Who are mulard ducks

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Which animal meat is the most expensive? Price analysis showed that crocodile meat (crocodile meat) turned out to be the most expensive today. It is slightly inferior to bear meat, and then comes fatty goose liver - its price ranges from $45 to $48 per kilogram. France consumes foie gras in huge quantities. More than 18,000 tons of meat are produced there annually. Researchers have found that this liver helps to remove cholesterol from the human body, and also improves metabolic processes. Therefore, the average life expectancy of the French living in the south is noticeably higher than others. They remain active until old age. About sixty years ago, instead of goose liver, they began to use the liver of mulards - crossbred ducks obtained by crossing musky duck drakes with female white Peking ducks. It turned out that they are much cheaper and easier to keep than geese.

Muscovy ducks arrived in Europe

In 1944, Allied forces landed in southern France. American soldiers ate relatively well, they were delivered meat products in large refrigerators. In addition, in Argentinaand Uruguay, the US bought beef cows and musky ducks. They were transported on specially equipped ships to Europe alive. Small farms were created at the military units, which pleased their soldiers with fresh meat for the holidays. In France itself, as a result of the war, there was a shortage of food, so the French were looking for ways to purchase food from the Americans. It so happened that part of the musky ducks imported from Argentina ended up with the French. They began to breed them in their farms. One of the entrepreneurs, Charles Bonet, also had Peking ducks. All ducks were kept together.

Prerequisites for the appearance of moulards

The situation has developed in such a way that in the economy of Monsieur Bonnet, of all the Muscovy ducks, only one drake remained. He actively mated with white Peking ducks. They laid eggs from which ducklings were bred. They grew surprisingly fast, overtaking their peers. Their appearance differed from ordinary ducks, because they were already mulards - ducks, which in many ways are more like geese. Monsieur Bonet could not distinguish between ducklings by gender. To understand this, the veterinarian Anatole Grum was invited, who, after examining all available ducklings, reported that they were all male. Part of the ducklings was fed, and the other was left to the tribe (Charles Bonnet expected that the veterinarian had made a mistake). The bird showed enviable gains on special fattening according to the “fatty goose liver” technology. Weighing after slaughter showed that all mulard ducks haveliver up to 500 g.

The appearance of the mulard as an industrial bird species

Veterinarian Anatole Groom had extensive experience in breeding mules - a cross between a donkey and a mare. Having studied the features that mulard ducks had, he noticed signs of asexuality similar to those of mules. Hence the coined name of the miracle bird. He decided to experiment. He came up with a method for obtaining seminal fluid from a musky duck drake and began to fertilize white Peking ducks with it. Those carried eggs from complex crossbreeding. In the incubator, more and more ducklings were bred. An inquisitive researcher regularly conducted experiments on them, he shared his observations with Monsieur Bonnet. They managed to interest the banker Pierre Cha Tone in new ducks, who created a firm for the production of fatty liver. Several dozen more Muscovy ducks were ordered from Argentina, white Peking ducks were purchased, and a farm was established on the banks of the Loire. Dozens of mulard ducks were hatched every day, they grew rapidly, the business expanded. The restoration of France after the war was quite intensive. Accordingly, the incomes of the population increased, which made it possible to create a whole direction in industrial poultry farming - the cultivation of mulards for meat and fatty liver. Along the way, the duck-goose-mulard gives out up to 120 g of down, which is used for the production of down jackets. The price of this product today ranges from $125 to $135 per kilogram, goose is somewhat more expensive, but duck is also in high demand.

Prospects of work in the cultivation of moulards

Time has shown thata promising direction in poultry farming has been found. Currently, in a number of countries, raising birds for fatty liver has become one of the important components of the gross domestic product (GDP). For example, Hungary supplies the European market with more than 2,000 tons of fatty liver, which brings it more than 80 million dollars annually. In France, this figure is much higher - about 800-850 million dollars a year. The mulard duck (the photo above represents its general appearance) turns out to be a “golden” bird, which is also profitable to grow in our country. Fashion for foie gras has come to us. Of course, the price of the product is quite high, but consumer properties are such that in the foreseeable future the product will be in demand on the Russian market as well.