We have 81 gray moorland geese, an endangered species, a first cousin of the Toulouse goose but smaller, so less "capitalist" and therefore almost extinct. Unfortunately, we're one of the last farms in France to keep a significant number of these geese. They are free-range on the farm, with a pond (normally forbidden because of avian flu), but we don't agree with this. Geese are aquatic animals and need a pond. They roam over 1.5 hectares and the market garden. They give birth to 250/300 goslings between February and the end of June, when they lay their eggs. During this period, we collect and incubate the eggs, as geese are very bad mothers. The goslings eat nettles and green manure collected on the farm, and crushed corn from the farm. They are reared for 10 months, then fattened in the traditional way with freshly-picked corn of the year, air-dried in the "crip" over November/December, as tradition dictates. This represents just 10% of our business, but we're maintaining a tradition that's disappearing in the face of the industrial duck industry. Our breeding geese end their lives freely on the farm, and have never been affected by avian flu in over 6 epizootics.
