When migrating they fly much higher, finding an altitude with a wind that is going their direction. Gees have been seen as high as 9,000 feet. The air to the side of a flying goose is smoother to fly in than the more turbulent air right behind. A goose flying behind another goose would be like a person trying to swim behind a motor boat. Geese are grazers, they like soft shoots, leaves, and buds off meadow plants, grasses, wild rice, and cultivated crops.
Goslings eat many insects as a supply of protein for rapid body growth.
They also eat grain and seed crops where they can find them. They eat about a half-pound of food per day, per bird when they are here in Horicon. When they are present for long periods of time, in extremely large numbers they can cause a severe problem for landowners. Geese will feed on the crops farmers in east-central Wisconsin grow, corn, alfalfa, and winter wheat. Assistance to farmers is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State of Wisconsin through a program that charges a surtax on Hunting licenses, which is used to partially pay landowners for damage caused by geese.