Butchered our first goat today

[Oat Bucket Farm]

We butchered our yearling wether today. Its the first time we have ever butchered a goat. We have some friends who live in the country who were willing to show us how. So this afternoon we took him over there and they walked us through it. It was extremely interesting. I always thought it would be like butchering a big rabbit (we've butchered rabbits) but it was actually quite a bit different.

I am glad that his last moments were in the shade of a tree on a beautiful day with his nose buried in a pan of grain. One minute he was chowing down, the next he was gone. I was amazed at the amount of fat inside a goat. I was also surprised at how meaty he was even though he didn't look like much when he was up walking around. I couldn't believe the amount of goat pellets there are in the digestive track, no wonder they seem to poop every time they turn around,lol.

All in all it went very well. I learned a lot, including that a yearling boer cross is a lot heavier than they look. It took four of us to lift him up after he bled out most of the way. And now we have goat meat resting in our fridge that we can't wait to try.

Oh, and he is no longer a pain in the rear or noisy now that he is in the fridge.

[LFRJ]

Some day it will be our first turn. We also butcher rabbits, so I'd also had expected it would be about the same, only bigger. I'm wondering what I'm in for. I'm glad it was a smooth and rather positive experience. How many pounds do you believe it yielded? also, was that a boer/nubian?

Thanks for the report.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

I am not sure how much weight in meat total. Yes it was a yearling Nubian/Boer cross. He weighed about 120 pounds when he was up walking around. The meat to bone ratio seems to be pretty good.

Oh, and the rumen is huge! One thing I found is that the skin comes off differently than a rabbits. Rabbits skin out easier.

I also kept the heart and the lungs. They are nice and big, so my kids and I are going to dissect them as one of our home school lessons. We explored a turkey heart once, but this is beg enough to really see all of the chambers and such.

[Backfourty,MI.]

So glad it was a good experience for all of you & meat in the fridge too! We have had a couple goats butchered over the years but we always take it to the guy we get our beef from & who butchers our venison. Never did it ourselves although we also raise rabbits for meat.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

We were going to take him and have it done, but it was too expensive. The place wanted 45 dollars for just the kill fee and then so much per pound. It was going to end up costing close to a hundred dollars.

[LFRJ]

So let me ask you - after this experience, do you feel confident doing it yourself next time?

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Yes I do. In fact, I am thinking we won't be selling many boys next year. I am thinking we will wether and butcher most of them.

[RedSonja]

Cheryl aka JM and CarolT from here on the forum helped us butcher out our first wether last fall, it's really nice to have someone that's done it before to help you. Then when another one of our wethers offed himself a few months after that we processed him ourselves. Pretty sure that wouldn't have gone as well if it had been our first time.

We have two more headed for freezer camp, sooner rather than later now that our garden is coming up and they refuse to respect the fencing. DH said today they signed their death warrant by nibbling on the sweet potato plants we put blood sweat and tears into getting in the ground yesterday morning...

-Sonja

[Goat Servant]

Hooray for you!! We havent done any ourselves for many years but the day will come. We practically live on goat meat.

[The Tin Mom]

Way to go, OBF! I'm looking forward to having our wether butchered soon.... we'll see - Dh gets too attached to the goats & doesn't like it when I mention butchering. I would have to do all the work if we butchered one ourselves. he doesn't even help butcher rabbits.

[LoneStrChic23]

Yay!!!

I'm still working up the courage to do it myself..... I know it's silly, but the actual killing is what I haven't worked myself up to yet

My husband did both of our bucks, but I did watch him skin it, asked questions, & divided/packaged everything up afterwards.

We prefer goat to store bought beef....& the fajitas were AMAZING.....next year I'm going to try & do it myself...

Enjoy your goat.....Are you going to try to make goat bacon??

[prairiedog]

Yes we made sure we saved the stomach flaps to try the bacon thing

[Oat Bucket Farm]

I didn't do the actual killing. The father of our friend did. At home my DH would likely do it. When we butcher chickens my mother does the killing. I could do the killing if I had to but since I don't, I avoid that part. I can watch the killing, just not good at doing it. Its kind of like drawing blood. I can hold the goat and watch with no problem. I can watch a rabbit,chicken, or goat bleed out with no problem, but just thinking about sticking a needle in the jugular vein makes me light headed. I could do it if I absolutely had to. But for now, I hold the goat and watch while my mother sticks the needle in, and I stand by when the critter is killed and then help bleed it out and skin it and such. Makes no sense I know, but whoever said the human psyche made sense. But that is why humans are herd animals and tend to live in groups, because not all people are good at everything. I am very good at holding animals for medical treatment and such, and I am good at skinning and dressing out. There are others here for now that are better at the actual killing part.

[Frugal Que]

Thanks for sharing OBF. We want to get to that point one day. Would you mind going into more detail about how you did the actual dispatching?

I haven't heard of the needle method. It sounds quite different than just slitting the throat.

[dustin biery]

Just something to think about for next time for anyone....

When animals are mildly difficult to skin, if you have an air compressor, make a slight incision in the back leg, (need a thingymajig that when you press the button it sprays air, like used to clean up), but put that under the skin and use air to separate the skin from the body. Seen it used in several other animals and going to try it this coming deer season.

[RoyalValley]

Congrats. Our butcher charges $75 flat fee for lambs and goats. That's the kill fee and packaging. It's a little high, so we will probably try it ourselves this year.

Glad it was a good experience for you.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Originally Posted by Frugal Que

Thanks for sharing OBF. We want to get to that point one day. Would you mind going into more detail about how you did the actual dispatching?

I haven't heard of the needle method. It sounds quite different than just slitting the throat.

He was dispatched using a .22 We put a pan of grain on the ground and he put his head down and started chowing. Our friend put the barrel to the back of his head and the deed was done. Once he was down we slit the throat and his daughter pumped his legs to help him bleed out good.

The needle I am referring to is when we are drawing blood for CAE testing.

[Our Little Farm]

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

Yes I do. In fact, I am thinking we won't be selling many boys next year. I am thinking we will wether and butcher most of them.

Good for you!

I used to be a vegetarian and am still not huge on meat, but I do butcher and consider it part of providing for my family the best way I know how.
I ground up a lot of my goat to get the most I could out of him. Goat burger is fantastic and a 1lb of gb mixed with our own pork sausage is amazing for a meatloaf!

OLF

[Our Little Farm]

Goat burger and lamb burger makes wonderful gyro meat!

[motdaugrnds]

prairiedog, how do you make bacon out of stomach flaps?