Well, technically she was an "It" She was supposed to have been sold to a pet home, but they didn't get their barn done before winter hit. So I had held her for a couple of months for this gal (a vet) and now I was stuck with her. I decided that butchering her was a kinder fate than sending her to the sale yard where someone would undoubtably try to breed her (repeatedly), so the mobile butcher picked her up today. Interestingly enough, she had no reproductive organs whatsoever. No ovaries, uterus, or testicles. Her "vagina" extended inside about an inch and a half -- just far enough in for her bladder to have a way to void. Where all the "girl stuff" should have been was nothing more than a thick cord that held everything in place. Except for the presence externally of a vulva, she truly was asexual. She seemed to have an odd mix of hormones -- shifting between seemingly being in constant heat, and acting then acting bucky. In fact, I had problems with her when the buck was in their pasture because she kept trying to herd the does away from him or block him from breeding them. She would bleed when penetrated herself -- there was no where for anything to go. Anyhow, we are having her made into steaks, sausage, and salami. We'll see how she turns out! Tracy
That must have been an interesting experience, dealing with a goat like that. Kinda feel sorry for her though. It must be hard, not knowing which side of the fence to be on, so to speak, and not really belonging on either side. Ahh, but I'm getting philosophical. It would be interesting to know how she tastes, what with that mix of hormones. I'm betting that she tastes great! Nick
I think she will taste pretty good too -- had a beautiful carcass. She "looked" doe-ish in every way, except for her tiny teats and slightly buckier looking head. Matter of fact, she showed very well this summer. She would have made a gorgeous dry yearling, though I suspect the judges would have picked up her "little problem" pretty quickly. Ah well. Had a nice slight layer of fat as well, despite having been fed NO grain at all. Tracy
I'll agree that butchering was the right decision. I decided a couple of years ago when I sold a pair of nice nubians to a couple that had no experence and ask no questions :no: and wanted to them to keep their weeds down around their yard that no goats would be sold from my place that were to be tied to a tree. :no: They would be taken care of and then put in the freezer. I had an all buck year this past season and all found good homes except one that I weathered that was not good enough for a breed buck that will have to be slaughtered very soon. This is not something that I like to do, but feel if they are not going to go to a good home that this is the only way.
Hi Tracy, not sure I would have wanted her to go anywhere anyway, it would have always bugged me not to know, I would have wanted to butcher her just to be able to take a look-see! With no ovaries (estrogen) and no testicles (testosterone) I wouldn't think she would have even had heats, or been aggressive with her herdmates. I know that their are other hormones in the body, like progesterone and oxytocin, but you would think it would have made her more feminine acting than bucky. Yep she/he really was asexual. I bet she will be tasty. Well back to dog washing Vicki
Never had an animal that small Butchered by anyone else.About how much they charge?. I've butchered a couple Goats,couldn't hardly see eating that high dollar meat,though! big rockpile
Well Rockpile, I guess if it makes you feel better, we do our own elk and deer. Real deer -- the muley kind ;-) A friend of ours brought a couple of whitetail from Montana -- I asked him if he was sure they weren't dogs! <G> The butcher was coming to the neighbors to get a beef, so it was just as easy to let them do it. Plus, they make up the salami, which we don't do here at home. I believe they charge 40 cents a pound to make it up, and plain meat is less. With the amount of money they donated to my kid for her 4-H hog, I think we could afford to subsidize their business a little! What comes around, goes around. I know a couple of breeders who always have their old does ground up into sausage. The longer I am into this, the more I agree with them. Better for the old girls to be put down at home than to be shipped off to an unknown future. Tracy
I was just wondering.I don't know if anyone around here does Goats,I'm sure someone does. My wife has done Elk and Mulies.Been working on Deer all day today.Very tierd. big rockpile
I would think that most butchers would do them if you asked? At least any that do lambs ought to. I couldn't get over how little the whitetails were! Though I guess it evens out, since they are able to shoot a zillion of them a year. They brought us a ton of pheasants too. tracy