Farm Progress

Is it time to bring back weeder geese?

February 13, 2009

1 Min Read

I read with interest the article (Delta Farm Press, Dec. 12, 2008) about glyphosate-resistant weeds. From the first year that Roundup Ready soybeans were released, we all knew it would happen, it was just a matter of when it happened.

During the late 1940s, and on into the early 1970s, there was a hatchery near where I live that specialized in raising “weeder geese.” They hatched goslings, shipped them south to be turned loose in cotton fields for the season, then bought them back in late summer and fattened them for slaughter.

I realize it would take a lot of geese to service all of the cotton acres, but perhaps some could be utilized in areas where the resistant weeds are the worst. It might beat the “chopping crews” that weed scientist Larry Steckel mentioned as an alternative to chemical.

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