# Freezer Camp for Dairy - Wether or not?



## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

I have two Nubian bucklings ready to wean. I've tried to sell them without success. I don't really need a wether, so keeping them is not an option. I'm beginning to reluctantly think about processing them. I know I've read some stuff on here in the past...but can't find it...so here goes:

Should I wether them or leave them intact?

At what age/weight should I process them?

About what percentage of meat might I expect (they're full sized nubians...at 12 weeks they're both in excess of 50#)
I've never sent an animal to process before...what are the basics I should know?

Does anyone have any good recipes for cooking, canning, whatever?

Anything else I should know?
Thank you!


----------



## spidy1 (Jan 9, 2014)

I use to process my kids/goats when I hadn't yet found the right ones for me so here it goes...

Intact bucklings may get bigger than wethers, so I would leave them intact.

I would process them at around 4-6 months then they are almost adult size.

I have never calculated meet ratio so can't help you there.

Talk to your processer to answer this question, I didn't send them off.

Goat tastes just like venison, so any recipe for deer works well for goat, I cooked it like any other red meet so I don't have a specific goat recipe, but goat kabobs are great!


----------



## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

1. I would go ahead and whether them. 

2. About 8 months old is best. 

3. I got 40% when I had a buck processed. I think that's pretty normal. 

4. You'll need to know what kind of cuts you want. Find a butcher that will do goats. My butcher was really nice and talked me through the whole process. It was pretty straight forward. 

5. We mostly just use it in place of beef. It works great in everything we've tried.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I wether mine. I have them processed between 8 and 10 months.


----------



## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Leaning towards wethering also. Less chance for accidents!


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I wethered mine in the past.


----------



## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

Awesome...thanks to everyone who weighed in. Looks like like the heavy consensus is to wether them. I'll try once more to sell them before "sealing" their fate!


----------



## Udder Folks (May 24, 2013)

We have had both intact bucks and wethers processed, usually between 8 months and a year old - some have gone longer. We have half of the meat ground, and the other half cut into "kabob" meat. We use the ground meat in place of ground beef - tacos, meatballs, spaghetti, burgers (amazing with carmelized onions and blue cheese), etc. The kabob meat is great marinated and grilled, made into Indian curry (our favorite), or used in stews or soups.

I took ours to a butcher the first time. It was hard on me. Hopefully not so on the goats, but I don't know how stressful it was for them, while they waited in the pen there. We have since found a mobile butcher that comes to us. It doesn't make it terribly easier on me, but the goats are at home in their familiar surroundings until they take a walk to the truck, and all is quickly over as they eat some grain.


----------



## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I do my own, so I get everything out of her I can. Bones, organs, brain.
To can, you need a pressure canner, and it is best to not can bony pieces with meaty pieces. They process differently. Canning does work very well for stew meat if the goat is older. No one goes to waste around here.


----------



## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

I have two wethers that were late babies last year that I'm thinking of processing. It's been a few years since we did one, and I ended up not really getting any of the meat! lol I don't even remember what it tastes like. 

My folks have a butcher shop in their barn and live just down the road, so it's not too stressful.


----------

