At Christmas this year, quite a few people are likely to be looking for an alternative to the classic roast goose. After the prices for this had already risen last year, they are rising again because of bird flu and higher feed prices as a result of the Ukraine war.
Martin and Christmas geese are scarce and expensive this year. The causes are both the bird flu and the effects of the Ukraine war. Both factors combined have contributed to fewer geese being fattened this year. In addition, many infected animals have to be culled. “Significantly fewer geese were stabled and fattened this year,” says Herbert Dohrmann, President of the German Butchers’ Association – in short: DFV. “The bird flu isn’t really under control, and the Ukraine war has also made animal feed much more expensive.”
Goose feed was twice as expensive in spring as it was in 2021, reports Mark Hoppe, spokesman for the special association of German goose breeders, whose members specialize in breeding pedigree geese. Hoppe puts the current selling price for a kilo of goose at 16 to 21 euros.
Naturally, the butchers also have to spend considerably more on geese and ducks when purchasing. “Geese had already become more expensive in 2021 and 2020, but this year the purchase prices for us have risen by 40 percent,” says DFV President Dohrmann. “The bird flu means that animals are repeatedly killed and cannot be delivered.” Dohrmann had ordered 65 ducks for his own farm in Bremen for the Christmas season – according to the DFV President, the animals were all culled last week.
“The supply of Christmas geese is limited because the avian influenza in Lower Saxony has made many goose producers very insecure,” reports a spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture in Oldenburg. This summer alone, 40,000 geese were killed in Germany because of avian influenza, said Dieter Oltmann, Managing Director of the Lower Saxony Poultry Industry Association. In Lower Saxony there were 16,000 animals. Experts therefore expect that the festival goose in the farm shop will be up to 35 percent more expensive than in the previous year.
According to the Federal Association of Peasant Goose Husbandry (BBG), 80 percent of the geese sold in Germany come from Poland and Hungary. According to BBG chairman Lorenz Eskildsen, fresh geese from Germany will cost between 17 and 20 euros per kilo this year.
