In France, there are two principal methods for producing fattened web-footed birds:

Agricultural holdings which process and sell their production 

In this case, producers follow all the production steps: raising the young geese or ducks, followed by fattening, slaughtering, processing and local selling.

The number of raised animals reaches several thousand in a year and production can be seasonal.

With this type of production, web-footed bird fattening is quite often the main business activity of the holding or represents an additional source of income. 


Specialised agricultural holdings

As one of the key steps of a genuine chain of complementary skills, the specialised agricultural holdings supply their food products to major brands as well as small-scale cottage-type brands.  In 2006, there were about 3,000 specialised agricultural holdings.

In this second case, stockbreeders are specialised in one of the production steps. Consequently, one can find in France:

• The so-called ‘ready for fattening’ web-footed bird breeders;
• Farmers specialised in the fattening stage;
• Still other farmers who carry out the breeding and fattening stages.

Most often, the fattened web-footed bird holdings also produce maize tailored for geese and duck feeding.