Cotton Patch
An auto-sexing American goose bred for weeding fields.
The Cotton Patch goose comes from the American South. Its name reflects its historic job: weeding cotton, corn, and other crops. Like most domestic geese, it descends from the wild greylag goose. This breed is auto-sexing, so males and females are instantly told apart by their different colors.
Quick Facts
- Origin
- Southern United States
- Breed group
- Domestic goose
- Wild ancestor
- Anser anser
- Weight (goose)
- 8-10 pounds
- Weight (gander)
- 9-12 pounds
Facts from the source article.
History
Once a common sight on Southern homesteads, the Cotton Patch goose served multiple purposes until the 1950s. These birds weeded fields by grazing on crabgrass and other unwanted plants without harming crops, cutting down on manual labor. They also provided meat, eggs, down, and grease. After herbicides took over weeding on American farms in the mid-20th century, the breed’s numbers fell sharply. It is now listed as critically endangered by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities, and the American Poultry Association, and has mostly vanished from the farms where it once thrived. The American Poultry Association does not recognize it, and the United States reports no goose breeds to the FAO’s DAD-IS database. By 2026, the Livestock Conservancy had moved its status to “threatened,” and it appears on the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste.
Characteristics
The Cotton Patch goose is well-adapted to the southeastern U.S. climate, being more heat tolerant. It is slimmer than most domestic geese and retains good flying ability into adulthood, closely resembling the wild greylag goose. Its color is similar to the auto-sexing Pilgrim and Shetland breeds. Ganders are white with some dove gray feathers on back and tail; females are entirely gray or pied gray and white (saddleback). Bills and feet are pink, unlike the orange of the Pilgrim.
More in Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy
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