SO what happens to the goose?

[Beryl]

I know the shuttle's feathers are made of goose's but of what goose? Dead goose? If it's from live goose, will the goose be hurt/ still be able to fly + keep warm? Sorry for sounding silly, but no one's ever seem to talk about this before and animal rights are just as important as badminton!

[Pete LSD]

The feather comes from dead goose. The gooses are slaughtered for protein and the feather is a by product.


I know the shuttle's feathers are made of goose's but of what goose? Dead goose? If it's from live goose, will the goose be hurt/ still be able to fly + keep warm? Sorry for sounding silly, but no one's ever seem to talk about this before and animal rights are just as important as badminton!

[cooler]

SO what happens to the goose?

It's in somebody's stomach?

[jug8man]

hmm dont personal know anyone who eats goose meat where im at. havent personally seen the meat either.
anyone knows where goose meat in common? and is there a proper term for goose meat?

cheers

[cooler]

roast goose is a traditional meal in the european countries

http://www.goose.cc/Pages/centuries.html

http://www.utahholidayguide.com/christmas/recipes/articles/cmas/goose.asp

[TheGr8Two]

Can also buy roast goose at chinese bbq restaurants/stores, in addition to the other stuff like roast duck, roast pig, etc.

[wood_22_chuck]

The feather comes from dead goose. The gooses are slaughtered for protein and the feather is a by product.


Some posts ago, someone mentioned that only feathers from the left-wing is used. So at the slaughter-house, there must be someone supervising the plucking of feathers, is this right?

Anyone have any in-depth articles on this?

-dave

[cooler]

reality is i think the top grade goose feathers are plucked while a goose being fatten on the farm. ie a goose can provide several cycle of harvest of feathers before it is finally put to slaughter house.

For the lower grade feathers, especially ducks, i think the good feathers are plucked before being sent to the slaughter house. I'm not too sure on this one, whether feathers are pluck before or after boiling them (to remove all the feathers)

[Psycho V]

Some posts ago, someone mentioned that only feathers from the left-wing is used. So at the slaughter-house, there must be someone supervising the plucking of feathers, is this right?

Anyone have any in-depth articles on this?

-dave


I wonder if it make a difference if the ducks are right-winged or left-winged.

After all, so many top badminton players are left-handed.

[chibe_K]

By the way, another topic related to this, is goose feather becoming harder or more expensive to get ? The dealer I normally get my shuttlecocks from told me the price for each tube increases by 50 cents because of the increasing cost to get goose feather. I am not sure that is true, just want to find out if I was being ripped off.

[IvanM]

i guess they eat them after they have taken the feather

Cantonese do eat goose

they are tasty

[Cheung]

By the way, another topic related to this, is goose feather becoming harder or more expensive to get ? The dealer I normally get my shuttlecocks from told me the price for each tube increases by 50 cents because of the increasing cost to get goose feather. I am not sure that is true, just want to find out if I was being ripped off.
It might just be possible. Asia did have the Avian 'flu recently. Although there were no reports of geese affected, one cannot discount the possibility of stocks being slaughtered to help contain spread of virus.

[dpc1l]

reality is i think the top grade goose feathers are plucked while a goose being fatten on the farm. ie a goose can provide several cycle of harvest of feathers before it is finally put to slaughter house.

For the lower grade feathers, especially ducks, i think the good feathers are plucked before being sent to the slaughter house. I'm not too sure on this one, whether feathers are pluck before or after boiling them (to remove all the feathers)Do geese get plucked multiple times before being slaughtered? I know chickens are slaughtered at about 10 - 12 weeks old. If this is similar for geese, there doesn't seem to be enough time for feathers to grow and then regrow.

With chickens, they are put in a big container with hot water and rubber fingers on the bottom and sides. The bottom then spins, creating a whirlpool, and the rubber fingers then remove the feathers. If this is the same process for ducks, I am sure the useful feathers are plucked beforehand.

[david14700]

There's a website for a Chinese company that makes shuttles. According to them, they select feathers from the floor of farm buildings where the geese are kept. The building is a vast hall with thousands of geese and the floor is covered in a thick carpet of feathers that have fallen off. Apparently the geese shed feathers continuously like people shed hair.

