# When butchering yourself...



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Hey everyone, I was wondering if you have any tips for butchering a goat yourself? And what do you buy to put the meat in? We have a small deep freezer we are planning to use, but I wasn't sure what I should be putting the meat in? What to wrap it in to keep it from getting freezer burned?

My husband and his uncle bought 3 boys last night for butchering - his uncle knows how to do it, but 'I' want to make sure our meat stays good in the freezer unless my husband decides to cook it fresh <which is what his uncle is going to do - season it, cook it, chop it up for tacos>.

We have plastic, and a wooded area, so I think they will do everything back there away from the kids, away from the other goats. His uncle can dispose of body parts.

I have been anxious to try goat meat, and his uncle is an awesome cook...


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

If you've ever butchered wild game, it's the same concept for livestock.....I've gotten fresh beef from the farmer up the road straight from the slaughterhouse and it's been vacuum sealed, I myself use heavy freezer bags for my deer steaks, chops, ribs, backstrap...and vacuum seal the burger. For extra protection if you don't think the meat will be used up within 6 months, you can double wrap it in freezer paper and then put it in Ziploc freezer bags.


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## Thanatos (Mar 16, 2009)

what liz said... also if you have any questions there were a couple of ok :shrug: videos on youtube.(cant remember which just search for gat butchering)


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## Polarhug (Jul 1, 2010)

If you don't have a vacuum sealer, our local game processor recommends wrapping tightly in plastic wrap (like saran wrap), making sure all air is out. Then wrap in butcher paper tightly. 

If you don't do a plastic layer first and just do freezer paper, the air pockets can freezer burn. The air is your enemy.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much for the info! We're going to the grocery tomorrow, so I'll see what I can find. I don't have a vacuum sealer, but wish I did! I do freeze a lot of veggies from the garden, and seperate all my meats and freeze them as well. 
These boys aren't as fat as my husband and his uncle want, so we're putting weight on them, BUT, they are all lame <long story, but the farm they were on the person was having health issues and couldn't get out to trim their feet>. They've been trimmed, but if we can catch them tomorrow, i want to see what is going on and make them more comfortable. They may be here for up to two weeks. I dont want them here much longer than that, as they are not whethered, but also, we want to get 3 more does soon.


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## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

I'm glad you asked because I was wondering the same thing! I was asking dh earlier if where we would buy butcher paper, and would we use that later or baggies? With the economy, we want to know how to do it "just in case", kwim? Some of his buddies process their own deer in the fall, so he's going to go help this year. He may take our wether with him, so I appreciate the answers,too!


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## MiGoat (Apr 21, 2010)

I was wondering about the actual WHERE to do the killing in the first place. Do you put the rest of the animals in the barn when you do it anywhere in the barn yard?


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Glad this helped you too Aimee!

MiGoat - if it were me, just the way I feel about it, I wouldn't let the others see what you are doing, I am sure it would stress them out.
My husband and his uncle will take them back in the woods and string them up from trees. We bought some heavy duty drop cloth we were going to use for something else, but they can use it for that - collect any blood, etc. so it doesn't get ont he ground and attract predators. His uncle will dispose of the unused stuff, but if you have a landfull around you, you could stick the remains in a thick trash bag, and take them there. Sure not appealing, but that's what people around us do - keeps predators off their property. We don't have a LGD, so we worry about attracting fox and coyote in the area.

The ones they are butchering are not friendly, they are scared of people. So we'll most likely have to duct tape their feet together, which is what we have been told that others do and it keeps them from flailing around. You can duct tape the mouth shut as well so they don't hollar.
I want this to be as humane as possible. I was told slitting the throat is less painfull for them than a shot in the head <we don't own a gun anyway>. 
Not trying to get too 'bleh' in talking about it, but just thought I'd mention what we have been told to do.

We want them to put on some weight so we'll do it in about 2 weeks. For now they are getting the same treatment our other goats get, but because they are not whethered they can't run with the rest of our goats, so they are in the buck pen for now.


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

My butcher wraps the meat in two layers of butcher paper, which is sealed with white paper tape, and I have never seen any freezer burn even though some of it has been two years old by the time I used it.

They are real good at doing this, though, since it is their job.

Jan


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## MiGoat (Apr 21, 2010)

HoosierShadow,
I read a bunch that Temple Grandin wrote on slaughter. She has designed a lot of the stuff in in slaughter houses that make them more stress free. She said that throat slitting was the least traumatic. You'd want to make sure the knife was sharp enough.
Shooting seems like it'd be the most stress free for animals who are not used to being handled.

Just rambling and spit balling here. Trying to figure out the ins and outs of the whole thing. Hunting is a different baliwick. You shoot, track (or if lucky just drag out of the woods) and then process. I suppose the processing will be the same but the killing is a different deal.

Why would you duct tape feet? I'm trying to figure out how that would help. It would stop the flailing but the stress would send adrenaline etc through the animal which affects the meat.


