thinking of getting geese next year...

[lorihadams]

What purpose do your geese serve besides an opportunity to whack something with a stick?

I see all these people with geese and I am intrigued but also a little scared cause of all the horror stories I have heard about aggression.

So all you people with geese, tell me, what do you do with them and are they worth it?

 

[mandieg4]

My grandpa kept several geese on his farm when I was growing up. They were excellent watchdogs, better than the dogs themselves We kids were scared to death of them.

 

[farmerlor]

I had some Buffs who were just wonderful with the kids. Whenever my little girl would go outside and sit down there would be a goose in her lap. I hear that Pilgrims are even more friendly BUT they are very, very messy and when they started beating up on my turkeys they had to go.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Excellent watchdogs. Raised from babies mine never became aggressive with me, but I had to lock them up to let strangers in the yard.

I plan to raise most of next years goslings for meat. I may keep a few breeders and offer a few for sale. They make pretty fair lawnmowers and weedeaters too. I have had them turn a scraggly yard into a beautiful lawn over the course of a couple years by removing weeds, keeping grass trimmed, and lots of "fertilizing". I let them weed my garden only under supervision. It's good for entertainment value but watching them takes as much time as weeding myself probably would -- especially since they don't get the roots.

I love that they can basically be raised on good pasture, not really needing feed past the starter stage. Makes for quick, cheap meat. And the adults are good parents and will usually adopt and raise any youngsters. Even a couple of ganders are likely to make good foster parents, so I hear.

I love geese.

 

[~gd]

What purpose do your geese serve besides an opportunity to whack something with a stick? Well I had anywhere from two to 23 geese over a ten year period but I never whacked one with a stick. If you are into whacking may I suggest goats or even better pigs~gd

I see all these people with geese and I am intrigued but also a little scared cause of all the horror stories I have heard about aggression.

So all you people with geese, tell me, what do you do with them and are they worth it?

Strictly from a dollars and cents view they are hard to justify. They are expensive if you have to buy them as either goslings or adults. They can get a lot of their food by grazing like sheep they stick together and graze as a flock they are mostly interested in plants. If you want something to keep insects under control go for ducks. Mine would kill mice but usually only the ones that got in their food dish. They would take them to their water bucket and hold them under water untill they drowned. and then leave them there for me to take care of but that's better than some cats who would leave them on the door step.
They are great for lawn care they wiped out most of the weeds on my acre lawn and returned the grass they ate as 2" long green pellets (otherwise known as poop) they poop everywhere they go but seemed to favor my sidewalk and driveway after I banned them from the porch and deck. They always poop in their pool.
Under strict supervision they are great for weeding gardens or some crops. Mine would trim the wisteria and weeping willow to a uniform bottom(as high as their neck would reach. They also did a great job in the orchard eating the grass and weeds under the trees. they would clean up any 'drops' and any fruit that they could reach.
Why did I keep them? they are funny with a sense of humor. They would "goose" anything including me. other peoples dogs and cats were also favorites as well as visitors. Great alert animals they kick up a loud fuss when anybody enters their territory. People call them agressive mostly they just would claim territory and defend it vigorously. I had a treaty with mine I would stay out of their yard
where I locked them down each night and away from their nests and goslings. In return they would only goose me once in a while instead of grabbing a good hold and beating me with their wings. often they would come and sit beside me when I was out side. If I would sit down on the grass they would come and climb in my lap to have their neck strached. My best moment ever was when I was laying out one evening when mama and papa geese brought their goslings to play on the man mountain after a few minutes mama and papa sliped off to the pool to mate and left me to baby sit!

 

[BarredBuff]

Im also pondering geese. Are they mean? Is the production toulouse a good breed?

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

What purpose do your geese serve besides an opportunity to whack something with a stick?

ha!

so that you can love to hate them.. and hate to love them!

oh OD! why wont you love me back!!?!?

honestly, we still love them. we havent sold ONE of the spring hatched babies and the Meeps are just adorable. we snuggle them.
;-)

 

[savingdogs]

So I guess you are not planning yours for freezer camp.....

 

[patandchickens]

My neighbor has four Pilgrim geese, gotten to weed the veg garden. As I understand it, verdict is still out on them as weeders but they showed some promise; they escape ALL the time; and the only person they chase or bite is their son. I hear them honking a lot though.

Pat, who has been chased a few times too many by those big grey farm-type geese over the years, and is a-skeered to get any herself, even Pilgrims, but I will admit the neighbor's are fairly nice although pushy

 

[homesteadmomma]

My geese are a pair of Tufted Buff and they have earned their forever home. Sweet geese except during the spring. One day a shady looking unmarked van parked in the road and not the driveway so the dogs who were in the house didn't bark. A man got out of the van and instead of coming to the front door went to talk to my then 9 year old about carpet cleaning. He just walked up to her in the side yard where she was doing her homeschooling assignment. She stood up and he kept advancing on her until he had her backed up to the geese pen where they tried to attack him through their pen area and carried on until the whole neighborhood could hear them.

When I went out there he hastily left after muttering something. Rumor is that an unmarked van was trying to pick up kids that week in a neighboring town; fact or fiction I have no idea. Was he there to hurt her I don't know. We live on a very rural road and the geese now run free alot.

Just my story!