Geese farmed for meat and down face welfare challenges from space restrictions and high-density management, while foie gras production involves force-feeding that causes severe suffering.
Goose welfare in farming spans a spectrum from the acute severe suffering of foie gras production to the moderate welfare concerns of conventional meat geese production without adequate water access. Foie gras force-feeding causes hepatic lipidosis — disease that is the production goal — through repeated trauma to the esophagus and progressive organ dysfunction. The birds become unable to walk normally, breathe comfortably, or engage in any natural behavior during the fattening period. This is one of the clearest cases of systematic severe welfare harm in commercial food production. At the other end of the spectrum, conventional goose farming without water access denies a strongly motivated natural behavior, causing frustration analogous to denying dust bathing to poultry. Higher welfare goose systems with water access, space, and no force-feeding demonstrate that goose products can be produced without these welfare harms.