Would a dairy buck be good eating ?

preparing · #1 07/12/12, 06:39 AM

I was reading the thread about the aggressive buck and most were saying eat him.

But I noticed he is a Boer mix. Mine is a plain dairy mutt (he will be a yr and a half at the time of butchering).

He will be needed to do his job once more and then I need to move him on. I would love to try goat meat.

What do ya think?

Alice In TX/MO · #2 07/12/12, 07:42 AM

Eat him.

andabigmac · #3 07/12/12, 07:50 AM

You won't regret it. Goat is delicious.

preparing · #4 07/12/12, 07:58 AM

He is grass fed only to this point.

Should I grain him some months before butchering?

do you enjoy him just as you would venison?

Ford Zoo · #5 07/12/12, 08:32 AM

We buthchered our first meat goats last year. Bought them a month before and grained them along with grass hay. I don't know how feeding them makes a difference compared to beef, but it was love at first bite.

These guys were full grown, not sure on their age, but I have found the meat stays tender if I cook the chops over higher heat seared to medium rare, and the roasts are nice cooked low and slow. Fresh grated ginger adds a nice flavor to roasts too.

Ford Zoo · #6 07/12/12, 08:34 AM

And the meat is moister/juicier than venison due to marbeling.

mekasmom · #7 07/12/12, 09:01 AM

Goat is goat. They all taste pretty much the same. Meat goats just have more meat on them. It's like the difference between eating a leghorn and a cornish.

preparing · #8 07/12/12, 09:38 AM

Thanks all...project #4,451...butcher buck after he does his work.

andabigmac · #9 07/12/12, 09:54 AM

I would wait until he's out of rut just to be on the safe side. I wouldn't want to eat what my boys smell like now but I definitely would have last month. Then again I've never eaten a buck in rut. I'm just imagining. He may be fine.

CarolT · #10 07/12/12, 10:48 AM

I think rut makes a difference in taste. I would wait till he cleaned up a little, too.

However, if someone wanted to pay me for a good breeder and I could get a fat wether for that price, I'd sell the buck and buy the wether... JMO LOL

motdaugrnds · #11 07/12/12, 01:41 PM

I agree with the others. I would give him time to get out of rut. I would even give him a good bath!

Then I would not want to take any chances on his meat being tough; so I would pen him up and put him on a graduated form of feeding. (We usually start "once a day" with a little of the mixed grain we always feed our milk goats, enough quality hay to get him thru the day and cool water. Doing this about a week; then the 2nd week adding the same amount of grain in the evenings, making the grain feed twice daily while continuing the quality hay and cool water. If he isn't use to eating grain, I would make sure he had access to some Baking Soda.) After you can tell he is gaining weight, continue this, increasing the grain at each feed both times daily for about a month. His meat should be nice and tender this way no matter how you decide to cook it.

mpete · #12 07/12/12, 01:53 PM

It all depends on your taste.... We have eaten dairy bucks in rutt. The freshly cooked meat did not have any different taste than that of a wether. However, the meat that had been frozen, then cooked and a little bit of a 'new' taste to it... NOT BAD!!! It wasn't a 'wild' taste either. I know a lot of people who preferr to eat buck.