Toulouse goose

Toulouse
The "sans bavette" or "without dewlap" type
The "à bavette" or "with dewlap" type
Conservation status
  • FAO 2007: not at risk: 47 
  • RBST (2022): priority
  • DAD-IS (2025): unknown
Other names
  • French: Oie de Toulouse à bavette
  • French: Oie de Toulouse sans bavette
Country of originFrance
Use
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    9–9.5 kg (20–21 lb)
  • Female:
    7–8.5 kg (15–19 lb)
Egg colourwhite
Classification
APAheavy goose
EEyes
PCGBgeese: heavy
  • Goose
  • Anser anser

The Toulouse is a French breed of large domestic goose, originally from the area of Toulouse in south-western France. Like most other domestic geese, it derives from the wild species Anser anser.

Two types are recognised: a heavy industrial type with dewlaps, the French: Oie de Toulouse à bavette; and a slightly lighter agricultural type without dewlaps, the French: Oie de Toulouse sans bavette.: 25  Both types are large, with weights of up to 9 kg. Birds bred in the United Kingdom and United States exclusively for showing may be still larger, and have a somewhat different conformation.: 378 

History

The history of the Toulouse is a long one, going back at least to 1555.: 472  It was reared for meat and for foie gras.: 378 

Some were brought to the United Kingdom in the 1840s by Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, who was at that time president of the Zoological Society of London.: 378  There it was bred for considerably greater weight; a Toulouse gander weighing over 15 kg (34 lb) took a prize at the National Poulty Show in 1894.: 175  The British breed standard dates from 1865.: 378 

Some of these heavier British birds were later exported to North America.: 378  The Toulouse was included in the first Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1874. It is reared principally in the upper Midwest, where its good tolerance of cold weather is an advantage.: 472 

Characteristics

The Toulouse generally has a placid disposition. Ring size is 27 mm for both ganders and geese. In France weights are usually in the range 7–9 kg. The British standard calls for an average weight of about 10 kg for geese, and nearly 13 kg for ganders.: 379 

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 foie gras.: 472  Exhibition strains are slow-growing. Geese of the type without dewlaps lay some 25 to 40 extra-large white eggs per year, while geese of the dewlap type lay about 20 to 35. The birds may also be a source of goose down.: 472 

References

  1. ↑ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. ↑ Geese watchlist. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 5 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Breed data sheet: Oie de Toulouse sans Bavette (type agricole) / France (Goose (domestic)). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Breed data sheet: Oie de Toulouse à Bavette (type industriel) / France (Goose (domestic)). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2025.
  5. ↑ Geese. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 9 November 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001). The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300088809.
  7. 1 2 3 Toulouse Goose. The Livestock Conservancy. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  8. ↑ APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012. American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013). Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 12 June 2018.
  11. ↑ Gérard Guy, Roger Buckland (editors) (2002). Annexe 1. Souches d'oies (in French); in: Production des oies, FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 154. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISSN 0254-6019, ISBN 9251048622. Archived 27 May 2025.
  12. ↑ Alain Fournier (2005). L'élevage des oies et des canards (in French). Paris: Artémis. ISBN 9782844163486.
  13. ↑ Susanne Hugo (1995). Geese: the underestimated species. World Animal Review. 83 (2): 64–67. Archived 13 January 2003.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Victoria Roberts (2008). British poultry standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 9781405156424.
  15. ↑ Joseph Batty (1985). Domesticated Ducks and Geese, second edition. Liss, Hampshire: Fanciers Suppliers. ISBN 0947647023.
  16. 1 2 Toulouse. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 10 December 2021.
  17. ↑ Liste des races et variétés de Gallinacés et Palmipèdes domestiques et diamètres des bagues en mm (in French). Fédération française des volailles. Archived 20 March 2016.
  18. ↑ Jacquie Jacob, Tony Pescatore (2013). Selecting Geese. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Archived 3 May 2017.