How and how to feed geese for rapid growth for meat at home

Geese are one of the most popular types of poultry, which are kept in order to obtain dietary, tasty and healthy meat. Subject to the basic rules for growing and feeding geese, it is possible to get a good quality livestock in a fairly short time. How to properly provide food for waterfowl and what is the difference between their diet in winter and summer, let’s figure it out.

Types of feed for geese

To increase the productivity of domestic geese, as well as to achieve intensive weight gain, a properly balanced vitamin and mineral diet allows. There are three main types of feed, each of which is used under certain conditions for keeping birds.

Wet

Wet foods are various types of mash or talkers, which include grain mixtures, boiled vegetables, dairy products, cake, vegetable waste, etc. In most cases, the basis of wet nutrition is combined feed.

When using mixers, you should follow a few simple rules:

  • correctly calculate the portion for one feeding and avoid the presence of residues, since the food deteriorates very quickly;
  • wet food must be supplemented with dry mixes;
  • the mash should have a certain consistency. You can not give geese too viscous feed.

Geese

Usually this type of food is provided to birds three times a day: in the morning, at lunchtime and late in the evening.

dry

Dry food is one of the most simple, budgetary and easy-to-use type of food. They are completely ready for use. Most often, the basis of dry food is crushed and ground grain – barley, oats, millet, wheat, as well as compound feed and corn. Despite the fact that this type of food is simple and easy to use, they have a significant drawback – low nutritional value. Using exclusively dry food, the bird does not gain weight well, grows and develops at a slow pace. It is practiced only in an unproductive period of time.

Dry food

Combined

The symbiosis of dry and wet food is a combination food. This type of feeding is considered the most optimal for the bird, since it allows it to gain weight well and develop dynamically. In addition, geese eat it with great pleasure.

Important! To fatten birds and get excellent weight gain, they need to organize a diet that includes all three types of feed.

Basic feeding rules

Proper development of the diet makes it possible to provide the geese with all the required valuable components, vitamins and minerals, as well as to achieve a rapid increase in fat and muscle mass.

Feeding geese

When feeding birds for slaughter, it is recommended to follow the basic rules:

  • give food at approximately the same time;
  • adult geese are advised to feed no more than four times a day;
  • when feeding wet talkers, you need to correctly calculate the portion so that there is no residue;
  • mixers in the cold season must be prepared on the basis of a warm liquid;
  • the diet of poultry at any time of the year should be enriched with an additional portion of minerals – calcium, sodium and phosphorus, which are required to maintain good, good health of waterfowl;
  • in summer, waterfowl that are on pasture walking are recommended to be fed only in the evening;
  • poultry houses must be equipped with drinking bowls with clean water, to which access should always be;
  • in winter, the menu should be enriched with feeds with a high content of vitamins A, E and D;
  • in warm weather, birds need to be provided with a lot of greenery – approximately 2 kg of greenery per day per individual;
  • 30 days before slaughter, it is advised to strengthen the diet of waterfowl by adding cereals and food with a high protein content. The diet of corn at this time is reduced, since it can cause excessive obesity.

Did you know? To get the most valuable delicacy – foie gras (goose liver), birds are force-fed, passing food through a hose located in the throat. However, in some countries, such food is prohibited by law, as it is considered from the point of view of cruelty to animals.

How and how to feed geese for rapid growth for meat

Providing geese with a balanced diet is easy. In order for them to intensively gain weight, several types of fattening are used.

Grassland fattening

The most economical fattening option is meadow, in which almost round knocking birds are grazing. For grazing, it is recommended to select places where herbs of various types grow: legumes, alfalfa, clover, oats, rye, timothy grass, couch grass, etc. Birds prefer to eat juicy and young greens, which allows you to saturate the body with microelements that contribute to good productivity and reproduction .

Important! It is not recommended to graze geese in clearings where sedge, cuff or “crow’s feet” grow, since these herbs have a specific bitter taste and can discourage waterfowl from eating greens.

The ideal option would be to have small ponds near pastures, where geese can supplement their daily diet with small fish and algae. In the evening, it is recommended to diversify the menu with grain mixtures, corn, herbal flour, root crops.

intensive fattening

When raising geese solely for the purpose of obtaining meat, it is necessary for them to provide enhanced intensive fattening, which is based on reducing the motor activity of the bird and keeping it in a special cage or box. A specially designed diet and cell cultivation allow you to build muscle and fat mass in a short time, and achieve a good weight gain.

Geese

For proper intensive feeding, flour is used that contains cereals in the following proportions:

  • oatmeal – 25%;
  • corn – 20%;
  • barley – 20%;
  • bran from wheat – 19%;
  • wheat – 15%;
  • table salt – 1,5 g.

