tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post9202895495425833780..comments2023-08-15T23:51:21.571-08:00Comments on Wild Roots Homestead: Butchering Dairy Goats for MeatEmilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-65584975084944627742017-09-07T05:22:22.665-08:002017-09-07T05:22:22.665-08:00Thank you for your post! We have had our two nig...Thank you for your post! We have had our two nigerian dwarf goats for a little over a year (one doe and one wether). We purchased them strictly as pets to add to our small backyard farm. Our doe is the sweetest little girl ever and we love having her, however the wether has grown into a very aggressive male that is incredibly strong and insanely smelly and has some pretty disgusting habits. He also doesn't leave the doe alone despite being wether. I am now unable to trim his hooves etc because he is so strong. So…we were thinking of selling him or butchering him. If we did sell him, I'm thinking he would only end up on someone else's dinner table, so why not butcher him ourselves? My only concern is the flavor and his age. He is 1.5 years old and has a diet that consists of hay, pasture grasses and 1 scoop of grain per day. Given his age, do you think the meat would be too tough to eat? I've never tasted goat before but would rather feed our family of 5 than someone else's. Any thoughts? I also feel bad that I would be eating our "pet" but would have to get past that hurdle if we decide to go with the butchering option. Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02517545100696018863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-72518145037397957972016-11-14T14:30:09.219-09:002016-11-14T14:30:09.219-09:00Thank you for posting this! I have 2 lamancha wet...Thank you for posting this! I have 2 lamancha wethers that I got free when I helped out on a neighbors farm. They were my first goats, but now that I have more girls to care for I was looking to sell my wethers. You're right - it's hard to find them a good home. So I was googling about processing them to eat - your post was one of the first that came up. Can you tell me how you culled them? What's the best method?Jamihttp://www.happywifefarm.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-10203143076467370982016-09-23T22:14:20.995-08:002016-09-23T22:14:20.995-08:00Hello, I realize it's several years later, bow...Hello, I realize it's several years later, bowever, we are searching for a mate for our lonely buck. Do you by chance have a doe for sale? Thank you for considering our request. Lorna/Ben 907.707.3243freetobegreekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08005962036003866528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-26945609917911543932016-08-29T07:49:48.036-08:002016-08-29T07:49:48.036-08:00I've butchered many a goat and pretty much eve...I've butchered many a goat and pretty much everything else...my advice is castrate them. Yes they will get a bit bigger faster but they will also taste like goat piss. I've done it twice and never again. A weather is much easier to deal with and will give a better product in the end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-36392181408306817142016-06-05T08:26:38.774-08:002016-06-05T08:26:38.774-08:00Yeshuais4me, I probably could find you some if you...Yeshuais4me, I probably could find you some if you haven't found any already. It is easier for me to coorespond vs. email. Mine is emilycstahl@gmail.com If you could email me, I will ask around and email you back. EmilyEmilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-4539377006157633242016-05-20T12:04:41.378-08:002016-05-20T12:04:41.378-08:00Do you know of anyone selling Wether Dairy goats? ...Do you know of anyone selling Wether Dairy goats? They would be used for clearing brush out at our suicide prevention camp off the Yukon, and then butchered for meat. Thank you!! Yeshuais4mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11869825618958201402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-49745669207925996992016-02-11T20:29:12.230-09:002016-02-11T20:29:12.230-09:00I have to say that I do not recommend running your...I have to say that I do not recommend running your does and bucks together year round or ever really for multiple reasons, buck tasting milk, stinky does, unpredictable breeding dates, difficulty in handling does without bucks trying to mount yourself or kids. However, I will agree that breeding does at overlapping intervals throughout the breeding season is great for year round production. Even better is leaving a doe or two in milk for a year and a half before re-breeding and not breeding everyone every six months. Big fan of year round fresh milk myself and not having dry spells. EmilyEmilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-70966595476645084412016-01-24T08:32:21.207-09:002016-01-24T08:32:21.207-09:00Those of you that enjoy goat milk can keep your do...Those of you that enjoy goat milk can keep your does more benificial by allowing the bucks to run year round. I have a herd of Saasen and Alpine does and sell off their kids Around a year old. I use their kid bucks to rebreed the