They collect the feathers in giant bags and sort them out at the shuttlecock factory. It says they only use feathers from the tip of the left wing.

It didn't say anything about what happens to the geese, but I assume they must be used for meat eventually (and fois gras, maybe? :crying: ).

[bluejeff]

Goose or Chicken or Duck is surely very tasty in either way :cool:
And they are just common food for people, especially Asians.

So, I am not too worried about them :p
(I guess they probably kill them first, and then, collect the feathers, and then, cook them)

[FEND.]

Goose or Chicken or Duck is surely very tasty in either way :cool:
And they are just common food for people, especially Asians.

So, I am not too worried about them :p
(I guess they probably kill them first, and then, collect the feathers, and then, cook them)
There's a saying which goes mainly for the cantonese if I'm not wrong, it goes something like, 'They eat anything that flies except for a plane, and anything with legs except for table.' Now you guys don't start criticizing this, I know you get the general picture.

It's just something I heard.

Cheers

[jug8man]

all i've heard is that we chinese are known for 'eating anything under the sun'.

anyone had monkey meat before? i did. it was an accident. :o

[bluejeff]

There's a saying which goes mainly for the cantonese if I'm not wrong, it goes something like, 'They eat anything that flies except for a plane, and anything with legs except for table.' Now you guys don't start criticizing this, I know you get the general picture.

It's just something I heard.

Cheers

In addition to that:
"They eat anything that swims in Ocean except submarines"

:D:D

[kwun]

By the way, another topic related to this, is goose feather becoming harder or more expensive to get ? The dealer I normally get my shuttlecocks from told me the price for each tube increases by 50 cents because of the increasing cost to get goose feather. I am not sure that is true, just want to find out if I was being ripped off.
chibe, here is more info on the shuttle prices:

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15801&highlight=flu+feather

[cooler]

There's a website for a Chinese company that makes shuttles. According to them, they select feathers from the floor of farm buildings where the geese are kept. The building is a vast hall with thousands of geese and the floor is covered in a thick carpet of feathers that have fallen off. Apparently the geese shed feathers continuously like people shed hair.

They collect the feathers in giant bags and sort them out at the shuttlecock factory. It says they only use feathers from the tip of the left wing.

It didn't say anything about what happens to the geese, but I assume they must be used for meat eventually (and fois gras, maybe? :crying: ).

i wonder why feathers from the right wings aren't used. I thot they should be mirror image of the left sided feather.

[kwun]

actually. this is interesting.

is the goose meat the by-product of the feather, or is the feather the by-product of the goose meat?

meaning, do they kill the goose to sell for meat, and then realize they can sell the feathers too, or do they raise the goose for the feathers, and since the goose are fat, they sell the goose for money?

i think it is neither. goose farmers raises goose not for the meat nor for the feathers, but for the $$. if they can sell the beak and the noise that comes with it, they will too.

however, it is also something to note, and that is the goose meat is worth much more money than the feathers.

one last thing left to ponder. since all these manufacturers says they only use the few feathers from the left wing of the goose, does that mean the farmers need to pick up the goose and pluck those feathers out specifically for the shuttle makers?

otherwise, if they pluck all the feathers out, it will be hard to pick up the dozen or so from the big pile of hundreds of feathers.

[kwun]

i wonder why feathers from the right wings aren't used. I thot they should be mirror image of the left sided feather.
probably because of the curvature. we don't want shuttles that spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise... :)

[cooler]

actually. this is interesting.

is the goose meat the by-product of the feather, or is the feather the by-product of the goose meat?

meaning, do they kill the goose to sell for meat, and then realize they can sell the feathers too, or do they raise the goose for the feathers, and since the goose are fat, they sell the goose for money?

i think it is neither. goose farmers raises goose not for the meat nor for the feathers, but for the $$. if they can sell the beak and the noise that comes with it, they will too.

however, it is also something to note, and that is the goose meat is worth much more money than the feathers.

one last thing left to ponder. since all these manufacturers says they only use the few feathers from the left wing of the goose, does that mean the farmers need to pick up the goose and pluck those feathers out specifically for the shuttle makers?

otherwise, if they pluck all the feathers out, it will be hard to pick up the dozen or so from the big pile of hundreds of feathers.

i think the top grade shuttles use the selected feather. The lesser grade uses next closest feathers and so forth. They collect (from the floor) and sort the feathers at the factory.

