Goslings are sometimes troubled with lameness. This is usually caused by faulty feeding also, particularly by feeding a ration which is lacking in something needed, such as some form of animal feed like beef scrap which may cause a lack of mineral matter in the ration. If the goslings cannot secure it for themselves a supply of grit or gravel should be placed at their disposal.
There is an infectious disease of geese which sometimes causes trouble known as goose septicemia or hemorrhagic septicemia. This is a disease similar to fowl cholera and may attack either young or mature geese. It is not often found on farms where the geese are raised in small lots, but sometimes proves troublesome on farms where a large number of geese are gathered together for fattening. The geese are often found dead when one goes to feed them without having shown much preliminary sickness. The disease is usually fatal. Shortly before they die the affected geese may acquire an uncertain gait and may twist the head about and burrow it in the dirt. Treatment is of no avail. If the disease occurs in a flock, the affected birds should be removed and killed, while the rest of the flock should be moved to new ground if possible. The ground which they previously occupied should be plowed and any houses, shelter, feed troughs, and drinking vessels should be thoroughly disinfected.
CHAPTER XIV
Fattening and Marketing Geese
Classes of Geese Marketed. The market geese consist principally of the surplus young ganders not required for breeding purposes and such of the old geese of either sex as it may be considered desirable to get rid of. Some young females, when the number raised is in excess of the number required for breeders also find their way to market. While these geese are marketed in the largest numbers during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, particularly the latter, some geese of course find their way to market practically throughout the year. There is also a rather limited trade in "green geese" which corresponds to the trade in spring or "green" ducklings. Green geese are goslings about 12 to 16 weeks old, generally of the larger breeds, which are forced for rapid growth and are made to weigh in the neighborhood of 10 pounds at that age. These bring a good price and yield a good profit where there is demand for this class of geese.
Markets and Prices. As with most classes of poultry, the large cities offer the best market for geese. Especially the cities which have a large foreign population make good markets as many foreigners are more in the habit of using geese for a holiday dish than are native Americans. The most favorable market usually occurs at Christmas when roast goose and apple sauce is in considerable favor. Considerable numbers of geese are also used at Thanksgiving time and in recent years as the price of turkeys has steadily increased there has been an increasing tendency to substitute goose for turkey on that day. Following are prices paid for various classes of geese on the New York wholesale market from May 1920 to June 1921 as reported by the New York Produce Review. Quite a wide variation in price will be noted in many cases which reflects the difference in condition of the geese as received. In the case of express receipts of live geese where a wide variation in prices occurs the high quotations represent the receipt of especially fattened geese from nearby farms.