Swan (Chinese/African) Goose Breeds?

[blackbox]

I'm pretty new to learning about geese, and one thing that really surprised me was the apparent lack of many different breeds of Swan Geese. African, Brown/White Chinese, and some of the very heavy variants like Lion-headed Geese seem to be the only ones. Given the natural tendency of people to breed any domestic animal for the widest range of colors and phenotypes possible, I'm shocked that there aren't at least more *color* or pattern variants besides brown and white. Anyone aware of lesser-known Swan Goose breeds? Or is there something genetically that prevents the kind of diversity you see in Greylag breeds?

 

[Goosebaby]

Kholmogory geese are another derived breed. Steinbacher may have some swan goose in them also.

There are likely more but their presence in North America and Britain may be non existant or incredibly rare. It’s difficult to import poultry and to dig up breed information originating from Eastern Europe and Asia, much of it isn’t recorded, recorded in languages that our search engines no longer pull up post ending of net neutrality, or is simply lost.

One of the sad affects of communism in the USSR was the mass disappearance of ancient breeds of livestock. If the ”people” decided a breed was antiquated and not as productive as it should be it needed to disappear and be replaced with a newer “superior” creation for the good of mother Russia. Breeds of livestock if not seen as good enough were eradicated or simply disappeared from neglect and abandonment as rural communities were also eradicated or displaced through Russia, the Ukraine, and other eastern territories that came under the boot of the USSR.
Being that Swan geese are an eastern subspecies Russia and China are the most likely places one would search for derived breeds, but given human politics they may no longer exist there.

 

[blackbox]

Kholmogory geese are another derived breed. Steinbacher may have some swan goose in them also.

Oh wow! Kholmogory geese are absolutely beautiful, I haven't seen them before!!

It is truly a shame what a language/politics gap can do to knowledge. Even finding information about lion-headed geese, by all accounts a popular and extant breed in China, is almost impossible. Hoping some day swan geese become more popular globally, they are truly my favorites.

I wonder if old-school research might glean more information...? Maybe there's some midcentury book about different domestic geese breeds worldwide I could dig up in some library.

 

[Der Vogelhof]

Kholmogory geese are another derived breed. Steinbacher may have some swan goose in them also.

There are likely more but their presence in North America and Britain may be non existant or incredibly rare. It’s difficult to import poultry and to dig up breed information originating from Eastern Europe and Asia, much of it isn’t recorded, recorded in languages that our search engines no longer pull up post ending of net neutrality, or is simply lost.

One of the sad affects of communism in the USSR was the mass disappearance of ancient breeds of livestock. If the ”people” decided a breed was antiquated and not as productive as it should be it needed to disappear and be replaced with a newer “superior” creation for the good of mother Russia. Breeds of livestock if not seen as good enough were eradicated or simply disappeared from neglect and abandonment as rural communities were also eradicated or displaced through Russia, the Ukraine, and other eastern territories that came under the boot of the USSR.
Being that Swan geese are an eastern subspecies Russia and China are the most likely places one would search for derived breeds, but given human politics they may no longer exist there.

Kholmagory are hybrids, with complex lineage that includes Asiatic Swan and Greylag types.