actually. this is interesting. is the goose meat the by-product of the feather, or is the feather the by-product of the goose meat? meaning, do they kill the goose to sell for meat, and then realize they can sell the feathers too, or do they raise the goose for the feathers, and since the goose are fat, they sell the goose for money? i think it is neither. goose farmers raises goose not for the meat nor for the feathers, but for the $$. if they can sell the beak and the noise that comes with it, they will too. however, it is also something to note, and that is the goose meat is worth much more money than the feathers. one last thing left to ponder. since all these manufacturers says they only use the few feathers from the left wing of the goose, does that mean the farmers need to pick up the goose and pluck those feathers out specifically for the shuttle makers? otherwise, if they pluck all the feathers out, it will be hard to pick up the dozen or so from the big pile of hundreds of feathers.
probably because of the curvature. we don't want shuttles that spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise...
i think the top grade shuttles use the selected feather. The lesser grade uses next closest feathers and so forth. They collect (from the floor) and sort the feathers at the factory.
last time i looked at a shuttle, the feather vanes are cutted and each stem is situated in the middle of the feather. The spin can and should be control by the angle each feather being inserted into the cork. Just my opinion, i dont have a shuttle here on my desk.
Farmers raise goose primarily for the meat. I believe the meat command a lot more money than the feather on a kg basis.
I think we should now pause ...for a moment of silence - in honor of the geese who've died for this great sport
Hey, we forgot about the cows too! They provide the hide for baddie shoes and the meat for a badder's protein requirement . Darn, we may as well include the pre-historic plant and animal matters that turned into crude oil. Crude oil is a major source of raw material for making nylon string, badder outfits, shoes and carbon-graphite racquets .
Interesting article from www.sosan.com Feather The feathers we select are from goose. Only 6 feathers in each wing can be used to make a shuttlecock. The feathers come from 4 regions of China. The best grade feathers comes from the Northeast region of China, where the weather is colder and the feathers are thicker. Other regions where feathers come from are Sichuan Province, Shandong Province and Anhui Province. Feathers from these 3 regions are of sub par quality. Sometimes, the feathers are mixed together by unscrupulous merchants for extra profit and therefore are difficult to differentiate, however, we have trained technicians who can identify the top grade versus an inferior feather. Our feathers are hand picked and the ones we choose are the whiter feathers. These feathers are generally picked before the goose is slaughtered.
Usually after the geese are killed, they are put into hot water so that the feathers are easier to remove. I think if the feathers were put into hot water, some wax may be lost, and the quality may not be that good. I wonder if the top qualily leathers were taken before they put into hot water.
But still you better watch out. I'm afraid all the fake yonex racquet makers and dealers like "sportxxxxxxxxxxx" in China will be hring hitmen waiting for you at the airport.
if one look at each vane closely, the feathers are trimmed to the point that their curvature don't matter much. The spin is mostly dictated by the angle of feathers set on the cork. I believe feathers from the right wings are also used to make shuttlecocks, only top grade shuttlecocks are made from feathers plucked from left wings of geese.
Traditionally, socialist and communist countries use left wing feathers while the more conservative countries use right wing feathers. As the sport evolved, most of the conservative countries either no longer play much badminton (eg USA) or became more socialistic (eg UK, Canada, most European countries). As a result most of the shuttles we play with come from the left wing. On a more serious note, roast goose with Chinese sticky rice stuffing makes a really good meal. It is something that I make for Thanksgiving instead of roast turkey every year.
