What to do with culled goats?

[MamaDee]

What do you do with your culled goats? I'm mostly talking older goats or those with issues where someone would not want to buy them. We have a 7 year old who is still going strong and is a good milker. But we have a 5 year old who has a bad ankle and chronic clumpy poop. She's still milking well, but one of these pregnancies her ankle is going to do her in. I'm wondering what to do with these two girls when their time comes. Can you eat goats that are that old? Culling them to the burn pile seems like a waste, but I understand keeping non productive goats around just to feed is wasteful, too. I know there are some of our girls who may live out their senior years as long as they are not suffering, but you can't do that with most. Our little dog attack survivor, Gracie, comes to mind. She'll always have a home here. But what about the others?

Dee

[Patty0315]

Sausage

[mary,tx]

Good question. It'll be interesting to see the answers. When I first started out, I figured I'd sell them while they were still in their prime, and just keep a few younger ones each year.

I should have sold more, I guess, those first few years, because I find that the longer I keep a goat, the harder it is for me to want to sell her. I have three senior does that will probably retire here. We'll see. Since I have plenty of fenced acreage, it really doesn't cost me much to keep them on.

Judging by what I see come through the auction, I'm guessing that's where most culls go.

mary

[mamajohnson]

I think mine will be sausage. I dont care for the auctions around here.
I was actually thinking about this the other day, and will probably have to work hard not to get attached to my milkers (might be a little late for that)

[ozark_jewels]

The best use and most humane is to cull them to the freezer rather than send them to auction. I wouldn't hesitate to make sausage out of any age goat, and roasts from most. I have butchered 5-6 year old does and kept the best cuts as roasts, making the rest into sausage. Of course, cook the roasts slowly, extremely tasty.
I will freely admit there are some does I'm not sure I could ever butcher. But most culls I can.

[MamaDee]

Oh, sausage. I had heard you could do jerky...but the processing costs would be prohibitive. I guess it wouldn't be too hard to do your own sausage?

I'm glad it's not time yet.....this is alot harder than chickens for me! I have no problem butchering those stinky cornish rock cross chickens--or a mean roo here and there. But the goats will be harder. I know it's part of the cycle, though. I'm sure there will be some that will never see the freezer, though.

Any sausage recipes out there to make me feel better?

Dee

[reese]

Well, in our home, it would be a combination of sausage and dog food (we do the BARF diet for our dogs as much as affordable).

It's always a sad thing, but a necessary thing...culling...death. Know that you give your animals a good life and thank them for providing you with sustenance in turn.

If possible, learn how to process your own, that way it costs less and you are in control of handling management.

Reese

[ozark_jewels]

Ah yes, the dog food end of it is very nice. Especially if you butcher your own. Doing your own butchering not only saves you money, but it leaves you with more healthy dog food. Here I dump the offal, hide, feet, head and anything else, far enough away from the house that the dogs can eat it, but the smell doesn't reach the house. I first freeze the easily handleable things, like the liver, heart, lungs, excess fat, etc. The rest gets dumped to the dogs fresh. They will eat all but the stomach contents themselves and that gets spread out(especially if you have poultry) and helps fertilize the ground. The frozen stuff gets pulled out and fed alongside their dogfood over the next few months. Nothing is wasted if you home butcher.
And butchering a goat isn't messy like butchering poultry tends to be. I'll butcher a goat/deer over poultry any day of the week.

[drewjunr]

If you didn't want to go through the trouble of butchering them you could put them on Freecycle or Craigslist...give or sell them for brush control.

If you were around the area I would pick them up in a heartbeat for brush control.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by drewjunr

If you were around the area I would pick them up in a heartbeat for brush control.

Problem being that animals I cull to the freezer have either recurring health problems, or are crippled, or are to old to be good at brush control. Younger culls may be good for this however.
I'm too frugal to want to give away an older cull. At least for freezer meat and dogfood, she/he would cut the bills.

[Patty0315]

I also think if a goat has served me well I owe it to her not to send her to auction to let only God knows happen to her. They are put down as fast and painless as possible here. I then can sleep at night knowing they were not neglected.

Patty

[Feral Nature]

Originally Posted by Patty0315

I also think if a goat has served me well I owe it to her not to send her to auction to let only God knows happen to her. They are put down as fast and painless as possible here. I then can sleep at night knowing they were not neglected.

Patty

Same here. I could not sleep at night either not knowing what happened to a dear goat of mine. If she met her end here on my farm in a kind and merciful way, then the cycle of life is complete and I would feel like she served me well and I served her well.

Butcher old goats and do not put them through the horrors of the auction or the distress of a new home at an advanced age when they are already stuck in their old habits and routines.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by Feral Nature

Butcher old goats and do not put them through the horrors of the auction or the distress of a new home at an advanced age when they are already stuck in their old habits and routines.

Yes. And though I have a few does I don't think I could ever actually "butcher"(Lark, Mulberry, Escapade come to mind), they will be put down by me when their quality of life gets poor. Its the least I can do for a long life of service.

[Feral Nature]

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

Yes. And though I have a few does I don't think I could ever actually "butcher"(Lark, Mulberry, Escapade come to mind), they will be put down by me when their quality of life gets poor. Its the least I can do for a long life of service.

Same here, to be honest. "Franny" comes to mind, you know the one. She has a home here and will be put down when her time comes and buried in our pet cemetary.

[Jim S.]

Smoke 'em or sale barn 'em, depending on whether I need the money or not.

If you cannot butcher yourself (or, like me, you have a DW -- or DH or SO -- who will simply not allow it on the place), then check with deer processors. Around here, they will do it for you. That's why my goat meat is made in fall. It's also a little cooler time here to be smoking meat. Freeze the pulled meat, and it makes great soups and stews in winter. (Though winter as a concept seems rather quaint in this endless string of 100-degree days here.)

I've also made wasna, a Lakota pounded meat and berries mix, with some of it.

I am getting the barrels to build my new smoker soon. Will post some pix when it's done.

[Feral Nature]

Jim, I think you should sneak off your farm and do the deed somewhere else....I hate to think of you raising all that yummy goat meat and not eating it...once they taste that cabrito smoked in your new smoker, they may change their minds.

I have a vision of your best breeding stock disappearing when you are away from the farm and you running in slow motion into the kitchen with a pot on the stove simmering in a "fatal attraction" moment!

[chamoisee]

I knew a gal who had them professionally made into sausage. It was the best sausage I've ever eaten, and those does were ancient retired milkers, 10-12 years old. Just a small piece of it gave a wonderful flavor to soups, chili, etc.

[Feral Nature]

Many years ago, when my kids were little (human kids) amd still lived at home, I did not do my own butchering of goats. It was enough that we did chickens and rabbits, goats would have been too tough on them at the time. Me too probably. I took them to the meat market in town to have it done. The sausage they made was incredible. I had them mix it with a bit of pork for fat and it was the best sausage ever.

[MariaAZ]

I'm with the dog food angle. Heck, if I lived close enough to someone who had an old cull they didn't want, I'd buy the carcass (don't know how to slaughter a large animal, and being in the city don't really have the facilities). I'd even specifically agree that it is sold as dog food, as I know many places have strict regulations about selling meat. We feed our dogs a combination of bones/raw and home-cooked, and I'm always on the lookout for good, clean sources of meat for them. In our area, unfortunately, it's rather difficult to find people who raise and sell meat animals so we depend mostly on supermarkets, at least until I can get our future rabbitry up and running!

[GSFarm]

I think if you love the animal I would just let it live it's years without kidding or milking. You know let it live out the rest of it's life in peace.