Free range geese to maintain grass under trees?

[Joybells]

I'm considering buying a breeding pair (to start off with) of Toulouse
geese. The goal is to let them keep the grasses under the fruit and shade trees short, so that I don't have to run the lawnmower as much.
I plan on giving the geese free range, with a plastic wadding pool in the orchard to keep them close.
With twenty acres (mostly sagebrush, about 1-2 acre orchard with green grass and loosly scattered trees where the geese would be kept) and the orchard located in the center will I have any real concerns about giving the geese free range of the place?

I honestly haven't done very much research on geese yet but I was hoping that some of the more experienced people here could help me out.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

They will need night time shelter to keep them safe from predators. They will wonder at times so of you have a spot you want the, to stay in a perimeter fence of some sort will be needed. Are you going to get adults or goslings? If goslings you will need a set up closer to your house until they are grown and able to free range safely during the day.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I agree with Celtic. If you could fence a section of the orchard, even with cheap 4' welded wire it will allow the geese to establish this area as home. It will also offer a little bit of deterrence for stray dogs while the geese are ranging. Until you have a larger flock this is what I personally would do. Also, you will be looking at a nice sized flock of geese to keep a couple acres maintained.

You will definitely need to build them a very secure house for night-time predator protection. Build it large enough to accommodate the total number of geese you plan on getting. That way, you aren't out there adding on or building new buildings all the time: Do it once and build it like a fortress. They don't need fancy tall barns, a simple square building with a slanted roof will do. Just so long as their is enough square feet (about 10 per adult goose) and some nest boxes for breeding season.

My geese seem to prefer certain grasses and plants to others: They won't eat everything just because it is there. Although we have had to mow our front pasture (when not occupied) a few times so far this summer, we have only rarely had to mow the areas frequented by the geese. They love my front yard and it is kept at a constant 1/2 tall. They like new growth, so you will need to keep the areas they do not eat mowed to encourage them to eat there.

Good luck.

 

[Joybells]

Thanks for the advice, I've got some 4' wielded wire left over from my last project so I can easily put that up. .
Someday I'll have an 8' perimeter fence encircling the area where I want to keep my animals (about three acres) then I'll have chickens/geese/guinea fowl/turkey free ranged full time.

Now for the housing right next to the orchard I have a large three sided lean-to that I've used as a goat/hay barn before. It's safe from dogs (small pen and enclosing fence around it to keep deer out of the hay, dogs out of the kids) do you think I could herd the geese into it for the night and it'd be secure enough?
Another option is put them in with the chickens for the night. (don't have any yet, and the chicken coop isn't built yet. I'm hoping the goatbarn will be a good option because I'm bad at building stuff, and my brothers won't be in the mood to build it for geese. )

How far are they liable to wander if my orchard is the greenest patch of land around?
I'm kinda hoping that they decide to stick to my couple arces with the trees just because it's got the best eating around. (neighbors either are separated by a stretch of dry sagebrush or have more dry sagebrush) I don't mind cutting the grass down for young growth if they'll stick around to eat it.

I found someone who's selling goslings, and I have a sort term brooder pen for them next to the house.
I don't think I'd mind adding geese to the potential gaggle but I'm not sure that would be the best mixture. I want to keep the maintenance to a minimum, and the hissing to a minimum (gotta keep the rest of the family happy) I'll probably hatch some eggs, under any broody geese and or in an incubator. I have about three acres I'd like to have all my farm birds run around. Geese aren't my Dad's favorite because of the mess, but if they stay out near the trees and not on the porch, I think he'll let me keep as many as it's self-sustaining on the grass during the spring, summer and fall. Having some tasty homegrown goose for thanksgiving and Christmas dinner doesn't hurt much either.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Thanks for the advice, I've got some 4' wielded wire left over from my last project so I can easily put that up. .
Someday I'll have an 8' perimeter fence encircling the area where I want to keep my animals (about three acres) then I'll have chickens/geese/guinea fowl/turkey free ranged full time.
Now for the housing right next to the orchard I have a large three sided lean-to that I've used as a goat/hay barn before. It's safe from dogs (small pen and enclosing fence around it to keep deer out of the hay, dogs out of the kids) do you think I could herd the geese into it for the night and it'd be secure enough?
Another option is put them in with the chickens for the night. (don't have any yet, and the chicken coop isn't built yet. I'm hoping the goatbarn will be a good option because I'm bad at building stuff, and my brothers won't be in the mood to build it for geese. )
How far are they liable to wander if my orchard is the greenest patch of land around?
I'm kinda hoping that they decide to stick to my couple arces with the trees just because it's got the best eating around. (neighbors either are separated by a stretch of dry sagebrush or have more dry sagebrush) I don't mind cutting the grass down for young growth if they'll stick around to eat it.
I found someone who's selling goslings, and I have a sort term brooder pen for them next to the house.
I don't think I'd mind adding geese to the potential gaggle but I'm not sure that would be the best mixture. I want to keep the maintenance to a minimum, and the hissing to a minimum (gotta keep the rest of the family happy) I'll probably hatch some eggs, under any broody geese and or in an incubator. I have about three acres I'd like to have all my farm birds run around. Geese aren't my Dad's favorite because of the mess, but if they stay out near the trees and not on the porch, I think he'll let me keep as many as it's self-sustaining on the grass during the spring, summer and fall. Having some tasty homegrown goose for thanksgiving and Christmas dinner doesn't hurt much either.

Eventually, once you have the perimeter fencing up, the orchard (so long as the trees are mature) would be a great place for the birds to range. However, perimeter fencing probably won't completely stop predators that dig (the 4' won't stop ones that jump either): It will just severely slow them down. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night without knowing my birds were housed in secure enclosures though.

