Goat Meat Question?

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I have never had goat meat. I am assuming you buther when young. How young? What does goat meat taste like? Also, although butchering is a way of life on the homestead and I am usually not too bothered by it...those babies are soooooo cute and become instantly loved the minute they are born...there is just something about goats! How do you manage to do the job?

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), July 11, 2001

Answers

They aren't bad tasting at all Karen.

Young kid goat meat is popular in the Mexican food culture; cabrito (kah bree toe) is a delicacy, popular for weddings and other celebrations. Many prefer it to beef, others don't because of the perceived "greasy" taste. I have seen it cooked in large tureens over fires and cooked underground, 'pit style'. Cut into small chunks (1/2" square cubes, more or less), and cooked in lightly spiced brown gravy (My stomach is beginning to rumble now). I guess it just depends on the skill of the cook. Goat meat is different from beef and that is different from deer and so on. Different critters taste different.

I'm not sure what age is the minimum / maximum. I think they are purchased at a young age, two to three weeks at least, than staked out and fed fruit to clean out their systems. They skin out and butcher like any other animal I think. The older goats have odor from glands on their skins that you don't want to transfer to the meat.

One memory I have as a young boy was playing with the kid goat at my grandmother's house until I was taken aside and told to leave it alone. I didn't understand until later that afternoon, I saw the butchered animal on a big platter on the kitchen. I felt kinda bad until I tasted the meat later on; Yum Yum. Put me down as a goat meat fan.

I agree on their appearance and temperment; one of my co workers has several goats on their land and she tells us that watching the animals play is better than TV. Judging on what they produce on some TV shows nowadays, that isn't saying a whole lot.

Hope this helps some.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), July 11, 2001.


Well, as my goat breeder kept saying, "Goat's die hard, Gail. Real hard." I shoot them in the head and then slit the throat. Butcher like you would a deer. Another person sez that they feed them food and then lop off their heads when they have them down to eat. A friend of mine (when I fed her leg o goat with rosemary and thyme said that it tasted like lamb. It's great as jerky or gyros. Ya gotta think that you raised them for a purpose. And their purpose is to feed YOU too. I used to cry when I butchered my chicken people. So goats were a real trip. It still bothers me to butcher but I do it as humanely and quickly as possible. Just remember that GOATS DIE HARD. They don't go gently. Good Luck!

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), July 11, 2001.

We butchered our wethers the past several years. we took a couple of 8 month old wethers to the slaughter house last fall they weighted 105 pounds and dressed out about 50. We had them cut in chops and the round steaks, a couple roast, and the remainder in ground meat. we really like it. The meat is not marbled like beef so it reguires a little slower cooking to get tender meat. I have a 4 month old wether now that we're going to take and have cut in roasts for the smoker, I've not done this before but have heard it is really good. Our first wether we butchered was Willy I had made him into a pet and was training him to pull, but never got the harnesses and he got where he butted me everytime I went around him , a friend took him to the butcher for us and I cryed for a week, but I'm a firm believer in food producing animals to do just that, I don't want any part of the goat buthering myself. I'm with everyone of them when they come into the world and I know my bucks will go for meat or be sold but that still doesn'tmake it easy for me . Like always say "If I can eat Willy I can eat anything". Sherry

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), July 11, 2001.

I have always been told to never let the hair touch any of the meat while skinning one as it wil cause some type of reaction to the carcass affecting flavor.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 11, 2001.

The first time we had one of our goats butchered, the meat stuck in my throat and I didn't think I would ever get it swallowed. I soon learned to have more than one animal butchered at a time, wait several weeks if possible before serving any of the meat so you have forgotten WHO has come to dinner.

I've butchered deer and chickens but will admit to never having done a goat start to finish. We are both wimps there I guess. I am very fortunate to have a good custom locker near me that will slaughter, dress, make the first cuts and grind any portions I want. They pack it into some large food grade containers I have then I do the rest at home. For quick meals, I can a good deal of it both as regular cuts and browned ground meat. For meatloaf and burgers, I freeze a little. The big difference is that I trim what little fat there is much more closely than my butcher friend does.

Cabrito is the very young animal but we've butchered older cull does and wethers with no problems. They develop a richness of flavor just the same as older chickens have a richer flavor. We've never butchered an intact buck but I have friends who have with no breeding season flavor. You just have to be very clean and careful with the skinning, as mentioned before. Pressure cooking is a great help with tenderizing and flavor enhancement on all of them.

As far as the taste, it is a little like deer and a little like lamb but without the wild taste of the deer or the fat of the lamb. We've had a lot of people eat repeatedly at our house then express surprise that we'd never served them chevon. This was particularly true of my father-in-law, the picky eater. Sometimes it's best to just keep your mouth shut and smile politely.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), July 11, 2001.



I've been told that goats are of the deer family and that they do some what taste like deer. So I've thought that is if that is true than it should be very good since we eat a lot of deer meat. The only thing is that I would probably have a hard time convincing the wife and kids to try it.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), July 11, 2001.

