[harry]

hi...had geese before with various results   having another go this year.... embden types ...whats a good feeding regime to get a good meat bird without loads of fat... they will have plenty of free range rough grazing, so do i feed growers well for 6 weeks then when big enough let them free range with pellet or corn  liberal suppliments then later pen them and restict the area of free range and feed more pellets / corn.... will corn pile on the fat. or do i just give them max pellets etc for 8 months (will work out costly geese)....    ALSO if i spray nettles and docks how long do i need to keep geese away from sprayed plants

[Shropshirelass]

As for the plant's harry not a clue as normally the sheep or geese eat the nettles but as for a good meat bird without loads of fat with geese & ducks I think it's pretty much impossible as their a pretty fatty species & of course need the fats / oils in their bodies for boyency in water - we don't really feed ours heavily until about 1-3 months before slaughter at xmas & they graze & have access to the river up until about 2-3weeks before xmas & we have a cider orchard so sometimes make cider so we use the apples or apple pulp & also mashed or boiled cooked leftover potatoes along with grain to fatten them on & of course in the last 2-3 weeks keep them in a large shed with ad lib corn to help them gain a few more pounds & then withdraw feed but not water the day before. We also keep our trio of breeding stock 2 embeden x females & a grey back gander with them to keep them calm in that 3 week period. All in all ours tend to average out between 10-16lbs dressed with I think 18lbs being the largest but that is very rare.

You'd be best contacting some feed retailers like wynstay or countrywide to see if they could help x