# Goat Meat Thread



## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

I know that this can be a tough subject for those that do not eat meat or could never see their goats as anything but pets, so if you are one of those people, you may kindly skip this subject.😉

We are planning on sending our wether that was born this past spring to freezer camp. I'm wondering which of you out there on the forum process your own goats? We will be doing it ourselves and while I recognize that it is going to be a difficult task on the emotions, I am looking forward for the opportunity to learn a new skill and eat meat that I know has had a humane life and end. Anyone have any processing tips or tricks? We've watched a lot of videos and done a lot of research so we have a pretty good foundation. My mom and sister have also done rabbits so at least we have a little experience to guide us.

I'm also looking for some recipes for chevon, if anyone has any recommendations. Specifically for parts of the carcass that aren't going to be ground up such as the loins and the leg roasts.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Following this thread!!

We process our own sheep which aren't really different from goats I assume. But we'll be doing any extra wether bucks this year if we have them. So if you have any specific questions, I'll ask my husband. He's the one that does the butchering, I grind and pack the meat. We've also processed chickens, turkeys, and quail, though they're different than livestock. 

I'd love any good recipes too!!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Good luck on doing it yourself. We send ours to the processor.


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

@Sfgwife is there any information you or yours would be willing to add to this thread by any chance?


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## K.B. (Mar 15, 2021)

I have books with some recipes , I'll dig one out! I'm sure there's some on Amazon for a decent price!


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## K.B. (Mar 15, 2021)

Hopefully you can read them!


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

Yum, all of those look pretty good.


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## K.B. (Mar 15, 2021)

NigerianNewbie said:


> Yum, all of those look pretty good.


I wouldn't know, never tried but I knew I saw some chevon recipes


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## K.B. (Mar 15, 2021)

All of those seem to call for ground though,  I'll check out the other recipes maybe there's a type of stew or something


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## AndersonRanch (Oct 18, 2020)

I haven’t processed one myself but have had one butchered and getting ready to pick up another one. 
They are not like cows when it comes to the fat. You don’t want the fat it’s nasty. I have heard this before but didn’t really totally buy it figuring it was a “healthy” food thing. We had some chops cut and they didn’t trim it, I wasn’t a fan. The next batch I cut it all off and it was so much better. 
This one we had a good amount ground and the other we just had stew meat done. The thing is you want to cook it super slow so I figure I can toss it in the crock pot and make burritos, tacos or bbq beef goat style lol 
Oh one other thing we had done with the last batch was had sausage made. I am a HUGE sausage fan (really any pork) so I could have lived without it but everyone else absolutely loved it.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I get mine in a variety of cuts- roasts, ground, stew, ribs etc. For stew I just use it as I would any other stew meat- add potatoes, carrots, onions to make a stew or I make a soup with rice or some other grain. For roasts I sprinkle spices on it after rubbing it with butter or coconut oil. I have used the larger roasts to make a boiled dinner type of thing. For ribs, steaks and such I cover them in bar b q sauce and slow cook them. For ground, I make burgers, chop suey, lasagna, or sloppy joes.

Pretty much anything you can do with beef, lamb, pork, venison etc you can do with goat.

I am only cooking for 1 these days, kids grown, so I don't get too fancy, just basic stuff.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

K.B. said:


> All of those seem to call for ground though,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We are going to get a meat grinder, so I am interested in ground meat recipes, but it's a lot easier to find that sort of thing than the more specific cuts.



AndersonRanch said:


> They are not like cows when it comes to the fat. You don’t want the fat it’s nasty.


That's great to know that. I had heard that, but like you I was suspicious. I'd prefer to remove as much fat as possible because I want to render it and use it for soap making. Goat Tallow apparently makes awesome soap.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

I have never heard of goat tallow...hmmm...add another thing to my list...render goat fat 

With our sheep, we tend to grind most of it up. We keep a couple of legs whole, and then some other stew meat and maybe some kind of steaks. But on a whole, because we have a large family, we do a lot of ground meat. We also just use it in place of ground beef and such in recipes. That has worked out well and I'd assume I could do the same with goat. However, I had never heard that about the fat...good to know.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

You can sub goat meat in any beef or deer recipe. As far as processing... same way a deer is done. . The guys ziptie the anus. You are familiar with doing rabbits. Think of it as a really big one and you will do just fine. Good sharp knives. A bone saw or recpricating saw is good for big bones. When breaking it down look for joints to cut like you would on a chicken leg/thigh. We let any meat we process rest in cooler or a cold room for four days... until the rigor is gone from it. Plus it helps get more blood out of it.

Chops are amazing on the grill marinated. We call them lollies here cause they are a two bite wonder lol! Ribs i salt and pepper and put them in the crockpot. No water on low and cook most of the day. Check them once in a while and dump out the water in there. Then at the end i sometimes put them on a baking sheet with sauce. They are good both ways though. I have slow roasted legs in the oven. They make really great gyros too.

The guys LOVE making snack sticks and summer sausage with goat. They get all giddy excited when we process one so they can make them. Lol. You need a sausage stuffer for makin them though... and a good one is not cheap.


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

I have not yet ate any goats lol. I do plan this winter to pick the most meaty buckling and keep for slaughter. I love deer hunting and have a lot of experience with it. I think skining a goat would be very similar. Im defenatly following this thread! We do not send animals off to the butcher, we do it our selves.

