Goat Meat

[warthog]

Does anyone raise goats for meat.

I was wondering at what age or weight you determine the right time to proecess.

 

[ksalvagno]

Last fall I acquired a Boer doeling. She will be old enough this fall to breed. The plan is to breed her and raise her kids for meat. It is my understanding that around 8 months is the timeframe. I guess the weight would depend on the goat.

 

[warthog]

Last fall I acquired a Boer doeling. She will be old enough this fall to breed. The plan is to breed her and raise her kids for meat. It is my understanding that around 8 months is the timeframe. I guess the weight would depend on the goat.

Thanks for that information, I was thinking somewhere between 6 and 12 months, but didn't know for sure.

I am being a bit premature because my doe is not due to birth until mid-June. Just then got to make sure I don't get too attatched. :/

 

[The Egg Bandit]

I had the misfortune this week to have to process a buck I was planning on selling, and a doeling I was planning on keeping. Dang dogs. Anyway, the buck was two years old, and the doeling was three weeks old. Got more meat per live weight pounds from the doeling than the buck. Given the choice, I'll put them in the freezer around 4-6 months old. But that's just me, individual results may vary.

 

[warthog]

I had the misfortune this week to have to process a buck I was planning on selling, and a doeling I was planning on keeping. Dang dogs. Anyway, the buck was two years old, and the doeling was three weeks old. Got more meat per live weight pounds from the doeling than the buck. Given the choice, I'll put them in the freezer around 4-6 months old. But that's just me, individual results may vary.

Sorry you lost them to the dogs, but thanks for the advice.

I did have to slaughter a buck late last year, he was one we bought to breed from and turned out to be a nasty piece of work, so off he went to the freezer.

He was 12 months old and about 120lbs live weight, we only got about 35lbs of meat from him.

So I think I will go with somwhere between 6 and 8 months old.

Thanks

 

[jodief100]

My customers want 40 - 80 lbs live, under one year of age. The best prices are for 45-60 lbs. Individual goats vary a lot in growth rate so weight is better than age. Anything over one year old, the price drops dramatically.

 

[mully]

About 75-80 lbs and about 8-12 mo.... Now this all depends on the use, your family or slaughter. Most of the slaughter houses do not want them past 100 lbs unless they are just a good stocky goat under a year.

 

[Aped]

I've never raised goats for meat but I thought you couldn't eat an intact buck because the meat flavor would be off. Is that true?

 

[jodief100]

I've never raised goats for meat but I thought you couldn't eat an intact buck because the meat flavor would be off. Is that true?

It depends on personal tastes. I have customers that request older, stinky bucks. They are primarily Jamaican. My Muslim customers require intact males for certain religious holidays. One holiday in particular it has to be an intact buck at least 1 year old. It is a cultural thing and what people are accustomed to. I have a pretty good idea of what type, age and size of animal my customers want depending on their ethnic background. I have several Hindus who have already reserved animals for early October and they will only take wethers (castrated males) under one year.

 

[Calliopia]

We had to process a 1 1/2 year old buck last week that suddenly turned into a right arse when rutt came on. He wasn't just pushy, he was DANGEROUS. Off to the freezer he went.

When butchering I was VERY careful to keep the knives clean and to use 1 knife for outer work and 1 knife for inner work and to clean them throughout. It gook a lot longer but we kept the meat from being contaminated w/ scent and after 3 days 'hanging' in the fridge it was fine. Tasted like strong lamb.

Point of reference : This was THE smelliest buck I have ever been around. You could get a wiff from about 1/2 a mile away and up close was almost vomit worthy. I seriously debated even butchering him but I figured I could at least grind it up for the dogs, pigs or chickens.

Lucky for us he smelled a lot better on the inside.