weighing the costs of geese maintence vs other methods of organic weed control.

And all this because I read about weeder goats in California vineyards!