Lots of interest, few geese. Czechs will probably pay extra for the St. Martin’s feast, small breeders did not do well iRADIO

There are ten days left until St. Martin’s celebrations, and domestic geese are also in great demand this year. “I’ve been taking orders for Martin and Christmas since September 15. We will sell up to 1,500 geese on Martin, there are still some available,” says Naďa Hrvolová, head of the Nové Hrady Fishery Goose Farm. Customers who buy live geese here will pay the same as last year, 140 crowns per kilo.

Another large breeder, the Rohozná farm, is registering the same great interest in geese as last year. It sells already processed geese, which have become slightly more expensive year-on-year due to higher costs. One kilo costs 250 crowns this year, ten crowns more than last year.

“We have a lot of regular customers who already say when they buy a goose: ‘Don’t forget about me next year.’ This year, we prepared about 1,500 of them, and by the end of September we were completely sold out,” adds farm owner Josef Tříska.

Small breeders

However, there are only a few large farms in the Czech Republic. Geese are mainly the domain of small breeders. And above all, they are not doing very well this year, according to the Agrarian Chamber. In total, domestic breeders fattened a quarter fewer geese year-on-year than last year. Between January and June, i.e. during the main season, there were 125 thousand birds.

According to chamber president Jan Doležal, the main reason behind the decline is high costs: “We can see a 30 to 40 percent increase in feed mixtures compared to 2021. This year there has been a certain decrease, but we are really talking in percent units, a maximum of ten percent down.”

According to the chamber, smaller farms are also more demanding on human labor due to less automation. According to Doležal, the decrease in the number of domestically fattened geese may also be reflected in the price this year.

According to Gabriela Dlouhá, chairwoman of the Czech-Moravian Poultry Union, the price per kilo for smaller breeders is up to 20 percent higher than last year: “We found the cheapest processed poultry for 250 crowns. If someone would prefer to buy a live, fattened goose from the yard, then according to the survey, we saw prices from 170 crowns there.”

Saint Martin’s wine

On the other hand, what those interested in a St. Martin’s feast should pay extra for this year compared to last year is St. Martin’s wine. According to the president of the winegrowers’ union, Martin Chlad, it will be sold on store shelves for around 80 crowns.

“If we go beyond retail sales and talk about smaller batches or smaller winemakers, the price can be over 100 or 120 crowns,” he explains.

According to the Czech-Moravian Poultry Union, those who would like to save money on preparing a St. Martin’s dish this year can go for duck. They tend to be cheaper also because an average of around 5 million animals are fattened in the Czech Republic each year.

Aneta Nevšímalová

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