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## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

When we do ours, huuby or friend will shoot it then slit throat. It is how the hunters do deer here. Are you planning on duck taping the legs before or after they are dead? Seems trying to do that while they are alive would be very stressful. I guess I don understand your process!

As far as freezing the meat, I plan on doing it like our butcher does. Wrap tightly in saran wrap then in buther paper. As long a what ever you wrap it in is air tight, you should be good.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Itchysmom said:


> When we do ours, huuby or friend will shoot it then slit throat. It is how the hunters do deer here. Are you planning on duck taping the legs before or after they are dead? Seems trying to do that while they are alive would be very stressful. I guess I don understand your process!
> 
> As far as freezing the meat, I plan on doing it like our butcher does. Wrap tightly in saran wrap then in buther paper. As long a what ever you wrap it in is air tight, you should be good.


We'd have to duct tape the feet before butchering. These are not tame goats. You should have seen us wrestling the older one so we could check his feet! I couldn't imagine trying to drag him back into the wooded area. They aren't tame, and the bigger one is probably no less than 5 months. The smaller ones are probably 4 1/2 months old maybe older? But need some weight put on them. They aren't as bad, but the bigger one whew....We also don't have that back section completely fenced in, so if one got away they'd never catch him back there.

We'd duct tape front feet together, and back feet together, and if they are real noisy, then we'd have to make the decision to duct tape their mouths closed so they can breath, but so they can't hollar.

Killing them is the part I can't stand  Something I can't be there to watch. I am okay with the butchering part - they are already gone by then. But I just feel so awful for any animal that loses their life


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

personally when we butcher I'd never duct tape them. seems cruel and unnecessary, If anything I'd catch them and slit their throats there and then move them, WAY less tramatic. and you can have a small tarp there to catch the bit of blood. 
If you still didn't want to kill them on spot, put a cloth or cover their eyes with your hand and they'll calm down, I've walked big 200lb'ers who had never been handled in their lives and once you cover their eyes or stick some grain under their nose they're walking like show goats.
Just my honest opinion


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

AlaskaBoers said:


> personally when we butcher I'd never duct tape them. seems cruel and unnecessary, If anything I'd catch them and slit their throats there and then move them, WAY less tramatic. and you can have a small tarp there to catch the bit of blood.
> If you still didn't want to kill them on spot, put a cloth or cover their eyes with your hand and they'll calm down, I've walked big 200lb'ers who had never been handled in their lives and once you cover their eyes or stick some grain under their nose they're walking like show goats.
> Just my honest opinion


Thanks, we'll try that!
We definitely don't want any blood in the pen, so that's why we were told to use duct tape, so we can try to control them and get them back in the woods. We don't have a LGD, so we're trying to do what we can to keep predators away. There are fox and coyote in the general area, but thankfully none right around our property.

I told my husband, it has to be done as humanely as possible.


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

Yeah I dont want blood in my pens either, we have neighbor dogs, bears, eagles and foxes around here, and I try to give my LGD a break..lol. 
I just hate hearing them scream, the duct tape on the mouth wouldn't work anyway, you could probably still hear their muffled screams. I did hoof trimming on some 3 month old does yesterday and my helper held them, and eventually put her hand around the muzzle to keep them from screaming so loud (dramatic goats btw, pedicure of death!!) and you could still hear them loud and clear.


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## Polarhug (Jul 1, 2010)

lol Pedicure of death :slapfloor:


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## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

:laugh: I'm imagining you getting pulled over with a goat, legs and mouth duck taped together. Kidnapping! :slapfloor: 
I think maybe I'll just inject 60 cc of air into the jugular vein. They'll have a stroke and go unconscious.
Now the part about dropping the remains off at a landfill....now that's a GOOD IDEA! Oh yea. The butcher will just THINK we're bringing the remains home to dispose of. I'll drop my hefty trash bag off in a neighboring county like some "ding dong ditch" and be gone.  Goat? What goat? :angel2:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Perfect7 said:


> :laugh: I'm imagining you getting pulled over with a goat, legs and mouth duck taped together. Kidnapping! :slapfloor:
> I think maybe I'll just inject 60 cc of air into the jugular vein. They'll have a stroke and go unconscious.
> Now the part about dropping the remains off at a landfill....now that's a GOOD IDEA! Oh yea. The butcher will just THINK we're bringing the remains home to dispose of. I'll drop my hefty trash bag off in a neighboring county like some "ding dong ditch" and be gone.  Goat? What goat? :angel2:


LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
We live in a flood zone, so it wouldn't be a great idea to bury anything here - on our back property where it's low laying. I found out from local animal disposal, that the best way for me to get rid of a small animal like a goat, would be to put them in a trash bag, and take them to the landfill, and I'd be charged the fee of one garbage bag full. You don't tell them what's in the bag unless they ask. But the landfill does accept them. 
When my husband and his uncle do the butchering, his uncle is supposed to dispose of the remains.


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