Geese and ducks

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by hinga, Oct 26, 2014.

  1. hinga

    hinga Junior Member

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    Hi all

    have been busy on our ten acre property in Victoria planting over 1000 tag and olive trees as part of an initial windbreak we need for our long term goal of starting a pyo cane berry farm. My concept at the moment is just that , a concept. We will be going ahead with the berries once some soil rehab and improvement has been carried out and we are happy the windbreak is becoming effective. We plan on having the berries initially on only perhaps 1-2 acres at most. My idea is plant a proportion of the rear of the property with figs and mulberries to house geese and ducks which I was hoping to graze in the berry rows in the off season to keep grass and pests down, improve fertility etc etc. Have purchased a maremma to protect the birds also. The reason I am posting this here to ask others what they think of this idea, is it simply an ideal or do you think this could work well. To me it seems counter productive to ride up and down the rows all year with a mower when birds do a great job. I was considering Toulouse geese due to their apparent quite nature and perhaps aylesbury ducks to help control bugs better that geese. Any suggestion on the 3-4 acres on trees you would plant as a feed and shade substitute to the birds diet during the summer when they won't be able to graze the berry rows. Ok people don't hold back, I'm very keen on the berry idea, however I want to look at the bird idea wisely to see if they would work well as a system. I have not seen such a system like this on a scale larger than a backyard. Thanks for your time.
     
  2. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    I'll forward this post on to someone that is doing similar and see if that respond. Hang tight.
     
  3. void_genesis

    void_genesis Junior Member

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    Sounds viable to me.

    The geese in my experience have zero interest in bugs and snails. You can offer them right to their beak and they don't want to eat them. Keep them away from berry leaves when they are developing and they shouldnt develop a taste for them as adults. I wouldnt expect the geese to eat the bramble berries either, so they should be fine to be in the bramble areas during harvest to keep working on the grass. You would probably need to fence the area and move the watering point around (a big full bucket works for us), otherwise they will either head to the dam all day and ignore the grass you want eaten down, or lounge near the water all day and not bother walking to the far ends of the paddock. Ducks on the other hand are a bit more opportunistic and motivated, so they will definitely control slugs and bugs but will also potentially eat berries. They are also more vulnerable to predators than geese, so training them to go into a night pen (in return for supplementary food) would be useful, also to be able to separate them from the geese when needed. Toulouse are quite heavy and lazy birds and poor breeders, especially if they aren't on a dam. I would recommend any common geese (usually embden or crosses) or even chinese if you can stand the extra honking. Toulouse would only be worth the bother if you were particularly interested in goose meat or livers.

    I would consider adding strawberries to the set up to further spread out the harvest in time, and also to give a quicker return than the brambles. There might be a niche in Fragaria vesca grown from seed- fiddly to begin but you can scale up very rapidly at low cost once you master growing them from seed. A few different places sell the seed in Australia, and seed grown is always virus free so you can perpetuate your own stock.

    Your biggest potential problem with berries is labour (unless you are going for a pick your own venture), and the perishability of the fruit (no room for error getting it to market, bad seasons can easily ruin the entire crop). Are the olives planned as a way to give a more reliable crop in the long run to tide you over during bad seasons?

    One other thing I have noticed with my geese grazing. In the areas they like and eat the grass regularly you initially get a lovely dense low lawn of well controlled grass, but then non grassy weeds move in as the geese keep picking out the grass. Depending on the type of weeds you have in your area these could be as bad or worse than the grass, so depending on how you manage the geese you might end up doing just as much hand weeding or mowing. A movable pen or fence would easily contain geese and help in keeping them moving onto fresh grass and focusing on the areas you want them to eat, and also potentially provide some more predator deterrence.
     
  4. hinga

    hinga Junior Member

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    Hi sop sop did you ever get onto this person?

    kind regards

    hinga
     
  5. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Void was the guy. Post above yours.
     
  6. hinga

    hinga Junior Member

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    apologies didnt realise that was the guy you mentioned. Thankyou both for your advice
     

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