This big guy is headed to the freezer this winter, but he doesn't know it yet lol...


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Oh my gosh, he's HUGE! So your family will be butchering him yourselves?


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Oh my gosh, he's HUGE! So your family will be butchering him yourselves?


Yes we will. Hes around 3000Lbs. His dad was 2800Lbs if I'm remebeeing correct.

Heres more pics. His name is Banana head lol...Bc his horns look like bananas lol

These pics are when he was 3 years old. Hes either 6 or 7 now.... I dont remember lol..


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

Heres more pics took a couple months ago. These pics make him look small tho














.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

😮


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Try and avoid processing bucks during rut- kind of like buck deer- you have to be careful around the scent glands.


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

Goats Rock said:


> Try and avoid processing bucks during rut- kind of like buck deer- you have to be careful around the scent glands.


I love deer when in rut....lol...


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

There really isn't a lot to it. If you can do a rabbit, you can do a goat...or a deer...or a sheep. They're all pretty much the same, just different sizes. The fat is what really gives off a bad taste but I don't get super picky about trimming when we are just grinding the meat. We grind most of it just because that's what we cook with the most. Backstraps, tenderloins, and the roasts off the back legs get set aside. Backstraps and tenderloins are good cut up into medallions and pan fried in a batter. Leg roasts usually get cut into steaks and pan fried. The only cooking recommendation I have is just to be careful not to dry them out. Since you have to trim the fat to keep them from tasting off, it's easy to dry the meat too much.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I dug out an old game cook book that I have. Most of the recipes are pretty fancy but I found this one. If you want more involved recipes I could take pictures of those too. This is pretty similar to what I do with the loins. It is also very good with the heart if you are into eating the organ meats. It's not very fancy but neither am I.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> Backstraps and tenderloins are good cut up into medallions and pan fried in a batter.


Can you be more specific about what kind of batter you use? And would you say done would you say you cook it to? Medium? Well done? Would well done be too tough? Is it that kind of thing?


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Can you be more specific about what kind of batter you use? And would you say done would you say you cook it to? Medium? Well done? Would well done be too tough? Is it that kind of thing?


It's pretty similar to the recipe I took a picture of. I put a little flour in a bag(recipe says to do it on a sheet of waxed paper) and season with a little pepper. You could put in whatever seasonings that you like. Put the cut up pieces of meat in the bag and shake to cover them with flour. I pan fry them in a little oil, whatever kind you usually cook with. I use just enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. I cook them over medium heat. I would cook them for about 5 minutes, flipping them halfway through. My suggestion would be to do a couple for the first round and cut them open to see how done they are. I cook them until the pink is almost completely gone out of the middle. This is what we always did with the hearts when we went dear hunting but I like it with the loins too. I'm sure there are some people out there that are horribly offended I don't make anything fancy with the loins but I like simple meals.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> It's pretty similar to the recipe I took a picture of. I put a little flour in a bag(recipe says to do it on a sheet of waxed paper) and season with a little pepper. You could put in whatever seasonings that you like. Put the cut up pieces of meat in the bag and shake to cover them with flour. I pan fry them in a little oil, whatever kind you usually cook with. I use just enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. I cook them over medium heat. I would cook them for about 5 minutes, flipping them halfway through. My suggestion would be to do a couple for the first round and cut them open to see how done they are. I cook them until the pink is almost completely gone out of the middle. This is what we always did with the hearts when we went dear hunting but I like it with the loins too. I'm sure there are some people out there that are horribly offended I don't make anything fancy with the loins but I like simple meals.


Thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate it!


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate it!


You're welcome! I have found it to be hard to find simple recipes for goat. Most are pretty involved so I started just doing our family recipes for deer and using the ground meat like lean beef.


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## AndersonRanch (Oct 18, 2020)

Montreal chicken is good with goat meat lol 
We picked up the steer and wether today and the kids wanted the goat. I’m low on seasoning so used that. It was a bit dry so since I’m also out of oil I put a big blob of margarine in. Cooked SUPER low which is something that drives me nuts lol but so far I think this is my favorite 
Honestly though I think as long as you cook slowly you can basically use any recipe for beef. Tomorrow I’m trying the beef but I’ll keep playing with the goat too. I think I’m going to go with the ribs and do the same thing I do for my pork ribs. Cook at 200 degrees with pappies seasoning and then slap some BBQ sauce on it. I’ll let you know how that goes


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

So what cut of meat is that? And how done did you cook it to? My mom (she's the cook) is surprised you say that you cooked it on low. She is used to steaks where you want to sear it.

Definitely let me know how the ribs go!


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## Boers4ever (Jun 28, 2020)

I kinda want to save a wether for freezer next year but I’m not sure if I’d like goat. Is it like lamb? Because we ate some lamb one time and it was really gamy. No one really liked it. So I’m going to go to the local Mexican meat market to get some goat and see. Maybe the lamb wasn’t cooked properly.