[cooler]

probably because of the curvature. we don't want shuttles that spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise... :)
last time i looked at a shuttle, the feather vanes are cutted and each stem is situated in the middle of the feather. The spin can and should be control by the angle each feather being inserted into the cork. Just my opinion, i dont have a shuttle here on my desk.

[Pete LSD]

Farmers raise goose primarily for the meat. I believe the meat command a lot more money than the feather on a kg basis.


actually. this is interesting.

is the goose meat the by-product of the feather, or is the feather the by-product of the goose meat?

meaning, do they kill the goose to sell for meat, and then realize they can sell the feathers too, or do they raise the goose for the feathers, and since the goose are fat, they sell the goose for money?

i think it is neither. goose farmers raises goose not for the meat nor for the feathers, but for the $$. if they can sell the beak and the noise that comes with it, they will too.

however, it is also something to note, and that is the goose meat is worth much more money than the feathers.

one last thing left to ponder. since all these manufacturers says they only use the few feathers from the left wing of the goose, does that mean the farmers need to pick up the goose and pluck those feathers out specifically for the shuttle makers?

otherwise, if they pluck all the feathers out, it will be hard to pick up the dozen or so from the big pile of hundreds of feathers.

[wedgewenis]

I think we should now pause ...for a moment of silence - in honor of the geese who've died for this great sport :p

[Pete LSD]

Hey, we forgot about the cows too! They provide the hide for baddie shoes and the meat for a badder's protein requirement :D . Darn, we may as well include the pre-historic plant and animal matters that turned into crude oil. Crude oil is a major source of raw material for making nylon string, badder outfits, shoes and carbon-graphite racquets :D :D :D .


I think we should now pause ...for a moment of silence - in honor of the geese who've died for this great sport :p

[cooler]

probably because of the curvature. we don't want shuttles that spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise... :)

so the poor birds fly (or attempt to fly) clockwise (viewed from the ground) after being plucked? :D

[roby2003]

Interesting article from www.sosan.com

Feather
The feathers we select are from goose. Only 6 feathers in each wing can be used to make a shuttlecock. The feathers come from 4 regions of China. The best grade feathers comes from the Northeast region of China, where the weather is colder and the feathers are thicker. Other regions where feathers come from are Sichuan Province, Shandong Province and Anhui Province. Feathers from these 3 regions are of sub par quality. Sometimes, the feathers are mixed together by unscrupulous merchants for extra profit and therefore are difficult to differentiate, however, we have trained technicians who can identify the top grade versus an inferior feather. Our feathers are hand picked and the ones we choose are the whiter feathers. These feathers are generally picked before the goose is slaughtered.

[Qidong]

There's a saying which goes mainly for the cantonese if I'm not wrong, it goes something like, 'They eat anything that flies except for a plane, and anything with legs except for table.' Now you guys don't start criticizing this, I know you get the general picture.

It's just something I heard.

Cheers

I have to make it clear, we Cantonese :) don't eat human (other than table).

[Qidong]

Usually after the geese are killed, they are put into hot water so that the feathers are easier to remove. I think if the feathers were put into hot water, some wax may be lost, and the quality may not be that good. I wonder if the top qualily leathers were taken before they put into hot water. :rolleyes:

[bluejeff]

I have to make it clear, we Cantonese :) don't eat human (other than table).
Now I can officially put China on my map of visiting, Phew~!! :p

[Qidong]

Now I can officially put China on my map of visiting, Phew~!! :p

But still you better watch out. I'm afraid all the fake yonex racquet makers and dealers like "sportxxxxxxxxxxx" in China will be hring hitmen waiting for you at the airport. :eek:

[cooler]

Usually after the geese are killed, they are put into hot water so that the feathers are easier to remove. I think if the feathers were put into hot water, some wax may be lost, and the quality may not be that good. I wonder if the top qualily leathers were taken before they put into hot water. :rolleyes:

yes, that's why the selected feathers are removed first before going into the hot pot :p

[Pete LSD]

What?!? BJ never visited China???


Now I can officially put China on my map of visiting, Phew~!! :p

[tranvi007]

Maybe the goose's grow new ones. They keep on coming.

