Geese

Geese are some of the easiest animals to keep.

They suffer from very few diseases and will feed themselves as long as there is some grass around. They only require a very simple shed. However, they must have access to water, preferably running water. A small stream and pond is ideal.

Geese are particularly suitable for orchards because they don't damage the trees and manage to graze under even bush fruit trees. If left to roam they will always be back before dark.

Foxes, of course, are very fond of geese - (in their own way) - but will usually only try to attack them at night if they are not locked away. However, remember that geese don't tend to lay surplus eggs. They are rather natural animals and will only lay eggs for breeding, which usually starts a couple of weeks before Easter. You can then snatch a few eggs for omelettes or family sized fried eggs, but geese don't often lay outside their breeding season.

If everything goes well - which it doesn't always - one goose will give life to about a dozen goslings, most of which will end up as Christmas dinners. There is a growing demand for geese at Christmas and they now fetch over £1 per pound. This is nearly twice as much as you have to pay for turkeys.

A family of geese will get through a surprising amount of grass during a summer and autumn; twelve growing goslings, plus goose and gander will probably need about an acre of grass. They won't, of course, eat hay in the winter, and if you only hang on to goose and gander during the winter, they'll manage on very little grass plus a bag of chicken feed.

Ganders have a reputation for being vicious, but that is really rather exaggerated. They are great show-offs and most of their aggressive behaviour during the mating and breeding season is in fact propaganda.