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## AndersonRanch (Oct 18, 2020)

Those are chops and they were pretty thick so they ended up being well done and probably medium well, a little pink in the middle. I can’t say I’m even close to being a great cook, I’m a very basic boring cook lol but I’m sure she could sear it and then cook on low after. I know the main way most cook it, mostly way back when lol was dip pit. 
It’s not like lamb. I can not even choke lamb down. It’s hard to explain but it’s beef but with a little something else. Not exactly game taste, it’s hard to explain. 
When I first wanted to try I looked for any place that had goat meat. That was a joke and surprised me since one of the towns I live is very Hispanic populated. I figured out fast why the sale yard is such a hit. Anyways I went ahead and just bit the bullet after I finally told myself if it was nasty then I could put just a little goat mixed with a lot of beef into whatever I’m making. And if that didn’t work I have dogs and it’s still not wasting as long as something consumed it. I honestly like beef and pork best but the kids like the goat (surprisingly) and I don’t know if it’s my husbands favorite but he will eat kr and tell me it’s good………he’s a good husband though so even if it tasted like crap as long as he can get it down he would tell me it was good lol


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

Boers4ever said:


> I kinda want to save a wether for freezer next year but I’m not sure if I’d like goat. Is it like lamb? Because we ate some lamb one time and it was really gamy. No one really liked it. So I’m going to go to the local Mexican meat market to get some goat and see. Maybe the lamb wasn’t cooked properly.


I was gifted 2 (two) goat steaks, cooked and seasoned it like minute steak beef, screaming hot cast iron and quickly seared both sides to lock in the flavor, then medium heat on both sides until medium doneness, tiny bit of oil, no coating of any type, until lightly brown. I was surprised at how tasty goat meat was. Hands down, much better than deer meat, which I've had often. 

When you put the goat meat in the refrigerator to defrost, leave it for 3 (three) days still packaged, inside a container to age and bleed some more. Don't cook the meat until the chill has been knocked off and let it rest about 5 (five) minutes after cooked before slicing/cutting, so it will retain it's juices. Truly tasted better than steak from a cow. I don't like lamb meat of any cut.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Awesome info you two! Thank you both a ton!


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## Boers4ever (Jun 28, 2020)

I grilled goat loins for dinner yesterday! Everyone loved the taste, but we couldn’t eat them! They were chewy beyond belief. I’m not sure if it was the meat or something I did wrong in the prep. We probably looked like insane people trying to eat that! Lol


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## Dandy Hill Farm (Aug 5, 2021)

Boers4ever said:


> View attachment 214269
> 
> I grilled goat loins for dinner yesterday! Everyone loved the taste, but we couldn’t eat them! They were chewy beyond belief. I’m not sure if it was the meat or something I did wrong in the prep. We probably looked like insane people trying to eat that! Lol


Well, at least you tried! Everything else looks delicious!! 😁😋


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Did you grill them medium rare? Goat can't be fully cooked.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Oh no!!! You might have over cooked it or if you bought it, it might have been a older animal. I haven’t had older goat before but I know with beef older animals are so tough so I don’t see why it would be different for goats


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Oh, that's too bad. It sure looks delicious! 😋


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

One thing Ive done for years, any deer, goat meat.I cut all the fat & sinew off the meat. I soak in coca cola overnight. It tenderizes the meat. Then I slap on all kinds of seasonings. I cook all my goat in a slow cooker with a little chicken broth. Cook till its almost done. then slap it on a hot skillet to sear it. Dont leave it long or it will burn.
My favorite goat meat is soaked in coke, baked in a covered glass bakewear in chicken broth, just enough to keep it from sticking, heavy steak seasoning. Then the last hour I add a can of Cream ofMushroom soup. Let it brown in about 350•. Yummm yumm. Just add a baked potatoe. Soooo good.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Moers kiko boars said:


> One thing Ive done for years, any deer, goat meat.I cut all the fat & sinew off the meat. I soak in coca cola overnight. It tenderizes the meat. Then I slap on all kinds of seasonings. I cook all my goat in a slow cooker with a little chicken broth. Cook till its almost done. then slap it on a hot skillet to sear it. Dont leave it long or it will burn.
> My favorite goat meat is soaked in coke, baked in a covered glass bakewear in chicken broth, just enough to keep it from sticking, heavy steak seasoning. Then the last hour I add a can of Cream ofMushroom soup. Let it brown in about 350•. Yummm yumm. Just add a baked potatoe. Soooo good.


Great tips! Thanks so much!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Yum.


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## Boers4ever (Jun 28, 2020)

Mmmm  oh that sounds good! I think we decided that it was an older animal and some bad cuts. The taste was great though so I’ll definitely be trying it again!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

That does sound good! I have never used coke before. I will have to try that. I love the baking with cream of mushroom over the top. I did pork chops with cream of broccoli and that was pretty dang good too.
Hey though if you guys liked the taste of the meat though you know you will like goat! So if you save a kid back and have it processed then you will know for sure it’s young and you will like it  those old animals can be tough. I never really knew just how bad until we butchered a older cow that bad broke her leg. We should have just done all hamburger with her and my teeth were never so happy to get the last of her out of the freezer lol


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## Boers4ever (Jun 28, 2020)

I’m am really thinking about send a kid to freezer camp next year. What is a good age to butcher?


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Welcome, hope you enjoy them!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

About 8 months old.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Two days ago we sent our first wether to freezer camp. It went really well. Took us a good three hours from start to finish, but I'm sure we'll be faster next time when we know better what we are doing. Something we have to learn to be better at is getting less hair on the meat. It was really time consuming to pick the hair off the meat when we were packing it up.

