Caring for Domestic Geese

For many the domestic goose is a creature they wish to avoid. Geese are noisy, they chase and bite! Well, true, some do. However with a small introduction to the Anser species, one can find geese fit right into the small farm or even the backyard farm along with ducks but without the disease problems of turkeys.

Before you can decide to add any waterfowl, like geese or ducks to your farmstead, here's a few things about them:

1. Geese (and Ducks) are not chickens! Well, duh everyone knows that. Do they? When it comes to caring for these different species, a surprising number of people will care for them as if they were chickens by providing the same housing and feed, for starters.

2. Geese need a pond to swim in. Well, yes-- sort of.

3. They migrate in the fall. Maybe, but domestic geese at our place haven't yet, and for good reason!

Taking the first point: often due to lack of factual resources, and they are hard to come by, many have fallen into the "feed trap" by supposing chicken feed is good because it says so on the feed bag. Big difference here between chickens, who are land animals (they hate getting wet!) and water fowl: chickens are omnivores, meaning they eat everything from fruits, grains, vegetables to meat, and then look for more.

 Geese on the other hand are vegetarians. Their best diet is composed of quality pasture in fair weather and, quality grass hay in cold weather when fresh pasture is not available. In late fall, the addition of a small amount of grain such as oats, barley, millet or corn given daily in a quantity of 4-6 ounces per bird with all the grass/grass hay they care to eat, and unlimited drinking water is the best thing to feed your geese. They also require grit to digest their food. Provide clean sand such as 'play' sand for them to eat free choice. Geese, you see are 'grazing animals', much like sheep, cows, horses or others. They benefit from clean, well managed pasture and may happily graze along side of other, larger stock animals.

Chickens need greater quantities of protein for laying fresh eggs daily so a 16-18 per cent protein feed is appropriate. The goose requires less, about 12 per cent is good but not less than 10 per cent, much of which is supplied by their grazing and a small amount of grain fed in fall prior to their egg laying season, about February to May of each year.

Feather care is important to all fowl and they will spend a significant time daily preening and cleaning themselves.  Geese will spend even more. They care for their flight feathers, their pin feathers and carefully oil each one to ensure buoyancy when in water. Help your geese keep clean by providing them free range grass in your open yard or pasture, with solid fencing such as horse wire fence or chain link to protect them from predators and domestic dogs. Also provide a secure night time coop, allowing aprox. 2-4 square feet per bird to protect them in absence of a pond which they might otherwise flee to when threatened. Use 6-8 inches of straw bedding in the coop, as it is their preferred bedding.

Second: While a pond is nice, geese do not require one. Ponds in fact are a major source of parasitic infestations. It's better to purchase a soft plastic kiddie wading pool or a low sided stock tank so they can easily climb in and out. Dump the water regularly for their good health. Geese do require shade in hot months. Provide either trees, bushes or a tarp for shade purposes. Consider shading the drinking water also.

And thirdly, geese who are happy and well fed (remember to start the grain feeding in late fall) don't have the urge to migrate. In addition like most birds, geese are territorial. They like their place and tend to stay put. Some may fly around the farmstead upon occasion but they won't leave home-- or their flock for any extended time. Best of all handle your chicks, goslings as baby geese are called, daily. Feed them, pick them up, talk to them.
Recognizing you and your voice is critical to happy future interaction with your birds. This will tame them and they will recognize you uniquely as part of the flock, so they'll not charge or bite you when mature. Your goose can be expected to live about 18-20 years on average and will be able to raise goslings the majority of their long lives. In contrast chickens live about 10 to 12 years, on average.


Try them if you have the right environment, housing and access to feed. They are smart; you can train them with patience and persistence. And they are quite friendly when handled from their earliest days.

A Goat for Milking

Goats make excellent milkers for the small farmstead. They are very efficient users of feeds, converting more pound per pound to milk than a cow. They are smaller body size, intelligent and easily trained to milk. The equipment required to milk your doe is minimal. However the time you will invest in caring for your milking doe is large.
They must be milked twice daily without fail. If you cannot milk on any given occasion, you must find a substitute to do it for you. It cannot be postponed. If this seems unrealistic for you, then congratulate yourself on your good foresight. If, on the other hand, you have a home based lifestyle, then milking may easily fall into your routine of daily activities.

The main item you will require besides a 'freshened' doe, one who has kidded recently, and is lactating, is a milking stand and stool. A stanchion style milk stand is preferred by many. The doe will quickly enjoy her time on the stand if you give her grain rations there.Many does enjoy grooming with a rubber curry brush while on the stand. In addition when she is relieved of the pressure of her full udder, she will gladly allow you to milk her, once accustomed to this process.
As mentioned goats are quite agile; with some encouragement you can teach her to jump up onto the milk stand and receive her grain. Once she does this willingly, the stanchion bar is secured which allows her to move her head up and down, forward and look around but not back. This is important because you will be seated near her side to milk her. if she backs up milking is nearly impossible, and she will surely step into the milk pail and spoil the milk you've collected or tip it over. so always secure the stanchion bar when she jumps up onto the stand. If you find training your doe to jump up difficult, a ramp may be added to the stand for her to walk up onto it.

A few other items will be required in addition to the milking stand which you may make yourself or purchase ready-made. Stainless steel milking pans or pails, at least one of each; iodine compound for cleansing the udder just prior to milking or another approved product for this purpose; towels, soft brushes for cleaning milking equipment, milk filter paper, for filtering the milk after collection and a refrigerator kept at 38 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit in which to store the milk. Learning to milk really isn't hard; practice makes perfect, and you can laugh while you get the technique down.
Remember, it is very important to milk your doe each and every day at the same time or very close. Many does will become ill with Mastitis and a serious fever if you do not. For more details about the process of milking, consult your library, the Internet for videos or your extension agent. Contact the American Dairy Goat Association, located in North Carolina to learn about others in your area who have milking goats.

Goat milk when well handled is nutritious, good tasting and naturally homogenized. It is easily frozen for later use. Consult with a veterinarian or your state extension service to learn if any specific health tests are recommended for your milking animals. It is not unheard of for milking species to carry forms of tuberculosis or brucellosis; both diseases are transmittable to humans. For any sales of milk to others, your state may have several specific requirements. Learn what these are if you intend to sell any milk or milk products.

A final note, there is a specific breed of sheep which produces good quality milk, often used in yogurt or cheese making, the Holstein sheep; like the cow of the same name it originates from the same region of Europe. They are available in the United States about 20 years now. Check the internet or the breed association for breeders and locations.

For more about care of goats or sheep: http://oncollinspond.blogspot.com/2014/02/sheep-and-goats-small-farm.html