does. <br />January 2015 most of my does kidded in about ten days. I was unable to dehorn or castrate the bucks ( I was wheelchair bound) and the young bucks rebreed the does. Even the doelings born in January got breed. Here comes november and most all the does kidded in ten days again. I had some that weren't on the same cycle plan so got 10/12 does that are always a couple months later than the rest. They're kidding now in January. The does that kidded in November are getting rebreed and will kid again in May. I try to dry my does off couple months before kidding again but I have a couple that is hard to do. They give almost two gallon milk daily. Obviously to much for twins. So after few weeks I try to purchase orfans and put on to use the extra milk. When I can't find more kids I hand milk and then feed the milk to baby calves. They make fanstatic use of the milk and have been a good return on my investment. I'm finding that with all the ethnic food stores around I have an opportunity to develop a long term continuous outlet for my fatten kids both wethers and bucks and working on a price structure that is appealing to all customers whether buying for breeding purposes or if they want then to butcher for personal use or resale. olecowboynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-66790438629068048492015-09-19T19:45:43.737-08:002015-09-19T19:45:43.737-08:00Great post, Emily. We had goats in AK for 4 years ...Great post, Emily. We had goats in AK for 4 years and really enjoyed their meat. Just a couple of other suggestions of what we did with our meat. Once we turned a very large weather into many goat hotdogs. We took him to the butcher and he turned it into dogs for us. They tasted great, though they mixed it with half pork. So that won't be everyone's cup-of-tea. We also ground quite a bit of it and it was great in place of ground hamburger. If I had 2 small roasts I would just cook them like a beef roast low and slow with potatoes and carrots and onion seasoning. One of my favorite things to do is to take all of my bones and cook up a huge batch of stock. I had chicken stock, turkey, goat and salmon. They all come in handy for different dishes. We once butchered an older lamb, I think you call them a yearling mutton, not sure. It was much gamier than any of our goats. One of my favorite soups to make with any leftover or random meats is our Borscht recipe. It is perfect at fall harvest of the garden, a great way to use leftover meat and garden veggies. <br /><br />I love this post. Raising dairy goats and harvesting their meat is extremely rewarding.AKmamaOf7https://www.blogger.com/profile/10167349040853234835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-60304062363746332302015-08-06T15:31:00.495-08:002015-08-06T15:31:00.495-08:00Hi there.
We just got our first dairy goat, a nub...Hi there.<br /><br />We just got our first dairy goat, a nubian/boer mix. We've had cashmeres as pets for 15 years. Our newbie is pregnant and we plan on culling the babies. Your post was very informative and I thank you very much for it.<br /><br />God bless.<br />JudyJudy Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16070758356699534606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-89274373312317146322015-06-26T13:38:07.517-08:002015-06-26T13:38:07.517-08:00Lynn May, I hope this comment finds you in time be...Lynn May, I hope this comment finds you in time before you give up on cooking your goat. I have found that some of our goat meat is goaty and some isn't. For the most part I treat our goat meat just like I would cook beef, moose etc. We grill goat ribs just like other ribs with the exception that if they are very fatty I'll cut lots of the fat off. If we have a big enough goat that we get some meat without bones in it I will cook it like steak. Depending on the cut. We have had some fatty goat steaks that tasted as good as beef ribeye and not goaty at all. In general the finer grain the meat the more tender it will be and then you can cook it fast on high heat. For the coarser grain cuts, you would be wiser to treat the meat as you would a tough cut of beef, stew it or braise it. When you have bone in pieces, it can often be difficult to cut the meat off ahead of time. So, often I cook the meat until it is tender and then after it has cooled I pull off the meat and season it. Here is an almost fool proof way of cooking any cut of goat and this is what we do most often: Generously salt and pepper your chunk of goat. Sear it in a cast iron dutch oven with your choice of oil - we use coconut because it is a healthier fat for high temps. After the goat chunk is well browned on all sides I add in a chopped onion and some chopped garlic cloves, a bay leaf or two, a sprig of frozen or fresh thyme and chicken bone broth or whatever stock you prefer to use until it almost covers the meat. Sometimes I add in a quarter cup of whiskey or red wine before the stock. And sometimes, if I do the whiskey, I add in a couple tb. molasses, and some fresh rosemary and 2 tb dijon. Then I bring the contents up to a simmer on the stove and then move it into my oven at about 300. After a half hour