Omniskies

One of the most misunderstood birds on a farm, the goose is oftentimes overlooked as a noisy, aggressive waste of space, but just like with dogs, different breeds of geese have different personalities. Some, the most popular of the breeds, are devout watchdogs, while others are far more laid back.

The Pilgrim, and to a lesser degree the American Buff, are bred for personality. Right from the start you will notice they are more interested in nibbling on your fingers and "talking" to you rather than huddling up and running away. As they get older they keep this behavior, happily greeting you in the yard and eyeing strangers suspiciously.

There are a wealth of reasons to add geese to your barnyard menagerie.

Being social animals, geese are content to hang around other types of poultry, although they can be bullies at times. A medium-sized goose is roughly the size of two large hens and don't take up too much room.
Geese in general are extremely disease-resistant, eat mostly grass and weeds, and do not require a pond to keep (even when offered one, geese will spend most of their time on land).
They don't require being in a brooder for very long, and can be moved outside in 2-4 weeks, weather permitting, unlike chickens, which require 4-6+ weeks.
They have an amazing amount of personality, being more like a gaggle of puppies or toddlers than of birds. Sitting and watching your geese inventing new games in the yard can keep you entertained for hours.
Goslings are fully feathered out and ready to butcher at 12-15 weeks of age, gaining an average of a pound a week until they are 12 weeks old. This means their feed costs are a fraction of a duck, chicken or turkey of the same size.
The meat is excellent and juicy rather than greasy. In my opinion, it is easier to cook than turkey since it doesn't require constant basting.
A single pair of geese can provide you with 20-30 goslings in a single year, which is around 200-300lbs at live weight and around 120-180 lbs when processed. There are more than enough to fill your freezer, add to your flock and still sell some to offset expenses. They are excellent parents when allowed to raise their own young, although that will cut down on the number of goslings you get in a year.
They can be turned out to weed a garden, and taught to like certain weeds that plague you. Many traditional orchards still keep a flock of geese to weed older trees.
You can harvest their down and collect their feathers for crafts. For more information on humane live harvesting see our article Live Harvesting Goose Down.
They do not need a fancy building - just something to protect them from the wind.

The list goes on and on.

For people concerned about feeding large birds, don't be: geese are cheaper to keep than chickens: they grow on grass. For more information about raising geese, see this article from Mother Earth News magazine: Geese Grow On Grass.

Because of our bias, our information about raising geese will focus on Pilgrims. Egg production, growth and personality will vary from breed to breed. In the future we will try to have a general goose (and goose breeds) page for people who are interested in raising, or already have, other breeds.

Our Breeds

At the moment we are trying to build up our Pilgrim flock, these being the geese we want to work with the most. New bloodlines, particularly breeder lines rather than hatchery-based ones, are always of interest. So far we have collected lines from Iowa, California, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and here in Missouri.

We are keeping a small flock of American Buffs on the side to help promote this rare breed. More information about them will appear later.