Which animal meat is the most expensive? A price analysis showed that by far the most expensive was crocodile meat (crocodile meat). The bear cub is slightly inferior to it, and then there is a fat goose liver - its price is from $ 45 to $ 48 per kilogram. France uses foie gras in huge quantities. Over 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 a goose liver, they began to use the liver of moulards - crossbreeding ducks obtained from crossing the drakes of a musky duck with white Peking duck females. It turned out that keeping them is much cheaper and easier than geese.
Musk 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 Argentina and Uruguay, the United States purchased beef cows and musky ducks. They were transported in specially equipped ships to Europe in a living form. At the military units , small farms were created, which for the holidays pleased their soldiers with fresh meat. In France itself, as a result of the war, there was a shortage of products, so the French were looking for ways to purchase products from the Americans. It so happened that some of the musky ducks imported from Argentina were in the French. They began to breed them on their farms. One of the entrepreneurs, Charles Bonnet, also had Peking ducks. All ducks were kept together.
Prerequisites for the emergence of mullards
The situation was such that in the economy of Monsieur Bonet of all the musky ducks there was only one drake. He mated actively with white Peking ducks. Those laid eggs from which ducklings were hatched. They grew surprisingly fast, overtaking their peers. Their appearance was different from ordinary ducks, because they were already muleards - ducks, which in many ways look more like geese. Monsieur Bonet could not distinguish ducklings by gender. To understand this, the veterinarian Anatole Groom was invited, who, after examining all the ducklings, said that they were all male. Some of the ducklings were put on fattening, and the other was left to the tribe (Charles Bonet expected that the veterinarian made a mistake). The bird showed enviable gains on special fattening technology "fat goose liver." Weighing after slaughter showed that all mullard ducks have a liver of up to 500 g.
The emergence of muleards as an industrial species of poultry
Veterinarian Anatole Groom had extensive experience in growing mules - a cross between a donkey and a mare. Having studied the features that duck mullards had, he noticed signs of sexlessness, similar to those found in mules. Hence the coined name of the miracle bird. He decided on an experiment. He came up with a way to get seminal fluid from the duck of a musky duck and began to fertilize white Peking ducks with it. They laid eggs from complex crosses. In the incubator, new and new ducklings were bred. An inquisitive researcher regularly conducted experiments on them; he shared his observations with Monsieur Bonet. They managed to interest the new ducks of the banker Pierre Sha Tone, who created the company for the production of fatty liver. A few dozen musky ducks were discharged from Argentina, white Peking ducks were acquired, and a farm was established on the banks of the Loire. Mulard ducks were hatched daily by dozens, they grew rapidly, business expanded. The restoration of France after the war went quite intensively. Accordingly, the incomes of the population increased, which allowed to create a whole direction in the industrial poultry industry - growing mulard for meat and fatty liver. Along the way, duck-goose-mulard gives up to 120 g of fluff, 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 in high demand.
Prospects for growing mullards
Time has shown that a promising direction in poultry farming has been found. Currently, in a number of countries, growing fatty liver birds 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 annually. In France, this figure is much higher - approximately 800-850 million dollars a year. Mulard duck (the photo above represents its general appearance), turns out to be a “golden” bird, which is 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.