to an hour I check on it and make sure it is not boiling. Boiling meat makes it dry and tough. You want a low simmer. I usually check on it once an hour, by poking it with a fork and seeing if I can pull off some meat. It takes between two hours to three and half depending on how big your chunk of meat is. An hour before I think it will be done I often had more veggies, more onion, carrots, potatoes, parsnips etc. Or you could add in rice. We have the whiskey rosemary version, a Thai curry an Indian curry version, in addition to a red wine, carrot, thyme version. With the Indian and thai version I rub them with spices before braising. If you have a fatty chunk of goat and know that it is goaty and do not like the taste. YOu can cook it a day ahead and then chill it. Once chilled you can skim all the fat off the top and reheat it which get's rid of a lot of the fat. Ok, best wishes!Emilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-40212453595278849762015-06-24T13:04:07.842-08:002015-06-24T13:04:07.842-08:00Thank You for this informative post.It helped me t...Thank You for this informative post.It helped me to rationalize what I have to do if I am to keep goats.Someone else will do the actual butchering and I am trying to find out what to tell him what "cuts" I want.Ann-Marienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-56035719018219088882015-05-27T13:48:04.695-08:002015-05-27T13:48:04.695-08:00Just found your blog site. We have Lamancha dairy ...Just found your blog site. We have Lamancha dairy goats. Recently we made the decision to cull one yearling and the oldest buckling (about 10 weeks old). We have 41 lbs. of meat in the freezer. I seem to be having difficulty in properly cooking the meat. It is supposed to be slow cooked or low temperature; however, recipes I see go from 325 degree upwards to 375. Long problem short, what is the best way to cook goat meat, especially dairy goat meat. The weight per item isn't that much. I have a tiny "roast" that is less than a pound. For me, if I can't find someone to give me some pointers (no one around here where I live in the Ozark Mountains in far southwestern Missouri can help me) we have slaughtered two goats for no reason. I really need some guidance before we butcher once again in the fall. Thank you very much. Lynn May, Stoney Acres FarmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-48655079823432595452014-09-05T09:40:10.795-08:002014-09-05T09:40:10.795-08:00Very nice post. Just found it. Very informative,...Very nice post. Just found it. Very informative, clear. Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-8097804677996571352013-11-11T06:27:07.646-09:002013-11-11T06:27:07.646-09:00If you can age the carcass for 1-2 weeks before bu...If you can age the carcass for 1-2 weeks before butchering the meat will be much more tender, and the carcass much easier to disjoint. Long slow cooking is best. The meat may look like lamb, but tastes rather like a cross between beef and pork; very flavorful and succulent. I am guilty of overfeeding too, but since my gardens thrive on their waste nothing is really lost, and the milk and cheese are superb.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07248182339827005600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-53611588493100405662013-08-15T21:24:14.330-08:002013-08-15T21:24:14.330-08:00Thanks for the article. Just trying to look up di...Thanks for the article. Just trying to look up different cuts of goat to make at home and stumbled upon this. I butchered 5 six month old bucks last year. I prepared and packaged them myself. The meat was great. Once in awhile my wife says she got a little bit of a "goaty" taste to the meat (very rare). I wouldn't let bucks go much longer than six months of age before slaughtering though. Wethers would probably be ok for a bit longer. You may get a higher meat yield with an older goat, but was it worth substituting feed over time? Keep costs in check.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-5924744595331163502013-03-09T20:16:28.491-09:002013-03-09T20:16:28.491-09:00Considering that I only had one intact buckling an...Considering that I only had one intact buckling and one neutered whether this year, I'm not sure I can go by their weight growth. By buckling actually grew smaller but that is because I had to take him off his dam whereas the whether got to stay with his mom an extra few months and nurse and as a result he was significantly larger. We had friends butcher one of our four year old bucks this past month and they are very happy with the meat. The main thing we've noticed is not to let the outside coat come into contact with the meat, clean of all hairs, and trim off the fat, all of those things tend to make the meat goatier. I would just wait till your buckling is out of rut, about now? or the next month or two? before butchering and skip the hassle of whethering. Emilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-27129262597261669342013-03-09T20:16:27.440-09:002013-03-09T20:16:27.440-09:00Considering that I only had one intact buckling an...Considering that I only had one intact buckling and one