We got 21lbs. of meat for human consumption. That includes the weight of the bone in the cut. We also got 6lbs. of bone/meat for to feed to our dogs, 1.25 pounds of organ meat (only saved heart and liver), and 2.5lbs. of fat. He was a fatty boy! I'm going to cut down on the amount of grain I feed my wethers in the future, although I am thrilled to have all that fat to render into tallow for soap. I'm so, so glad I learned to make soap or I don't know what we would have done with all that fat! So all told we got 30.75lbs of usable meat and bones for a 43.8% of live weight to carcass.

Here are some pictures of the meat. Two of the legs and our gorgeous chevon burger. The leg on the left has some meat cut out of it due to inexperienced meat cutters.
















The night we did it we tried to cook up the tenderloins and back strap by cutting them into medallions, searing them and then slow cooking them for about two hours. I'm not sure what we did wrong, but it was way too tough and chewy to eat. Maybe it was seared for to long, maybe it was because we ate it the day of, or maybe we just didn't cook it slowly enough. We are just going to crock pot a leg next time. We are super excited to try the burger, that will likely be the next thing we try.

I'm just amazed at how humane this whole process was. Benji never had even one inkling of what was going on. I always try to live by the "only one bad day" mantra for meat animals, and I think that he never even had one bad day. One minute he was doing his favorite thing, eating grain, and the next thing he was raptured to heaven. It certainly was a learning experience and out of our comfort zone for us as a family, but in the end I was shocked at how well we all handled the experience. Beforehand I had been worried that this would be the thing that would somehow lessen the love I have for my job of raising goats, but this has not done it. I love the opportunity to provide my family with yet another amazing resource. I love my job even more than I did before.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Great job!


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Thats a perfect attitude! It can be a learning, sharing, and family oriented. Good Job. 
With my goat meat. I cook it slowley in a liquid. Then sear it on a hot pan. .I hope you enjoy your crockpot meat. Its fun to try new things!


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I'm glad you had a good first experience! I've actually been butchering this week as well. We've decided to butcher our buck as well as most of this year's kids. I've only gotten the buck done so far but I ended up with 26 pounds of meat from him. That's with no bone weight and no organ weight (the chickens got those) and no fat weight (chickens got that too because there is a lot of beef suet in the freezer right now). I let the carcass hang for at least 2 days before cutting it up and packaging the meat. I let this carcass hang for 4 days. Any meat that is cooked in the first 24 hours will be pretty tough as it is still in rigor mortis. We cooked up a little bit of the ground meat this morning and it had some goaty taste but not bad. Certainly a lot milder than I was expecting from a 1 1/2 year old buck in rut. 

I had to laugh about getting hair in the meat because I did a HORRIBLE job of keeping hair out of the meat this time. I had it everywhere. 

I agree that if you are quick about killing them, they never even know what is happening. May I ask how you dispatched them? I understand if you'd rather not say.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You did a fantastic job! I am so happy to hear it was not as horrific as you thought it might be. 
It’s hard to explain but if you can hang them up by the back legs, make a ring around the legs and basically skin them so it comes off in a tube it helps a lot with keeping the hair off. When you cut down the front the flaps kinda flap around and get more hair on the meat.
Now I did watch a episode of dirty jobs and Mike went with a man that his job was to pick up dead cows off of dairies. They used a air compressor to skin the animals. I haven’t tried it yet and I’m sure it is still practice makes perfect but check YouTube I’m sure there is a video about it on there. When I saw that though I was like where has that idea been my whole life!!! 
I’m sorry the meat wasn’t good on your first try :/ I agree, give it a little more time. We usually eat the organs that first day when we do the whole process our self. Well I actually have only had the liver and I always give the heart to my uncle


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Thanks everyone!

It's good to know that rigor mortis was probably the problem. We'll have to try that style again after a few days of resting next time.



Rancho Draco said:


> I agree that if you are quick about killing them, they never even know what is happening. May I ask how you dispatched them? I understand if you'd rather not say.





Spoiler: Here are the details for those that want to hear them (not gory)



My dad used a 22 magnum rifle. We led him to a grain dish and when he started eating, Dad took the shot. Once to the back of the head and it was over immediately. That was the one thing about this process I was worried about, but it couldn't have gone better.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Awesome!! So glad it went well for you!! Depending on what we have this year we may keep some wethers back. We shall see. We do our lambs so I anticipate it's not much different. My husband does the neck cut vs a gun. I don't have any part in the butchering until the packing up lol. We just did chickens a couple weeks ago.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I do a neck cut here as well. If you have a sharp knife they barely feel it and they quickly forget it with some scratches on the nose and then they just go pass out from the low blood pressure.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Just wanted to add that one of the things that I really look forward to with butchering any animal is to see what your feed is doing on the inside. You can really only guess at certain things until you can actually see the animal inside and out. I was pretty surprised that my buck had much on him in the way of fat because our pastures were pretty bad this past summer with our drought. He was definitely lean but he had fat on him and it's always very reassuring to see that your management is working for your animals. My rabbits on the other hand all need to go on a diet😆 I butchered one of my older rabbits this fall and I wish I would have weighed out how much fat he had on him because it was ridiculous. My other (rabbit) buck was put on a pretty strict diet after I saw that.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Rancho Draco said:


> Just wanted to add that one of the things that I really look forward to with butchering any animal is to see what your feed is doing on the inside. You can really only guess at certain things until you can actually see the animal inside and out. I was pretty surprised that my buck had much on him in the way of fat because our pastures were pretty bad this past summer with our drought. He was definitely lean but he had fat on him and it's always very reassuring to see that your management is working for your animals. My rabbits on the other hand all need to go on a diet I butchered one of my older rabbits this fall and I wish I would have weighed out how much fat he had on him because it was ridiculous. My other (rabbit) buck was put on a pretty strict diet after I saw that.


Honestly I think this is something everyone should see! I had a doe that was fairly over weight. She passed on a weekend so I did my own necropsy on her and was SHOCKED at the amount of internal fat! It’s one thing to read about a goat getting internal fat and very much another thing to actually witness it. I think it would change a lot of peoples views on their very over weight goats.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Jessica84 said:


> Honestly I think this is something everyone should see! I had a doe that was fairly over weight. She passed on a weekend so I did my own necropsy on her and was SHOCKED at the amount of internal fat! It’s one thing to read about a goat getting internal fat and very much another thing to actually witness it. I think it would change a lot of peoples views on their very over weight goats.


I agree. It is one thing to know that an animal is overweight but it's pretty shocking just how much fat is in an animal when they are overweight. I honestly shudder to think what it would be like to butcher an animal that was obese. 
I think for a lot of people it is a struggle to keep animals at a healthy weight because a healthy weight generally means that you can see parts of the skeletal frame clearly defined. I know when I was learning that was something that surprised me. I assumed that if you can see the hips or you can feel clearly defined ribs then the animal was underweight. It has been more learning with the rabbits as, to me anyways, a rabbit that is at a good weight feels underweight compared to how a goat would feel at a good weight. The rabbits just don't really carry much weight on their ribs so even my older rabbit, who was very definitely overweight, felt to be at a decent weight to my inexperienced hand.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> Just wanted to add that one of the things that I really look forward to with butchering any animal is to see what your feed is doing on the inside.


I totally agree! I am going to reduce Murphy's feed after what I saw in her brother, and next year I will be cutting back on the grain I feed my growing kids. He certainly wasn't obese, but apparently I didn't need to be spending as much on grain. I'm just impressed with how fat they got on only a cup and a third a day. I'd probably stop giving grain to Murphy altogether, but I think she'd be pretty unhappy with everyone else getting grain but her, so I'll just give her a teeny little bit a day, just to satisfy her. It will be interesting to see if next year my kids are as muscular as they were this year. The buck I'm using this year is a bit leaner in frame.


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

The shocking thing about goats, they internalize the fat in their organs first. Then the second layer is on the meat. If that were true for humans over 1/2 our population would be dead from heart attacksand organ failure. 
So an overweight goat, is a struggeling goat. Scarey huh?


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

I thought it was really cool to actually see the transverse process exactly like the body condition score diagrams have. It was very obvious that he was a BCS of 4.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Good work. 👍


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Moers kiko boars said:


> The shocking thing about goats, they internalize the fat in their organs first. Then the second layer is on the meat. If that were true for humans over 1/2 our population would be dead from heart attacksand organ failure.
> So an overweight goat, is a struggeling goat. Scarey huh?


It really is concerning. The first goat I butchered was at a good weight but not overly fat and I was surprised how much fat is on the organs even then. Now I would honestly rather have my goats on the lean side of a BCS of 3. Instead of at a solid or overly conditioned 3 because there is so much fat around the organs at that point.


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

So was this your first time witnessing something like that?


MellonFriend said:


> I thought it was really cool to actually see the transverse process exactly like the body condition score diagrams have. It was very obvious that he was a BCS of 4.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I think 3 is ideal, a bit more wouldn’t hurt either. The thing is if they get sick they loose so much body condition so very fast and takes forever to get it back on. My does are also excellent mother’s and like to give it all to their kids. But there is such a fine line between a few extra pounds and too much. I’ll tell ya livestock is not the easiest gambling game there is lol


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Lil Boogie said:


> So was this your first time witnessing something like that?


Yes it was. Not counting rabbits and chickens. This was the first time I had seen a hooved animal carcass.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Jessica84 said:


> I’ll tell ya livestock is not the easiest gambling game there is lol


It sure isn't!


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Yes it was. Not counting rabbits and chickens. This was the first time I had seen a hooved animal carcass.


Sooo did you enjoy your time? I have always loved processing anmials!! My dad taught me!😁😁😁


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Lil Boogie said:


> Sooo did you enjoy your time? I have always loved processing anmials!! My dad taught me!😁😁😁


I would say we enjoyed ourselves. I mostly watched, my mom and sister are the ones that did all of the work. Way back when I decided I wanted goats, the stipulation was that I would raise them as long as I didn't have to be the one to butcher them, but I've matured enough that I still wanted to be around when it was happening. But yeah, we had a good time.🙂


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> I would say we enjoyed ourselves. I mostly watched, my mom and sister are the ones that did all of the work. Way back when I decided I wanted goats, the stipulation was that I would raise them as long as I didn't have to be the one to butcher them, but I've matured enough that I still wanted to be around when it was happening. But yeah, we had a good time.🙂


That's great!😊. Maybe someday you'll get in on the action!😃


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

My daughter is homeschooled. I am her teacher that teaches her and have total control on science. Her teacher she meets with once a month is so cool. Not this last butcher but the time before we butchered a heifer since the market on heifers were so low. Anyways we did a total “class” on her reproduction organs and my daughter had to log it and turn it in. The teacher was over the moon this was her science. I myself also thought it was fun actually looking at a uterus and ovaries.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Jessica84 said:


> My daughter is homeschooled. I am her teacher that teaches her and have total control on science. Her teacher she meets with once a month is so cool. Not this last butcher but the time before we butchered a heifer since the market on heifers were so low. Anyways we did a total “class” on her reproduction organs and my daughter had to log it and turn it in. The teacher was over the moon this was her science. I myself also thought it was fun actually looking at a uterus and ovaries.


That is so cool. I was a homeschooled kid so I still go about this stuff with an eye of learning. I would like to see the reproductive system of a doe someday.


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> That is so cool. I was a homeschooled kid so I still go about this stuff with an eye of learning. I would like to see the reproductive system of a doe someday.


You wanna see reperoductive system of a doe? Here, Look up- Weed'em and reap MAJOR SURGERY for mama & daughter goat😢

If thats not good enough then oh well lol


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Jessica84 said:


> My daughter is homeschooled. I am her teacher that teaches her and have total control on science. Her teacher she meets with once a month is so cool. Not this last butcher but the time before we butchered a heifer since the market on heifers were so low. Anyways we did a total “class” on her reproduction organs and my daughter had to log it and turn it in. The teacher was over the moon this was her science. I myself also thought it was fun actually looking at a uterus and ovaries.


I do something similar with my siblings although they aren't school age yet. There is a pretty large age gap (13+ years) between myself and them so I get to be the cool older kid which is fun. Whenever I am butchering an animal, the kids always come see what I am doing and we talk about which organs are which and what they all do. They always ask me if we are keeping the heart and liver or if they are going to the chickens. My brother has now seen enough chickens butchered that he could talk you through the whole process from live bird to carcass in the cooler.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Awww good older sibling! And because they look up to you so much it’s really going to be something fun to learn. 
And I think it’s good for kids, or anyone in general to see these things in real life. There is a huge difference between looking at a drawing of a heart or lung and being told what they do and actually seeing these things in real life. Heck my poor daughter for example. She was so young at the time and although we had done butchering around her had never really told her or showed her certain things because she was so young. Usually i found something fun for them to do off to the side so no chance of them getting cut. Anyways it was time to butcher Gary the steer. She kept saying she wanted Gary’s heart. It didn’t really hit me what She was expecting I just thought that was odd but she is a odd (in a good way) child soooo. Anyways I give her the heart and the total look of OMG on her face when I gave it to her. Then It hit me! She honestly thought a heart was going to be this cute heart shaped thing. So we sat down and talked about the heart and dissected and and learned exactly what a heart did. 
With as many people who think their food just magically show up at a store, I wonder how many think they have a heart shaped cute heart in their chest lol


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Finished rendering and purifying my tallow today. It's so beautiful! I can't wait to use it in soap!!!


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

That's beautiful! Have you used animal fats to make your soaps before or will this be a new adventure?


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## Dandy Hill Farm (Aug 5, 2021)

It really is beautiful! 🤩 Never thought I'd be saying that about tallow... 🤣


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

That is pretty cool! You will have keep us in the loop of how it goes. I am very impressed!


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> That's beautiful! Have you used animal fats to make your soaps before or will this be a new adventure?


I have used store bought lard, but never any home grown fats. I've concocted a totally new recipe so it will be an adventure! 😏 



Dandy Hill Farm said:


> It really is beautiful! 🤩 Never thought I'd be saying that about tallow... 🤣


I totally agree!



Jessica84 said:


> That is pretty cool! You will have keep us in the loop of how it goes. I am very impressed!


I will definitely keep you all in the loop!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)




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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I finally got all my goats butchered! Well, the ones on my butcher list anyway lol. 
I got all the meat packaged from my runty little girl a couple days ago and came out to a whopping total of 9 lbs of ground meat (no bone, fat, or organ weight) and the backstraps (about 1-1.5lbs). She was pretty small though. I don't have a scale but she felt like she was about 30-35 lbs live weight. I got my two bucklings butchered today and the carcasses are hanging now. I'll give an update on how much ground I get from them when the meat is in the freezer. They both felt to be about 45-50 lbs live weight so hopefully they are a bit meatier. 
It took me 3 hours to get both boys butchered so I'm getting faster lol.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Three hours sounds reasonable for two! It took us about three hours to do one.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

The first one always takes the longest! Do you guys only have one that you are doing this fall?


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> The first one always takes the longest! Do you guys only have one that you are doing this fall?


Yep, we only had one this fall. And next year, unless we get an abundance of bucklings, we will probably again only raise one for the freezer.


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

A few days ago my dad shot a 3 point buck that had broke of his other horn (he would have been a 6) and that day my dad had work so I had to skin it and I corded it up. Last night I boned out the hams and the shoulders so we could cut it up to can and make stew out of it and this is how it looked lol

Btw we still haven't cut up the tenderloins (iner and outer). So we still have that to do plues my brother got his first deer socwe Will have to cut all that meat up too.


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Looks good! I like the knife too 😉


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

Rancho Draco said:


> Looks good! I like the knife too 😉


Thank you! Its my dads knife lol


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

Just got done cutting up my brothers does (deer) hams and left front shoulder.

Here's both hams.

















Here is one of the hams all corded up.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)




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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

We had goat burgers for the first time last night, and we absolutely loved them! It's great to know that if we don't find we don't like and other cuts, ground is always an option! It was amazingly good. 🤤 I think that if you didn't know it was goat, you'd never suspect it. I also liked that it seemed to be less mushy than store bought burger. Can't wait to eat it again!


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

Now I want a burger lol.........


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I love having the ground goat meat! We grind most of the meat and use it just like ground beef.

I'm realizing now that I never updated on my meat totals. Oops! I actually ended up getting roughly 10 lbs of meat off each kid. The bucklings had a lot more bone size on them and so were heavier but at the end of the day I got 10 lbs of meat off each carcass.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> I love having the ground goat meat! We grind most of the meat and use it just like ground beef.
> 
> I'm realizing now that I never updated on my meat totals. Oops! I actually ended up getting roughly 10 lbs of meat off each kid. The bucklings had a lot more bone size on them and so were heavier but at the end of the day I got 10 lbs of meat off each carcass.


Just curious, how old were they when you harvested them?


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Just curious, how old were they when you harvested them?


We just slaughtered two bucklings for a guy a weeks or so ago and they were about 1 year and the other was 6 months


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Just curious, how old were they when you harvested them?


They were about 7 months old, raised mostly on pasture and were all in the 40-50 lbs live weight range. I don't have a hanging scale so I didn't measure carcass weight. I figure they each gained in the range of 5.5lbs a month on pasture and 2 cups of feed per day. This puts them right on track for hitting 70 percent of adult weight at a year old (my does are 100-105 lbs). With 10 lbs of deboned meat, 1.5 lbs of fat and 1.5 lbs of organ meat each I figure I got just under 30 percent consumable product from each kid which I'm pretty happy with. I really need to get a scale so I can get carcass weight. I don't think it would be well received for me to haul a goat carcass into the bathroom to use the bathroom scale.😆


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## Chanceosunshine (Nov 29, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Thanks everyone!
> 
> It's good to know that rigor mortis was probably the problem. We'll have to try that style again after a few days of resting next time.
> 
> ...


it’s possible that the toughness was from rigor, but we always cook our venison blackstrap and tenderloin hot, fast and rare. It’s alway tender and delicious. 
When I get goat from the Middle Eastern Market in town it’s always rough cut into chunks, including bones. I cut the bones away and put the chunks on skewers and grill them hot and fast. I’m not sure what part of the animal they’re coming from but it’s delicious cooked that way.

Congratulations, it’s quite an accomplishment.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Thanks @Chanceosunshine! 😃  

We won't try the meat until it's rested next time. Rookie mistake I guess. 😙


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Just curious, how old were they when you harvested them?





Rancho Draco said:


> They were about 7 months old, raised mostly on pasture and were all in the 40-50 lbs live weight range. I don't have a hanging scale so I didn't measure carcass weight. I figure they each gained in the range of 5.5lbs a month on pasture and 2 cups of feed per day. This puts them right on track for hitting 70 percent of adult weight at a year old (my does are 100-105 lbs). With 10 lbs of deboned meat, 1.5 lbs of fat and 1.5 lbs of organ meat each I figure I got just under 30 percent consumable product from each kid which I'm pretty happy with. I really need to get a scale so I can get carcass weight. I don't think it would be well received for me to haul a goat carcass into the bathroom to use the bathroom scale.😆


How old was your boy?


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> How old was your boy?


He was eight months. I didn't debone all the meat so my weights aren't exactly comparable to yours.

Since we liked the burger, I might consider raising a second kid for the freezer next year. It will depend on what the does have and how well the kids sell. It will be interesting next year to see how big my meat wether/wethers get because I'll be giving them an extra month or two to grow. I figured we'll keep butchering time in November, but my kids are being born in January and February this year instead of March.

What are your plans for next year's kids?


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

I hoping to be able to get some electric netting next year so that I can rotate pastures more. Permanent fencing is more than is in my budget right now but there are a few more acres of pasture that the goats would appreciate. The does will be kidding in February this year instead of April so the kids will have a few more weeks to grow before butchering time. I would prefer to be butchering in November but it is a bit dependent on the weather. I don't have the fridge space to rest a lot of meat so I need the outdoor temps to be just right for a couple days. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep any of the kids so I'll probably be butchering them all, hopefully around 9 months old. Unless someone has a kid that I just can't live without. Then there may be some keepers.

I may consider selling if I get the herd tested between now and this fall. They haven't had any symptoms of anything but I don't want to sell any without getting everyone tested for the basics.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Rancho Draco said:


> I hoping to be able to get some electric netting next year so that I can rotate pastures more. Permanent fencing is more than is in my budget right now but there are a few more acres of pasture that the goats would appreciate. The does will be kidding in February this year instead of April so the kids will have a few more weeks to grow before butchering time. I would prefer to be butchering in November but it is a bit dependent on the weather. I don't have the fridge space to rest a lot of meat so I need the outdoor temps to be just right for a couple days. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep any of the kids so I'll probably be butchering them all, hopefully around 9 months old. Unless someone has a kid that I just can't live without. Then there may be some keepers.
> 
> I may consider selling if I get the herd tested between now and this fall. They haven't had any symptoms of anything but I don't want to sell any without getting everyone tested for the basics.