You should be able to use the old hay/goat shed with some modifications. Personally, I would frame the front and put hardware cloth on the open side and make a nice big door you can fit through too. Also, you'd need to do something around the base of the building. We use post hole diggers and dig a small moat/trench around the base of the whole building then put 14" tall pieces of heavy old roofing metal down in there (allow a couple inches to come up and be attached to the wall) and fill it in. Some folks make a wire floor (can be covered with dirt): Basically, anything to discourage something from digging its way in; Raccoons and foxes are not opposed to digging for their dinner. A couple strands of hot line space a few inches apart around the base of the building may do the trick too, but then you'd need a solar fence charging unit, since I assume it is a good distance from the nearest power source.

My geese are all trained to go in at night. It only takes a new addition a couple days to catch on to the routine. Occasionally, they will give me trouble for a minute or two, but usually they are ready and waiting for me to shut the doors at night, especially the mature birds. My original pair of geese begins to stand by their house a full half an hour or more before dusk. The minute I begin to walk their direction they go in the door and get all settled in.

Well, as to the wandering. The best grass on our 7 acres is right in the pasture by their biggest pond and in our front lawn, but our geese travel over 4 or 5 acres of the 7 every day. We have to keep our main driveway gate closed or they have been known to wander over and visit our elderly neighbors yard. They will come into the garage if the door is left open and then go to the front of the property and visit the juvenile ducks and geese. Then the make their way to see the chickens followed by our back porch, part of the orchard, then the dogs. Then they will wander into a couple of areas we have been doing a lot of dirt work and lay there for a nap. After that they waddle over and see the turkeys, then back to the juvenile pond. Finally, they make their way back to the front and come look in the front windows.If they see us start tapping the windows with their bills. You name it, they check it out. We call them the geese police and nothing gets past them on their rounds. The only way to keep them where I want them is through fencing and gates.

As to the noise and aggressiveness: Not all geese are noisy or aggressive....it is a breed by breed or even sometimes bird by bird type thing. Their can be a lot of hissing and head shaking if you have mated pairs during breeding season. I know that even if mine are acting like that, I can pick them up without fear of being attacked because it is all one big show...unless the goose is sitting on a nest full of eggs: That is a game changer.

Other than changing their bedding, and providing them with clean water daily they really are fairly maintenance free. Oh, you DO need to provide them with some pelleted layer food while they are breeding. They should be okay on pasture, but you'll have to watch them to make sure. If they begin looking a bit thin, then you'll want to offer them some supplemental food in the late afternoon. That way they will graze all day and only eat the pellets if they are really hungry.

Good luck with your project. I hope you are able to get a few geese and whip the old barn into shape for their shelter!

 

[Oregon Blues]

I've got my geese in my orchard. They keep the weeds cleaned up and the grass under control, but they also adore chewing on the fruit trees, especially the peaches.

So, all my trees have rings around them to prevent the geese from chewing on the bark.

The geese will jump as high as they can reach to eat the leaves off of the peach trees. That doesn't harm the trees as long as they can't chew off the bark.

I have my orchard fenced to keep the deer out. If that fence weren't there, I am sure that the geese would spend a lot of time sitting right by my back door. They spend a lot of time next to the gate to the orchard where they can watch for me to come out.

My Pomeranians are very calm and quiet. That doesn't guarantee that Poms from a different source will also be quiet. Goose behavior is more about training than breed.,

 

[larkflying]

I have geese in an orchard right now -- got them last year to keep the grass down.

My geese do nibble on the apple trees -- bumps or rough spots on the trunks are especially interesting to them. They'll eat the leaves, the new growth, and especially immmature fruit up as high as they can reach on the trees (which is surprisingly high -- they'll even jump a little. One of my geese almost strangled herself, trying for an apple and then getting her neck stuck in the crotch of a branch. She must have hung there for an hour or so, flapping her wings and trying to get out). If you have mature fruit trees, they will be okay, but I could see them nibbling young trees down to nothing.

They keep the grass clipped short -- especially as goslings. Two probably won't keep the entire orchard clipped short enough to avoid mowing, unless you fenced them into various small areas. In my area, the geese can keep up with the grass in late spring through the summer and fall. In winter, the grass stops growing and they have to be moved frequently or fed greens. IN the early spring, the grass grows so fast they can't keep up . . . having the geese has almost eliminated my mowing in the orchard - except every now and then to cut down thistles, blackberries, and weeds that they don't eat, and a few times in the early spring . . .

The shed will help a lot with predators -- I'd fortify that, and then just get them used to going in at night. I use an electrified poultry fence for my geese, and they know that it is where they are supposed to be, and get nervous if they are out of it for long. I'd recommend some kind of fencing too - just for containment purposes. They'll want shade and water, but they do like exploring . . . It doesn't have to be too high if you are going to shut them in at night, when coyotes are out. My geese would respect a 3 ft fence most of the time. You'll just have to decide what kind of potential losses you are comfortable with . . .

 

[Joybells]

Digging around the shed and putting wire to deter digging creatures doesn't fit into my plans very well. After some consideration I've decided I want to put a floor down on the half of the shed I haven't stored hay in. Right now my dad is keeping some old junk in there that could be moved out to give me room for my animals. My plans would give me (rough guess because I haven't measured yet) a 10' x10' floor space and the front framed with wire. I'm going to put a roost in for chickens, one with a 24" tray of sweet PDZ so they don't poop on the geese.
I figure I'll be able to use the space for whatever animals I have, keep birds in it, use it as a kidding stall for goats, ect.