Adult Male goats

Brad · #1 12/08/05, 01:26 PM

We have several 3-4 year old intact male goats. We'd like to band them and butcher them.
How long after castrating will the adult male goats' meat lose the male flavor?

Any advice is also appreciated.

mpillow · #2 12/08/05, 01:33 PM

I don't know if I would castrate them...wrestling the buggers at full size would be a hard job...but I would wait until rut was very much over with...like March??
We always do it before they are old enough...and cut the boy parts away quickly!

Hopefully you'll get more responses....I think there is an ethnic group that actually prefers full grown intact males...not sure which one though?

Sweet Goats · #3 12/08/05, 01:35 PM

Hello Brad, I for one would never band a buck tht old. It is way to hard and stressful on them. It is hard enough on the little ones. Last year I had two bucks (7 months old) that I didn't like some of their trates and I didn't want them to pass them on, so I contacted 5 different vets, they all said that they might not make it through the banding. I did have the vet do surgery on them. Now I know some people are going to say that is not true, my husband for one, he said they banded calves older then that, but a calf is a lot more durable. It took about 4 months for them to stop smelling like a buck. Just my two cents worth. Good Luck
Sweet Goats
Lori

mary,tx · #4 12/08/05, 02:28 PM

I also would not attempt banding a full grown buck. I think it's going to be much harder on them; I know it will be harder for you.
It is true that they don't stink so much once rut is past. Just waiting til late spring might be a good solution.

chamoisee · #5 12/08/05, 03:10 PM

How would you get the band over such big balls as they are likely to have? And to do it while they are in rut? Mean!

I don't recommend this. I think it would be best to save them unti spring, give them a really good bath with plenty of shampoo on the first nice warm day you have, and then butcher them as they are. Alertantely, you could sell them to Mexicans or other ethnic groups that do not mind eating bucks even when they are in rut. From what I hear, grown bucks command a pretty decent meat price, compared to does.

**mygoat** · #6 12/08/05, 05:18 PM

I agree, don't band. Your vet should be able to do it surgically with some local anesthetic, and/or a little bit of general anesthetic (make sure they know what they are doing, some don't know the dosage for goats!) all they do is snip of the bottom of the scrotum, pull the testes down, and then snip them out, really fast. Believe it or not, alot easier on them than banding. You probably will not be able to fit a bander over the testes anyways. I do have to disagree about fixing them now, however. If you do it in the winter time, then there will be no flies to aggrivate or lay eggs on the opening. I would spray iodine on the wound as well. My friend's 3 bucks were fixed, and took a very short time to stop stinking. They will smell for a while just from laying in the same bedding as before they were fixed, and the smell lingers.

ozark_jewels · #7 12/08/05, 06:24 PM

I agree with other posters, don't band at that age. Either wait till they are out of rutt, or have a vet surgically castrate them. I personally would probably just wait a couple months then butcher them still intact, being very careful and clean with the butchering process. I have actually butchered a grown buck in full rutt(and he was *very* rank), and the meat was delicious. I was *extremely* careful not to let the hair touch the meat, or the urine. Both very important steps in good-tasting goat meat. He went down and had to be put down so I didn't have a choice about when to do it. If these guys were mine and I was in doubt as to the flavour of the meat, I think I would make it into sausage to mask any lingering bucky taste. We did this with three mature, intact Pygmy bucks one year and it was delicious..........

Goat Freak · #8 12/08/05, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad

We have several 3-4 year old intact male goats. We'd like to

band

them and butcher them.
How long after

castrating

will the adult male goats' meat lose the male flavor?

Any advice is also appreciated.

How could you band a goat then castrate them or vise versa

. Which are you planning to do Brad? I don't mean to make fun of you, it is just that if you could clarify it would really help the people trying to help you. Bye.

ozark_jewels · #9 12/08/05, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goat Freak

How could you band a goat then castrate them or vise versa

. Which are you planning to do Brad? I don't mean to make fun of you, it is just that if you could clarify it would really help the people trying to help you. Bye.

Banding is a type of castrating.......there is castration by crushing(burdizzo), castration by banding, or surgical castration......but they are all forms of castration.

Rachel K. · #10 12/08/05, 11:31 PM

They are too large for banding. You would never be able to get the band over their scrotum. And Goats do not do well with anesthetic.

Goat Freak · #11 12/09/05, 09:34 AM

Thanks ozark, I thought that castrating was the surgical one! Thank you for correcting me. Bye.

Laura Workman · #12 12/09/05, 10:50 PM

You can do surgical castration yourself, but DON'T try it without someone with experience on hand, with the proper equipment. I find it difficult to believe that a vet surgically castrated an adult buck by just "snipping the testes out really fast." They have a huge blood supply going to those babies, and "snipping" without any tools for hemostasis is a really good way to have a goat bleed to death. That's why they make things like burdizzos and emasculators. It is no fun fishing around inside the goat trying to find the artery that's pulsing blood so you can clamp it off. Guess how I know. Yeesh!