# Considering eating bucklings



## Bebop (Feb 26, 2010)

I'm actually having a hard time finding homes for a couple bucklings that I just got registered. I think it's just my location, too many established awesome ND breeders  
Anyway, I am considering just eating them. They're getting older, I would like to get more goats, but I can't have 2 more bucks running around. As much as I love them also, I'm not looking to have more pets. 
I knew that I would have to deal with the fact that not all my animals would find homes, and that many dairies sell their extra bucks for meat. 
What weight and age is good for a ND to be butchered? I feel kind of weird doing this to my first born kids, but this is basically what I signed up for.
Thanks for any help!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Wish I could help...never done it before, but I'd probably wait until a year old when they're nearly or fully grown with good weight to them that way you are getting enough meat off of them to be worth it. But like I said...never done it before. Some of the meat breeders will be able to give you better advice. 

There was a gal who contacted me not that long ago. She wanted a few does, but asked if it was ok that she would use any wether kids they produced to raise up for butchering. I think that's really great. If you can handle that, why not be self sufficient? As long as the animal lives a good life and is humanely slaughtered I think it's not a bad idea at all to use wethers (even nigerians) for your own consumption.


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## TinyHoovesRanch (Jan 16, 2010)

Ive heard of this also, bt normally you wait until they are older, so maybe you could wether these boys and then let them get bigger.....


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## quakingcanopy (Feb 22, 2011)

I agree, very good idea for being self sufficient. When we raised goats we decided early on that if we have boys we couldn't sell we would whether, fatten them up (in a healthy manner) and give them the best life possible until 9-12 months, and then put them in the freezer. Our dogs are fed a raw diet, so it was a big consideration for additional raw bones for our dogs. 

If you want to go through with it go a head and whether them so you don't have the hormones and smell. They will also get bigger. Research good meat diets too. If you find yourself not able to eat the meat yourself, find people who feed their dogs raw - they buy it readily!


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## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

We will be slaughtering all of our wethers, and slaughtered one last year at 10 months of age. He was small, 80 lbs, so it was more expensive per pound. Our butcher charges a flat rate slaughter fee and then a small amount per pound, so the bigger they are the cheaper it is per pound of meat. Some prefer to slaughter them at weaning age because the meat is then very tender. Some (like we will be doing) slaughter at a year old so the meat is still fairly tender but there's more of it. The meat gets tougher the older they get, but I hear it's still good ground or for sausage. Economically, the older they are the higher the feed bill so it would depend on if you have nice pasture grass (free) or will have to provide hay. Wethers don't need grain unless you just want to fatten them quicker. We plan to have ours born around february and then slaughter around december when I would start racking up a hay bill (and when the kids finish showing them in 4h.) We will also start slaughtering our own at home to save that slaughter fee. I guess the best age to slaughter is personal preference, all things considered. Hope this helps!


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## Mon Reve Farm (Jun 25, 2010)

I think this is a tough topic for most people.

We were discussing this and someone asked me "How could you - don't you care about them?" My response was that I care about them very much... so much so that it isn't worth the $25 I would get selling them on craigslist to not know what kind of home they would go to. I would rather give them a healthy and happy goat life for a year and then harvest them to feed my family meat that I know exactly what went into it then sell them for less than they are worth to just anyone that comes along.

It's a personal decision thats some people may or may not understand.


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## Froggy (Feb 27, 2011)

I'm thinking about doing that this year with any buck-kids born. I was also wondering what's a good age/weight though---my yearling wether weighs 55-60lbs. 
I think maybe it might be better to raise them on pasture, and butcher before winter. Another thing...I've heard it isn't worth sending them to the slaughterhouse. We paid $150 for like 50pounds of meat. I'm trying to get the nerve up to butcher any goats my self.


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## Clear Crescent (Feb 26, 2011)

We will be butchering any bucks (wethers) we get from our two Saanens this year (first kidding for us). My husband dresses deer he shoots during hunting season, and he will be doing the wethers for us also. I am not sure how big they will be at the one-year mark, which is near the time we will be butchering. Depending on how many girls we get this year to supplement our milking herd, we may breed to Boers next year to get a little more meat on the cross-bred kids.


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## DRJ Ranch (Apr 3, 2010)

We butcher our weathers out around 100lbs, that is when we had a smaller herd.

Now I'm looking at selling weathers at the Auctions.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Did you try craigslaist....to try to sell them.... also ..put up signs at the vets office...feed stores.... store billboards... ect...


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

in 4-H when you have market wethers they have to be under a year of age at the time you sell them. Market weight around here is 60-80 pounds i think.


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## kitten6500 (Dec 31, 2010)

We're talking specifically about butchering Nigerian Dwarf goats (I thought), so although all the Boer info is nice, it's not really relevant....


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## TinyHoovesRanch (Jan 16, 2010)

Ya haha looks like this went from Nigis to Boers....

I know lots of friends that will eat the boys born from Nigis, by wethering and letting them grow, although they wont have as much meat, its still meat and I guess if you have alot it would be worth it...