neutered whether this year, I'm not sure I can go by their weight growth. By buckling actually grew smaller but that is because I had to take him off his dam whereas the whether got to stay with his mom an extra few months and nurse and as a result he was significantly larger. We had friends butcher one of our four year old bucks this past month and they are very happy with the meat. The main thing we've noticed is not to let the outside coat come into contact with the meat, clean of all hairs, and trim off the fat, all of those things tend to make the meat goatier. I would just wait till your buckling is out of rut, about now? or the next month or two? before butchering and skip the hassle of whethering. Emilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-76059804035696078532013-03-09T20:16:26.042-09:002013-03-09T20:16:26.042-09:00Considering that I only had one intact buckling an...Considering that I only had one intact buckling and one neutered whether this year, I'm not sure I can go by their weight growth. By buckling actually grew smaller but that is because I had to take him off his dam whereas the whether got to stay with his mom an extra few months and nurse and as a result he was significantly larger. We had friends butcher one of our four year old bucks this past month and they are very happy with the meat. The main thing we've noticed is not to let the outside coat come into contact with the meat, clean of all hairs, and trim off the fat, all of those things tend to make the meat goatier. I would just wait till your buckling is out of rut, about now? or the next month or two? before butchering and skip the hassle of whethering. Emilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-8834220045277043082013-03-08T10:50:48.306-09:002013-03-08T10:50:48.306-09:00Hi there- I am interested in what you found when a...Hi there- I am interested in what you found when allowing the goats to mature with testicles intact before slaughter. We noticed they did grow bigger, but are worried about the "goaty" taste/smell. Did your bucklings end up turning out well? We have one who is almost a year, who is intact, and we're deciding if we should try neutering him then slaughtering a little later. Any advice welcome! Heather Midwifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07496804132487814528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-64850631245850077612013-01-30T12:48:06.230-09:002013-01-30T12:48:06.230-09:00Aimee when you leave the babies on all summer and ...Aimee when you leave the babies on all summer and milk in the morning are the babies only doelings ? And if buckling you make him a wether ?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-35335159292457559432013-01-27T21:54:38.770-09:002013-01-27T21:54:38.770-09:00Christine, the meat from our three year old was go...Christine, the meat from our three year old was good. She was very fatty and I found that it is the fat that tends to taste goaty, so I like to trim it off. I did render down enough to make a large batch of goat lard/milk soap. I have never had Boar goat meat, but I have heard that not only do they grow faster and are meatier, but the meat may taste better as well - I'm very curious about the taste of meat goats. best wishes, EmilyEmilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124854790635683665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-73770172104673376482013-01-25T08:19:53.069-09:002013-01-25T08:19:53.069-09:00How was the meat of the 3 year old doe? We have tw...How was the meat of the 3 year old doe? We have two Boer goat does that are almost 2 years old and are considering butchering one of them.<br />Thanks!<br />ChristineAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-68442225226873771352012-12-29T15:18:04.206-09:002012-12-29T15:18:04.206-09:00Thanks so much for all the information, and thank ...Thanks so much for all the information, and thank you for being a stay at home mom. I like all your ideas for the goats. We hope to butcher in the next 2 weeks. Some of our meat we will make into sausage. We'll mix the goat with pork roast and seasonings. Garlic is a must. There is a couple close by that make summer sausage. We'll try that. We've had goat meat before and liked it. Our goats have been well fed and we expect their meat to be very good. The hard part will be that the largest wether is a pet. I started in with goats and chickens again because I wanted our great granddaughter who is 5 to experience farm life. We've had fun. We have Nigerian Dwarfs. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-806644789710396926.post-53840383706232666712012-02-13T16:30:54.280-09:002012-02-13T16:30:54.280-09:00Hello!
I really love your blog and I would like t...Hello!<br /><br />I really love your blog and I would like to recognize you by awarding your blog the Versatile Blogger Award. <br /><br />If you would like to accept it, please go to my blog to receive it here:<br /><br />http://savoirvivreautrement.blogspot.com/2012/02/oh-une-reconnaissance.html<br /><br />Thank you :o)CaroBNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17889647403811129856noreply@blogger.com