Farm Diversification

Housing must be available for day-old goslings and for geese to be brought in at night. Geese, for all their size and apparent aggression, do fall prey to foxes. Brooders must be available for the day-old goslings. Artificial lighting to enable 23 hours of light per day to be provided.

If the birds are being grazed then good quality young grass should be available. Geese cannot easily digest coarse seeded grass and may become crop bound if the grass is not kept cut. Stocking density should be about 125 birds per hectare, depending on the quality of the grass and the type of goose kept, as well as the availability of supplementary feed.

Supplementary feed can be fed in the form of a mash or pellet. Drinking water should be available in drinkers in which the geese can submerge their heads to prevent eye problems and to keep good clean feathering.

Wild geese are monogamous. Under commercial conditions, with good management, allowing four geese to one gander flock mating can be achieved. However geese must be well used to each other before they will breed and for best results `sets' should have been reared together from day-olds.

When young geese are bought in they should have a minimum of six weeks together before fertile eggs can be expected. Geese can be sexed at day old but thereafter not until sexually mature. Overfeeding reduces fertility.

Through the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2007-2013 funding is now available for rural businesses throughout Scotland for diversification and renewable energy projects. Specifically, support is delivered through Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities which was launched in April 2008. For further information about what support is available see the Section on Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities.