# Butchering a non-meat breed wether



## rd200 (Jul 8, 2013)

Curious if it even pays to try and get some meat from a non-meat breed goat...
I have an Oberhasli wether that was born in May 2014- I was keeping him as a companion but now he's gotta go. I more than likely wont get anything from him if I try and sell him privately so I was thinking of just putting him in the freezer. 
I just don't know how the quality of the meat will be and how much meat there even will be since he's not a meat breed. He's in good shape. Id say maybe 65-75#'s??? (I'm bad at estimating) he was on pasture and hay all summer/fall and got a few handfuls of grain here and there. 

What do you think?? I have to call the butcher shop first to see if they take goats and how much processing will be but I'm assuming around $50-70 for Kill charge + grinding it all up. I just don't want to feed him anymore now that I'm buying hay and he's not eating "free" pasture. Economically, I can't keep him around and want to get the most out of him as I can.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Well, a little bit of meat is better than none. He shouldn't taste much different than a meat breed of the same age.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I think you would end up with about 15 lbs of wrapped meat so depending on how much the processing costs you might be looking at $4/5 per lb. In my opinion it is worth it knowing he has been humanely raised and what has been put in to the animal and you are getting a nice lean meat. Is it comparable to the grocery store? Nope.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

P.S. It will be delicious! Perfect age/weight


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## rd200 (Jul 8, 2013)

thanks! I didn't know if he was "too old" already. I thought I read somewhere that goat is processed at 5-6months old....?

I was also thinking maybe 15-20#s max on how much meat I would get from him assuming my estimates are correct on his weight. 

Anyways, I tried some Ground Goat meat I got from the Farmers' market this summer and it WAS yummy! I had my reservations. lol. But it was really good and none of the kids or hubby said a word. So, they must have liked it. (I didn't tell them either that it wasn't beef or venison) 
Now I just have to find somewhere to process it. A lot of places around here just stick to Beef, pork, or venison. 
Thanks!

Eta: The stuff I got at the Farmers' market was $10/lb !!!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Around here no one will take the spare parts we have to haul it home & bury it.
Now, if you want the heart & liver you should specifically say so cause those cuts magically disappear.


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## harleybarley (Sep 15, 2014)

I don't eat goat. But I've read that dairy breeds actually make good meat. Would you consider doing your own butchering? If you go to google, there are photographic blog posts on how to do it. 

But if you'd rather pay a butcher...$5/lb. for good, healthy, mostly grass-raised meat is cheaper than factory-farmed chicken or ground beef at my local stores.


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## rd200 (Jul 8, 2013)

nope. wouldn't be able to do it myself. I would probably be able to terminate it, but I don't have the proper knives, equipment, grinder, etc to do the cutting/grinding on my own. 

With 5 kids, 13,4,20mo,20mo, and 3weeks old.......I certainly DONT have the time either!  So, I'd rather just pay the butcher to do it.


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## frenchELMfarms (Dec 8, 2014)

We had two Nigerian wethers and a friend of the family asked if we were going to butcher them. We told them we were not planning on it just because of their size. When they started beating our two pregnant does they had to go. So the guy purchased them from us and butchered them himself, much like processing a deer. He did however make ground meat out of everything there was, including the fat. While we did think this was odd the meat ended up being like an 80/20 ground at the store and was quite delicious.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

I butchered a dairy wether last year. Didn't weigh before or after, but I'd guess he was around 80 lb and definitely got a usable amount of meat. Very tasty.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I raise dairy goats. Every year I raise 2 wethers for the freezer. I ship them at 6 months of age. I average 50-55 pounds of meat from each wether, plus the liver and heart. Those 2 wethers keep my son and I in meat for a year.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I butchered two ND wethers last year by myself. The internet had all the instructions I needed! The meat was very good! It was worth it for me.


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

Dairy goats wethers are meat too I have 4 to butcher yet this year yet love it but we do the butchering ourselves so all we put into them is the food to raise them.


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## PowerPuffMama (Jan 8, 2013)

We had 3-7 month old Nubians butchered last year. We didn't know any better and left them intact. They were delicious. 



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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

PowerPuffMama let me tell ya, we once had yrlng intacts done as well as a 2 yr old in rut. We had him all ground & the meat was out of this world!
The younger ones were made into Hot Italian sausage & brats. Equally delicious!
Besides knowing what they were doing, different knives for the process, they cut off testicles as soon as they were hung to bleed.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Wow, you are busy with all the human kids! Possibly a place that processes deer would 
process your goat. Around here, if we kill it first and take proof of ownership, the deer processors
do a great job. (from what I've been told- haven't eaten any of mine, yet. But they get 
threatened...)


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

What do you need as far as proof?


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## m57gonefishing (Jan 26, 2012)

We used to cut the freezer bucks and wether them. We had nothing to do with a 3 year old lamancha/togg buck as not too many do dairy around here. We decided to see how the meat taste. I figured my bucks I get during hunting season weren't wethered and always taste great. It was delicious. Keep the nuts on folks, they put on a lot more muscle. More meat for the freezer. I'm convinced more than ever now that the goaty or gamey flavor has a lot to do with how clean you butcher keeping body fluids, hair and dirt off the meat. Keeping the temp of the meat as cold as possible as well from the time you kill and quarter it til it's in the freezer. Rinsing each quarter or large piece before boning with water and drying before vacuum sealing is a must as well. I'm sure diet plays a decent role as well. My best tasting blacktail buck was an apple orchard deer. I yield much more meat now and the taste and tenderness hasn't changed. Just butcher when out of rut for a month or two.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Just put this year's wether in the freezer, I was WAY more prepared than last year (plus he's Boer instead of dairy) so looking forward to much better meat!

gonefishing, funny you should say that - I was just telling my mom that when I get my hunting license I won't be going anywhere since the deer eat the windfalls 20 feet from our door  figure next year I'll pick them up and pile a bit farther from the house, then wait out there after the season opens.


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