Goat Harvest

When I bought my milk goat, her kids were only a week old. She had three kids her first time--two boys and a girl. The lady I bought her from kept the girl, and I got the two boys.

At first, my intention in keeping the goats was so that I could raise them and sell them to a 4-H kid or a farmer that needed a brush goat. When the time to de-horn them came and went, I realized that I was not going to get a worthwhile price for them alive. I resolved to raise them as meat goats and butcher them for our family.

I was going to follow the French tradition of raising them for 10 months to 1 year and then butchering them when they were full-sized but still tender. That would have yielded a lot of meat.

As time went on, it was becoming clear that they did not fit on the farm. There was no real place to separate them from their mother at weaning time, and when I managed to do it, they were figuring out how to sneak milk. It was a lot of stress.

On top of it all, the owners of the farm are going to have a baby in a week or two, so they wanted the cores to be reduced. They have been downsizing a bit. I figured I would chip in since the goats were getting a little out of control.

I took the goats out to the butcher on Monday. Rather than be full Chevron, they are capretto sized. Perfect for roasting whole or piecing into roasts.

I was a little sad to see them go, and it is a little lonely when I go up to milk the goat, but I got 3/4 of a gallon of milk from her yesterday, and Jared brought me home a freezer full of meat today from the butcher.

Because I am butchering them so young, I have asked for all he pieces of the goat back so that I can use them. We will eat the liver. I will tan the hides with the brains and I will piece other scraps out to use as dog or cat food, or stew bones or something. I have plans, you will hear from them all.

the meat had not quite frozen up yet by the time I got it, and the bag with the skins and liver and other things in it needed to be handled by Jared. I just need to get a little more perspective on it before I go tanning the hides and eating goat for dinner.