The grey and white Skånegås was being bred around the towns of Vomb and Hunneberga by the end of the nineteenth century by Mårten Olssen. Looking very similar to the Pomeranian and Danish Goose its history is more distinct than might be believed. Research has shown that the Skånegås is mainly of native Swedish origin with less mixing with foreign breeds than had been first thought and that despite appearances. The breed was standardised by the early twentieth century.

It is one of the heavy breeds of goose with ganders weighing between 8 and 11Kg and geese between 6 and 8Kg. They are not great layers though some have been known to lay up to 40 eggs per season. The average though is between twenty and thirty 200g eggs.

Tradition has it this strikingly coloured breed was developed in the early 1800’s by a miller in New York County. He caught two wild black ducks and pinioned them, being unable to fly away they settled on his mill pond and raised large families. These ducks were good layers, good mothers and above all good eating and numbers increased. By the mid 1800’s they were they were established on the Finger Lakes in New York County and carrying the name Cayuga – named from Lake Cayuga which in tern was named for the indigenous Native American Cayuga people.

 or Swedish Muscovy Duck

Muscovy ducks first arrived in Europe in the mid 1500’s. They originated in South America where they had already been domesticated by the local population. The first reference to them being in Sweden comes from Linnaeus in 1749.