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. Domestic geese have been derived through selective breeding from the wild greylag goose (''Anser anser domesticus'') and swan goose (''Anse ...

, originally from the area of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

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 french: Oie de Toulouse à bavette, italic=no; and a slightly lighter agricultural type without dewlaps, the french: Oie de Toulouse sans bavette, italic=no. 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 Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy ...

. 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), KG, of Knowsley Hall in Lancashire (styled Lord Stanley from 1776 to 1832, known as Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe from 1832-4), was a politician, peer, landowner, bui ...

, who was at that time president of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

. There it was bred 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 physical or morphological detail, genetic criteria, or criteria of athletic ...

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 breed standard for the poultry fancy in North America. First published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association, the ''Standard of Perfection'' (commonly referred to as "the ''Standard''" ...

'' of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in the 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 respo ...

in 1874. It is reared principally in the

upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...

, 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 In cooking and gastronomy, goose is the meat of several species of bird in the family Anatidae. The goose is in the biological family of birds including ducks, and swans, known as the family of Anatidae. The family has a cosmopolitan distributio ...

, 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