From a mixture of the above ingredients, it is necessary to prepare a dough, which in the form of a ball is given to waterfowl forcibly. With a similar feeding scheme, geese can gain up to 120 g in weight per day. In most cases, such nutrition is practiced 14 days before slaughter. Birds are given 3-5 balls per day, the size of which is equal to a goose egg.

Did you know? The domestication of geese took place over 4000 years ago in ancient Egypt. The progenitor of the modern bird was the wild northern goose.

Feeding before slaughter

Of course, a few days before slaughter, food and care for waterfowl should be of the highest quality. 14 days before the expected date of slaughter, geese are transferred to 4-6 meals a day, with the main emphasis on the use of steamed grain. Any type of cereal is used, except for rye, which negatively affects the nutritional qualities of goose fat.

Geese

In addition, the main part of the waterfowl menu at this time should be: flour food, the nutritional qualities of which will contribute to the growth of a large percentage of meat with a small amount of fat. Also, before slaughter, the walking of geese is reduced, and they are placed in special cages or boxes, which limit their motor activity as much as possible.

In the process of fattening before slaughter, the basis of the diet, about 65%, should include: boiled potatoes, cake and flour.

Important! Regardless of the feeding method, geese should always have access to water. Otherwise, various problems associated with the functioning of the digestive tract may develop. In addition, with the help of water, the birds rinse their nostrils from the remnants of food.

Features of feeding

The main menu of geese also depends on the season.

In winter

Due to the lack of pasture feeding during the cold period, geese require more enhanced nutrition than in summer. In winter, the number of feedings from two must be increased to four, while the approximate diet is developed in this way:

  • morning and lunch consist of wet food, which includes: boiled potatoes, raw carrots or sugar beets, herb meal and compound feed;
  • the second lunch and dinner involve the use of soaked grain mixtures: barley, oats, ground millet, crushed wheat, bran.

Geese in winter

Also, the menu is enriched with silage from clover, cabbage, legumes, which almost completely replaces fresh greens for birds. Strengthen the immune system of geese, increase the body’s resistance to various diseases, in particular colds, helps spruce or pine needles, rich in vitamin C.

To enhance the palatability of the feed and its nutritional value, yeast is made: 2 g of yeast is diluted in 20 liters of warm water, 1 kg of grain is added and infused for several hours at a temperature of + 20 ° C.

In the summer

As a rule, geese are reared from March to August, when there is the possibility of pasture walking. Almost the entire season, waterfowl spend time in the meadows, which, in turn, allows breeders to significantly save on feed and, thus, increase the profitability of keeping.

It should be noted that in the choice of herbs for feeding, geese are very picky. They love to eat legumes, clover, alfalfa, wheatgrass, various cereals before they bloom. Birds extract algae, small fish, reeds, etc. from reservoirs. Fresh greens in the warm period enable geese to fill the body with valuable components, accumulate a certain amount of fat, which will make it easy to survive the cold.

Geese in summer

In the evening, birds are fed with other types of food: grain, corn, root crops, vegetables, flour. Be sure to supplement the menu with components designed to improve digestion: sand from the river, fine gravel, shells.

Signs of improper feeding

The diet and its quality, of course, are reflected in the behavior of birds, their health and appearance. The following symptoms may indicate that there are errors in feeding waterfowl:

    • diarrhea, digestive problems: may occur due to an overabundance of green fodder in the menu. In such cases, it is recommended to temporarily switch the bird to pellet feed;
    • coughing and frequent sneezing: are a sign of an excess of dry or fine food that makes breathing difficult and causes a dry cough. When such problems arise, the volumes of wet mashes are increased for birds, shells or fine sand are added to the menu. If the correction of nutrition did not give the desired results, then to clean the esophagus, a certain amount of water is forcibly poured into the throat of the geese;

Did you know? Geese are long-lived birds. In the wild, their life expectancy is about 25 years. At home, they can live for about 30 years.

  • diarrhea accompanied by apathy, loss of appetite, feeling unwell: this condition indicates intoxication of the body. Most likely, the bird ate poisoned grass while walking. Usually, adults are well versed as meadow herbs, but young animals, due to their inexperience, can taste forbidden types of greens. In case of poisoning by waterfowl, gastric lavage is carried out by pouring a large amount of water into the throat;
  • indigestion: in most cases, it can occur due to a sudden transition from concentrated nutrition to green fodder. In this option, you need to adjust the power;
  • poor appetite, loss of plumage: indicate a deficiency in the diet of micro- and macroelements, as well as biologically active substances. To replenish them, you should enrich the menu with vitamin and mineral complexes.

Feeding geese

Competent organization of the nutrition of domestic geese makes the cultivation of this type of bird very simple and cost-effective. Breeders, having drawn up the correct feeding scheme, have the opportunity to grow a large livestock in a short time, which will provide dietary meat with extraordinary taste and high nutritional value.

You can bookmark this page

Anna Evans

Author-editor

View all posts by Anna Evans →