The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-20
A KENTUCKY INDUSTRY.
How the Noisy Goose Is Fattened and
Prepared for Market.

Lexington (Ky.) Letter in Chicago News.
Where do the thousands of Hebrews in
New York city get their fat geese?"
They will get 1900 of them TINS gear from
kentucky. They are being shipped by Sci
Renaker, of Cynthiana. He has the most
unique establishment of the kind in he
West. On the Licking river just above the
town of Cynthiana, he has erected a large
wooden bulloing, 80 by $50 feet and two
stories high. The floors slant gradually TO a
common center so that they can be flooded
ana thus kept clean There are troughs
placed at convenient points TO hold food for
the geese.
At present there are 5000 geese in this
building in different stages of the fattening
process They are gathered from all parts
of the State and when they arrive they av
erage in weight from four to eight pounds.
Iney are FIRST placed in the large yard in
Which the BUILDING is situated, where they
are furnished an abundance of water. that
they can clean themselves. Within Few
days they are placed in the house in the fat
tenlng pens. 1t requires four or five weeks
careful feeding to 1atten the geese The eS-
adjustment is provided with a steam corn
mill and corn shelter. The corn is pur-
chased from the farmers in the neighbour
hood and is Shelled and ground into meal.
The cobs run down chute to the furnace
and make enough fuel TO run the Tnachln-
cry. The meal is mixed into a dough and in
that form is fed to the geese.
In an interview Mr.. Renaker gave the fol-
lowing interesting facts regarding geese,
their habits and the manner in which they
are marketed: "A goose is the cleanest fowl
alive. l have been in the poultry business
since 1871 have handled all kinds of domes
tic fowl, and have studied their habits close
ly. They are constantly at work keeping
their feathers clean, and if furnished with
plenty of water they are never seen except
when fit for dress parade. They are equally
as careful regarding their food. On one oc-
cason We bought lot of corn which had
grown muSty and the geese would not eat
the dough made from il. Nor will they eat
dough after 1t has soured. On this account
we nave to be very careful to mix up no
more cough than the geese will eat in day.
Another thing peculiar about geese is
days than they do on others. For instance,
it frequently requires thirty or forty
buckets of dough a day to a given pen OF
geese. Then for few days they will prob
When furnished plenty of water and whole
some food geese fatten rapidly and have no
opportunity to keep themselves clean and
are furnished with pure food they die rap
idly. They are sold by the pair, and they
average when fat from fourteen to thirty
eight pounds a brace.
We sell our geese in only one market
New York city. They are shipped in poultry
cars and go furnished with an abundance
of water and corn-meal dough while they
are on, the way. The reason they are
shipped alive is that Jews cannot purchase
them after they are killed. Last year we
shipped about 1000 geese to New York
Guy, and this year we will handle $4,000 of
them. The capacity of our house is about
$500. 1t requires three men to attend the
corn-sheller and the mill and to feed the
geese. We have water works connections,
floors.
No; don't think there is another estab-
liShment of the kind in Kentucky. There
may be a few in the West l think that
more geese are raised in Kentucky than in
any two of the Western States: You know
our farmers are mostly descendants of Vir-
ginians and Marylanders who settled here
one hundred years ago and raised their own
geese to provide feather beds for their fam
lilies This habit has been continued to the
present generation, and there are few
farms, especially i'll the older settled Sec
tions of the State, on which there are no
largely has taken the place OF the feather
bed the wives of Kentucky farmers con-
tinue to raise geese as their mothers and
grandmOthers did before them. Thus it is
that are enabled to gather together so
many geese at this point.
Yes. the business is peculiar, but it has
it's facinatiOns. Geese have a great deal
more sense than they are given credit for,
and they learn to know their attendants
and seem to appreciate the care and atten-
ton they receive. We have several differ
ent breeds in Kentucky, of which the Hong
Kong is the most popular. The old-fash>
Toned blue goose is quite numerous and
many of these have been crossed with wild
geese, the wild birds straying away from
their f1ocks during periods OF migration
from the south to the north in the early
spring.
When the correspondent visited Mr. Rem.
aker's establishment there were $500 geese
in the building and upon sight of a stranger
they set up the most unearthly Squawking
and kissing imaginable. There were several
wild geese, or eat least half-breeds, and
their dolorOus ''h-o-n-k, h-o-n-k'' could be
heard above the noise of the other geese.
The natives call the place "Sel Renaker's
goosery" and the few families who live
near by have thrown away their alarm
clocks, for the geese wake them every
morning promptly at daylight by their loud
cries.