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## kitten6500 (Dec 31, 2010)

I think the hardest part of butchering ND's would be the actual killing... I don't think I could do that, and it's not cost effective to take them to be butchered...


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## TinyHoovesRanch (Jan 16, 2010)

Thats true....

You can always ask like a friend or someone to do it. I know my friends have boers and they do everything themselves, I would ask them if I ever decided to do that. But I wouldnt since im finding great homes for all my wethers...


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## Bellafire Farm (Jan 5, 2010)

I would also be very intersted in this... but from the aspect of Nigerian Dwarf wethers... although my questions about the butcher should be average across the board right?

Does anyone have an idea of the cost of butchering? Do the butchers charge per lb? Is there a 'travel charge' from the butchers? I realize they will all be slightly different, but what's the 'norm' for a butcher???
Not that I have any problems with selling the wethers, but I do like the idea of being more self-sufficient... and at some point the wethers might now sell as good and/or we may end up w/an extra market (boer) goat.


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## JessaLynn (Aug 30, 2009)

We just had our 2- 7 month old Nubian/Boer wethers butchered and it cost $25 for both at our local butcher shop.They quated $40 each but then after processing them the nice lady said since they were so small she couldn't charge me that.I got 25lbs of meat out of them.Just had a shoulder roast for supper in fact :laugh: The moment they were born we all knew what the purpose was for them but didn't stop us from giving them attention and all that.Nobody had a problem except my 5 yr old daughter went with me to the butcher to drop them off and she said aww mom that's not nice to kill our baby goaties :wink: She had no problem eating the meat though :slapfloor: My kids know it's the circle of life and I to would rather eat our extra bucks then have them in the hands of a neglectful owner.


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

You know with the price of so/so dog food being $42 per 33 lb bag at the moment... I've been thinking real hard about starting to feed raw..but the cost of raw wasn't any better...DUH.... I have like 40 kids born here a year.. I guess I could keep a few boys for that! :idea: sad that I didn't think of that myself... :doh: :slapfloor:


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## Mon Reve Farm (Jun 25, 2010)

I could only find two USDA butchers near here (within an hour) and they both quote a flat rate per goat. It is based on boers though and not smaller breeds. I talked to our pig farmers who use one of them and they recommended calling ahead and discussing the size difference with the NDGs. They thought they would give us a different rate based on the smaller size. We haven't called yet since we don't think they will be ready until end of April the earliest.


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## mydakota (Mar 4, 2011)

I keep Boers for meat and Saanens for milk. We eat the wethers at 10 months to a year and do all the processing ourselves. (just had our first crop reach harvest age last year) We have found the meat to be very tender and delicious. I try really hard to utilize all that I can from my small goat herd. I milk all does (even the Boers) and we eat the Saanen wethers too. If I could figure out a practical use for the hides, then we would truly not be wasting anything. Our dogs eat the bones. I care very much what all my goats experience while alive. They are given tender loving care daily, and are dispatched as quickly and stress free as possible. I don't think it is wrong to utilize them to their full potential.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I spend a lot of time out in the field with my goats. I play with them and talk to them, give them treats, and take care of their health needs. They have no preditors or diseases to worry about and food is in abundant supply. Still goats are not as easy as to eat as cows because they are personal. The best way for me to accept that our two wethers will be going into our freezer this fall is to send them when weaned to a neighbor who has a blackberry pasture. They live out the rest of their lives happy, healthy with good care and company of eachother. As long as they are happy, I am fine with them having a short life. (They also do not need to be wormed while on the blackberries.) My husband and brother will do the butchering in a very humane way. It is when you sell a goat to someone who neglects to take care of them and they end up being lonely and sick and sad. I would rather that a goat live a short happy fat life than to be in a home where they are so misereable. This is how I deal with raising meat goats and pet goats. Some are for the home here as pets and all the wethers here end up in someone's freezer. It is all about giving animals the right purpose in life and about respecting all life. I am less wasteful of my food now after raising animals for our own table.


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## Mon Reve Farm (Jun 25, 2010)

We sent four of our NDG wethers to the butcher today. The two larger boys will be processed as normal with the typical cuts but the two smaller will just be short ribs and ground. It will cost $50 per which includes everything.

I won't lie it was tough but this is the right decision for us. We gave them treats and thanked them.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

I am sure it wasn't easy but sometimes best. Was the $50 for them to do all the work? Like did you drop them of whole and they do from start to finish or did you have to have them dressed first?


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## Mon Reve Farm (Jun 25, 2010)

Through word of mouth we found a family butcher house within 20 minutes of us. The price is for the entire process. They will be harvested today and then aged until Friday. Then they will do the cutting, grinding and packaging then we pick up on Saturday.

They are closed during the summer starting next week. So we decided to get the four done this week. We have one more wether from last Spring but he is smaller so we will wait till September for him.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

That seams like a great price for everything! Our deer butcher is just over $100 and that is just for the butchering part.


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