Sounds like a good plan! 🙂


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

We processed one of our wethers on Monday. The whole thing went extremely well, and I was involved a lot more this time than last. I did most of the skinning and quartering. My sister who does rabbits all the time showed me what to do and then, I enjoyed doing it so much that I didn't want her to help anymore. 😄

Man, Joseph was fat! I halved the feed and fat that I was feeding my meat boys this year, and I swear this boy was even fatter than last year! 🙈 I was shaving fat off the carcass in order to see where to cut! I will absolutely be cutting back again on the feed and will try and score their body condition a lot better in the future. I love having the fat for soap, but this was absolutely excessive. I was only feeding him grass hay, two cups of grain a day total and one tablespoon of sunflower seeds!

We got 41lbs of usable meat/fat/bones which is about 48-50% of his live weight, so I'm super happy with that. I got 7.7lbs of fat! I'm thrilled and embarrassed at the same time. 😅 His back leg meat is seriously awesome. First picture is the back legs, second is the front one. Pictures don't do it justice! That's a fourteen-inch cutting board.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Nice!! What age was this done at? Good job!


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## Rancho Draco (Sep 29, 2021)

Awesome! Those are some serious drumsticks. I'm glad you got some fat for soap making even if it means he was a roley poley chunk


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## Hounddog23 (Jan 13, 2021)

Makin me hungry 😋 those are thick your boy was fed well!


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Jubillee said:


> Nice!! What age was this done at? Good job!


Ten months! 🙂


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Very nice meat! Good job!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Very nice and great job! 
It’s amazing how much fat they can get, and then to look at how much internal fat compared to external, to keep anyways, is MIND BLOWING! 
But that looks like very good meat. You should be very proud you produced that!


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## FizzyGoats (Apr 14, 2021)

Wow, that cut of meat looks huge and delicious. And that’s a great percentage of usable meat/fat/bones to live body weight. Much higher than what I hear is the norm. I’ve always read the one complaint a lot of people have about goat meat is that it is too lean, I guess that’s not a problem for you.  Looks like you did an amazing job and have some delicious meals in the future.


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

I read the first part of this thread and then skipped to current. Lol
Good job with your processing!
I know you’ve ground some of your goat into burger before- did you not include any of the fat for that? I’m assuming you’d have to have some fat for it to stick together… 
We’ve processed goats before, but I’ve never ground it. I do have a meat grinder but just haven’t bothered, I’ve just wrapped it as stew meat. Lol
I’ve got a big doe who’s destined for freezer camp soon. I’ve been keeping her shut out from getting any feed- she only gets graze. Trying to keep her grass fed to see if her fat will be yellow at all like a grass fed beef, or if it doesn’t hold the A& E vitamins and stays white like a deers. Even without grain feed all summer I’m sure she’s got a thick layer of fat on her. 😅


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Thank you everyone!



FizzyGoats said:


> I’ve always read the one complaint a lot of people have about goat meat is that it is too lean, I guess that’s not a problem for you.


They always say, goats don't have intramuscular fat, but I swear, this boy did! 😳😆



Boer Mama said:


> I read the first part of this thread and then skipped to current. Lol
> Good job with your processing!
> I know you’ve ground some of your goat into burger before- did you not include any of the fat for that? I’m assuming you’d have to have some fat for it to stick together…
> We’ve processed goats before, but I’ve never ground it. I do have a meat grinder but just haven’t bothered, I’ve just wrapped it as stew meat. Lol
> I’ve got a big doe who’s destined for freezer camp soon. I’ve been keeping her shut out from getting any feed- she only gets graze. Trying to keep her grass fed to see if her fat will be yellow at all like a grass fed beef, or if it doesn’t hold the A& E vitamins and stays white like a deers. Even without grain feed all summer I’m sure she’s got a thick layer of fat on her. 😅


We did grind more burger this year. We loved it so much last time that we were glad we got a bit more this year. We do keep some fat in the with the burger. Some people find goat fat doesn't taste good to them, but we had no qualms with it. We tried to shoot for about 15-20% fat for the ground meat, cutting off most of the really hard type fat and leaving the more juicy stuff.

I can't wait to eat goat meat again. We absolutely loved it last year.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Are you going to render the fat for soap? Id love if you'd post about that too. We'll be doing that in the future with the sheep and any wethers we do as well.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Jubillee said:


> Are you going to render the fat for soap? Id love if you'd post about that too. We'll be doing that in the future with the sheep and any wethers we do as well.


Yes! I will be rendering it for soap. I will be sure to post about the process I use. I'm dreaming up so many soaps in my head. 🥴 I think I'm going to do a 100% goat tallow, no colors, no fragrance, and see how that is.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

That sounds awesome!


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## Boadicea (9 mo ago)

This was such an enlightening thread! We’re going to be slaughtering and processing two small bucklings this weekend. We’ve done all our own processing before (chicken, duck, quail, rabbit) so I don’t see this being a problem but I’m very excited to learn a new skill. My husband usually dispatches and I do the butchering. Fingers crossed for the weather to cooperate... it’s suppose to rain all weekend.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Boadicea said:


> This was such an enlightening thread! We’re going to be slaughtering and processing two small bucklings this weekend. We’ve done all our own processing before (chicken, duck, quail, rabbit) so I don’t see this being a problem but I’m very excited to learn a new skill. My husband usually dispatches and I do the butchering. Fingers crossed for the weather to cooperate... it’s suppose to rain all weekend.


Good luck! I hope it all goes well for you!


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