Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Toulouse
Amazing Graze
Geese can become quite self-sufficient grazing on pasture in the summer months. Al-
though they enjoy their grain and daily bath, they'll spend hours eating grass, if allowed.
Their sawlike bills can cut off grass better than the best pair of shears. Their desire for
greens starts nearly at day one.
To prepare the young ones for a life of gleaning, I usually give goslings bits of grass,
lettuce, or other leafy vegetables on the third day. They thrive on green plant material.
Once they are feathered at about five weeks, I always turn them out to pasture to run
through the orchard. This accomplishes several tasks: it keeps the orchard from becom-
ing overgrown and it helps to control angel wing, which is a serious problem for all wa-
terfowl, but especially goslings, whose feathers grow faster than their wing bones when
chapter for information regarding the best commercial feed for geese.
WATER FOWL
Dave and Millie Holderread, Holderread Waterfowl
Preservation Center, Corvallis, Oregon
I
NVOLVED WITH POULTRY
since the age of four, Dave acquired his first waterfowl in
1961 at age eight. Within a few years — with his parents' encouragement — he was
supplying hatching eggs to a commercial hatchery in his home state of Oregon, as
well as selling day-olds to his own customers.