[jump_smash]

What?!? BJ never visited China???

Was suprised too. Come on BJ be like the rest of us and don't miss out?

[bluejeff]

What?!? BJ never visited China???
Not yet, but I am going to China next year for visiting..... (planning) :rolleyes:

[cooler]

probably because of the curvature. we don't want shuttles that spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise... :)

if one look at each vane closely, the feathers are trimmed to the point that their curvature don't matter much. The spin is mostly dictated by the angle of feathers set on the cork. I believe feathers from the right wings are also used to make shuttlecocks, only top grade shuttlecocks are made from feathers plucked from left wings of geese.

[AKFT]

Some posts ago, someone mentioned that only feathers from the left-wing is used. -dave


Traditionally, socialist and communist countries use left wing feathers while the more conservative countries use right wing feathers. As the sport evolved, most of the conservative countries either no longer play much badminton (eg USA) or became more socialistic (eg UK, Canada, most European countries). As a result most of the shuttles we play with come from the left wing. :D

On a more serious note, roast goose with Chinese sticky rice stuffing makes a really good meal. It is something that I make for Thanksgiving instead of roast turkey every year.

[redkingjoe]

all i've heard is that we chinese are known for 'eating anything under the sun'.

anyone had monkey meat before? i did. it was an accident. :o
Monkey meat? The most famous dish is monkey brain.

The monkey is still alive and tied to a special table with a hole on table top. They then open the head of the monkey alive. When the monkey is still crying and struggling, put very hot oil on the brain. Use a spoon to eat.

I was told this is the best taste chinese food! Only the king and some rich guy can have it.

[cooler]

to provide a balance point of view , here is a western delicacy
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/16/brain.sandwich.ap/

[redkingjoe]

to provide a balance point of view , here is a western delicacy
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/16/brain.sandwich.ap/
But they didn't eat the brain when the animal was still alive. It's not as fresh. Also, it was told that when the animal was struggling and crying, more blood will go to the brain making it tastier.

[cappy75]

Oh, PETA would love you for saying that:rolleyes:.


Monkey meat? The most famous dish is monkey brain.

The monkey is still alive and tied to a special table with a hole on table top. They then open the head of the monkey alive. When the monkey is still crying and struggling, put very hot oil on the brain. Use a spoon to eat.

I was told this is the best taste chinese food! Only the king and some rich guy can have it.

[dpc1l]

Traditionally, socialist and communist countries use left wing feathers while the more conservative countries use right wing feathers. As the sport evolved, most of the conservative countries either no longer play much badminton (eg USA) or became more socialistic (eg UK, Canada, most European countries). As a result most of the shuttles we play with come from the left wing. :D


hehehe - very good

[dpc1l]

The monkey is still alive and tied to a special table with a hole on table top. They then open the head of the monkey alive. When the monkey is still crying and struggling, put very hot oil on the brain. Use a spoon to eat.


This sounds like a cross between Indiana Jones and Hannibal!
I think (hope) it's some sort of urban legend, but..... I feel a bit weak thinking about it!

[Robbo77]

HAHAHA! Yes the geese!!, the forgotten heroes of this great sport!!:D


I think we should now pause ...for a moment of silence - in honor of the geese who've died for this great sport :p

[redkingjoe]

This sounds like a cross between Indiana Jones and Hannibal!
I think (hope) it's some sort of urban legend, but..... I feel a bit weak thinking about it!
The monkey brain is a famous "dish" in China. It has no relationship with Indiana Jones or Hannibal. It's extremely expensive so it's not an often.

I thought it's more gross to see the Japanese eat a fish alive. One time in Japan, my wife ordered a sushi whole fish. When the fish arrived, the eyes, the mouth, the bone and the tail were still moving but all the meats were removed from the fish and put on the dish. The fish watched my wife enjoying it's meat.

I still remember very well that when the waiter took the dish away, the fish was still watching and trying to remember who ate it!!!

[wood_22_chuck]

I've a polite request. While I understand food freshness, cruelty to animals is another matter. Can you please refrain from graphic descriptions of this sort?

Thanks.

-dave

[Pete LSD]

North Americans and Europeans are quite sensitive to eating animal live. So please, stop describing the graphic details. Thank you!