These geese were used to weed cotton and corn fields up until the 1950s.

Once commonplace on farms in the southeastern United States,

Cotton Patch geese are remembered in the rural south for helping many farmers and their families survive the Great Depression by providing a regular source of meat, eggs, and grease.

The breed’s beginnings are not clear but it is thought to have descended from the greylag goose, European stock brought to the U.S. during the colonial period.

The Cotton Patch goose is the remaining relic of a little known American breed of goose with parent stock  Cotton Patch differ from other sex-linked goose breeds by having pink or orange-pink bills, light weight bodies, and the ability to fly.

The Cotton Patch is a “sleek” goose that resembles Greylag geese from which all European geese descend. The breed is a light- to medium-sized goose. They are a landrace breed, and there is some variability between strains. Their smaller size allows them to tolerate hot weather better than heavier breeds of geese. The Cotton Patch is an “upright” goose with tail in line with back and wings, giving it a clean wedge profile. The Cotton Patch’s body is more elongated and less rounded than breeds such as Shetland or Pilgrim goose. The paunch is minimal and when present has a single lobe.

The Cotton Patch’s head is rounded and the beak is dished. One strain more closely resembles the Pilgrim goose and has a beak that is slightly “roman”. At hatch goslings  are dimorphic, auto sexing. Only as gosling can you be sure of the solid or saddleback gene from coloring in ganders, they molt out white with minimal dove grey feathers.T he ganders in this strain tend to have as many gray feathers as Pilgrim ganders, but these feathers are all dove gray – unlike the Pilgrim in which they can be slate gray.

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Cotton Patch geese have the ability to fly well beyond their first year, easily clearing 5-6 foot fences without a running start. Although this may seem like a fault to some, this ability often allows the birds to escape predators. As would be expected from their history, they are excellent foragers, and goose breeders should continue to select for this trait. Cotton Patch geese are very rare, and in need of serious conservation breeders. The Livestock Conservancy 2022 survey are around 800 breeding adults surviving.