The Toulouse is a French breed of large

domestic goose A domestic goose is a goose that humans have domesticated and kept for their meat, eggs, or down feathers, or as companion animals. Domestic geese have been derived through selective breeding from the wild greylag goose (''Anser anser domesticu ...

, originally from the area of

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

in south-western France. Two types are recognised: a heavy industrial type with

dewlap A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin or similar flesh that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. More loosely, it can be various similar structures in the neck area, such as those caused by a double chin or the submandibula ...

s, the ; and a slightly lighter agricultural type without dewlaps, the . Both types are large, with weights of up to . Birds bred in the United Kingdom and United States exclusively for showing may be still larger, and have a somewhat different conformation.

History

The history of the Toulouse is a long one, going back at least to 1555. It was reared for meat and for

foie gras ; (, ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a Domestic duck, duck or Domestic goose, goose. According to French law, ''foie gras'' is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by ''gavage'' (force feeding). ''Foie gras'' i ...

. Some were brought to the United Kingdom in the 1840s by

Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851), styled Lord Stanley from 1776 to 1832, and Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe from 1832–4, was an English politician, peer, landowner, builder, farmer, art collector and na ...

, who was at that time president of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

. There it was

bred A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

for considerably greater weight; the British

breed standard In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include phenotype, physical or morphology (biology), morphological detail, genotype, g ...

dates from 1865. Some of these heavier British birds were later exported to North America. The Toulouse was included in the first ''

Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official book of breed standards of the American Poultry Association. It classifies and describes the standard physical appearance, coloring and temperament for many breeds of poultry recognized i ...

'' of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respons ...

in 1874. It is reared principally in the

upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

, where its good tolerance of cold weather is an advantage.

Characteristics

The Toulouse generally has a placid disposition. Ring size is for both ganders and geese. In France weights are usually in the range . The British standard calls for an average weight of about for geese, and nearly for ganders.

Use

The production strain of the Toulouse goose was bred to be fast-growing, gaining weight rapidly when there is an abundance of food and no room for exercise. It may be reared for its meat, for goose fat, or for

. Exhibition strains are slow-growing. Geese of the type without dewlaps lay 25–40 extra-large white eggs per year, while geese of the dewlap type lay 20–35. The birds may also be a source of goose down.

History

Characteristics

Use

References

Further reading