Geese

We have 81 grey geese from the moors, an endangered species, first cousin of the Toulouse goose but smaller, therefore less "capitalist" and therefore almost extinct. Unfortunately, we are one of the last farms to have a significant number of these geese. They are free in the farm, with a pond (normally forbidden because of the avian flu) but we do not agree with that. A goose is an aquatic animal and needs a pond. They circulate in particular on 1,5ha and in the market garden. They will give birth to 250/300 goslings from February to the end of June, the laying period. During this period, we collect and put in the incubator the eggs, the geese being very bad mothers. The goslings eat nettles and green manure collected on the farm and crushed corn of the farm. They will be raised for 10 months and then fattened in the traditional way with freshly picked corn of the year and air-dried in the "crip" in November/December as is the tradition. It is only 10% of our activity but we maintain a tradition that is disappearing in front of the industrial duck industry. Our breeding geese finish their lives freely on the farm and have never been affected by avian flu in more than 6 epizootics.