Biosecurity
At the farm walk Daniel Parker, British Poultry Council veterinary adviser, gave members some practical guidance on biosecurity:

- Visitors: The biggest threat of disease comes from people, vehicles and equipment coming on to the farm. Limit visits and adopt thorough disinfecting procedures with any vehicles or
people coming on to the farm.
- Health Plan: Have a written health plan, with targets, developed in conjunction with your vet, ADAS, Defra, and feed and disinfectant suppliers and modify from year to year.
- Avoid species mixing, and adopt biosecurity measures between geese and other turkeys
- Foot dips: Use double foot dips – outside and inside buildings, with change of boots, hand washing and fresh overalls for each location
- Sourcing stock: Purchase goslings from reliable sources where status of flock health (eg salmonella, parvo virus) is known.

 

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Village where everything stops for the geese

The sight of geese being driven through a village street was once a familiar sight in the British countryside. When it happens today it can create quite a stir.

The spectacle certainly proved alluring to the media when it provided the curtain raiser to one of the best farm walks organised by British Goose Producers at the Botterill family’s farm at Croxton Kerrial on the Leicestershire - Lincolnshire border in October.

Television reporters and cameramen arrived well before the geese set off on their walk down from the farmyard to the idyllic hillside paddock overlooking the medieval church.

BBC reporter Mark Heathcote chose to record an interview with Richard Botterill walking among the geese as they made their way down the street.

The ‘footage’ so impressed the BBC editors that it was chosen as one of the national clips of the day on the
BBC News website. As well as on ITV news and in local newspapers, a picture of the geese was also prominent in the Daily Express at the weekend.

Village residents have long been familiar with the sight of geese walking through the street - and some came out to watch the filming. But passing motorists aren’t always so patient.

"Just occasionally we come across an irate motorist," says Richard Botterill told the media "Like the time one motorist got out of his car and started taking pictures of the geese. He said his boss would never believe why he was late for work!"

His parents Gerald and Ann have been keeping geese for almost 25 years at Lings View Farm. They have invested some £100,000 in a new packhouse – even with farm labour
keeping down the cost. This provided the ideal opportunity for a workshop showing our members from all over the UK and Ireland how they rear, pluck, process and market some 1500 for Christmas.

The family sell around one third of the geese at the farmgate, supply many farm shops and butchers through the East Midlands and have some customers country wide. They also produce other free range poultry — turkeys for Christmas and now also chickens through the year — as well as growing wheat, oilseed rape and beans on the arable acres.