Hi Karen you have gotten really good answers. We also lop off the heads as they reach down to eat, with a machete. Bullets are used on larger stock. We butcher bucks as soon as they are weaned, holding them longer is expensive, as anything on a grain diet is. If you wether the buck (castrate him) when young you can put off butchering until you want to at any age. I have had a 9 year old intact buck butchered before, and it is all in the way he was butchered and prepared, but the meat was wonderful. My BIL is the one who butchers most of my stock now, it is wonderful for me to know that my older stock isn't just put in the ground to rot, but to feed people. We usually ground the meat from older animals, while really young animals are jerked (boiled) then barbequed whole. The loins are the best, pounded flat and chicken fried. The one part of the butchering where I do go out and cut out myself! Roll into a ziplock, 1 day in the fridge and into the freezer. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), July 11, 2001.

Goat is the most widely eaten meat in the world! Although not very popular with most Americans, the demand is growing every year, it is very popular with pepole who imigrate here from the Middle East, South America and other places. The amount of Goat Meat produced in the U.S. per year does not meet the demand for New York City alone.

The Goat Market is in a crititcal statge at this time. With the low supply of Goat Meat avalible at this time in the U.S., prices are very high and many Imergrint famlies can not afford it. The next generation of these famlies will lose the desire for Goat Meat and thus a huge market will be lost.

Many people ask me about the flavor of Goat and I always give this answer, "if you like lamb you will LOVE Goat".

Young Goat is very sought after around many Ethnic Holidays, if you are going to be in the Goat Meat business it would be wise to learn when these Holidays fall and be ready to meet the demand. On the other hand I have sold many large intact Bucks (odor & all) for meat to many familes. A Wether Goat will not bring as much money as a Buck in my market. I have eaten a large intact Buck and found it quite good.

I belive the tthought about getting the hair on the meat may be a myth, I have watched many goats being Butchered by my Ethnic Customers and they don't seem to be too concerned about the hair.

I don't Buy and Sell as many Goats as I have in the past, my "Real Job" keeps me pretty occupied but one day I hope to get back into it.

P.S. My favorite way to prepare Goat is a nice Roast in a plastic roasting bag with a light tomatoe sauce, oregano, garlic, onion and Greek seasoning.

-- Mark in N.C. Fla. (deadgoatman@webtv.net), July 11, 2001.


I bought a small goat to try the meat and see if we wanted to raise a few, I dont know how old it was. Shot it thru the head with my wifes little 38 revolver, hoisted it up by the hind feet & just like deer from there on. Cooking... used BBQ grill just like all other meat... punched holes in meat & poked in garlic cloves & used BBQ sauce. Results= invited some relatives over & all said it smelt good, but a bunch of them tasted and spit it out. All the womenfolk piled into the car went to Macdonalds. Me and 2 son in laws ate our fill but had to feed the rest to the dogs because the wife wouldn't let it into the frigidaire. Now I raise rabbits & everybody likes it BBQ just fine. Goat is a aquired taste I think.

-- L N 'Tom' Thompson (cathom@worldnet.att.net), July 12, 2001.

I used to have 18 goats at one time. You have to have a mindset of what to do with them as they are born. You know that you are to butcher, sell or keep. All of mine had names and all came to know their names. Each would get attention for their needs. You know-- some young, some expecting, some hurt somehow, and some just the older favorites. Somehow they always seem to get into trouble--jump the fence, get their head stuck in the fence, not looking well today..... Goat meat is almost as good as venison. For a quick and humane manner shoot the goat behind an ear, aimed down into the brain. Usually drop instant--which I prefer because I do love my goats. They are so gentle and SMART, yet some can be very awnry too. We butcher at 6-8 months--before that it is a waste of life and barely any meat. Cook it just like venison. My children love the tenderloin fried with egg and crackercrumbs and I like the steaks fried in flour.

-- (stephanie.wilkerson@experian.com), July 17, 2001.


Goat meat from young healthy goats has to be the most delicious meat in the world! My opinion. I've been eating goat meat for 30 years. Our dual-purpose breed, the Santa Theresa, gives me a 23 to 25 pound dress out at 9 weeks for true chevon (we quarter them, grill the hindquarter, roast the forequarter). We butcher our wethers and cull does at between 5 and 6 months for a 45 to 55 lb. dressout. These we cut up like a lamb into chops, legs, shanks, breast, ribs, and stew meat. Save the bones for stock. Ain't none better! We name the ones we're going to eat with food manes like Chops, Carnito, Birria, etc. They get the same love and good feed the rest of my goats get. They get milk for three months and top quality hay. I seldom grain them.. they get too fat. We mourn the darlings when we butcher them.. it's never easy, and I put their name on each package in order to include them in grace.. we are very respectful of life-taking and believe that fully utilizing the animal you've killed is the ultimate respect.

-- Ellen Wright (gardenfarm@earthlink.net), October 27, 2001.

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