# Too old to butcher?



## popsicle (Jul 26, 2012)

Hello all,
So I have two goats.  One is a 5+ year-old Saanen wether, the other is a 4 month Boer cross wether.  I was planning on butchering the Boer cross in the spring and replace him with another youngling and repeat the process.  The Saanen is mostly around as a weed eater--he's nice enough but I don't really think of him as a pet.

The issue is with the drought and all, there is a possibility that hay might be difficult to come by and certainly expensive come winter.  My husband and I have been discussing that we may end up butchering the young one early (fall) as he is big enough already and if that's the case we might want to butcher the old guy rather than leave him a single goat.

How bad would 5-year-old goat meat be?  What would be the best way to process the guy--all sausage mixed with pork?  

Who knows, maybe the hay/drought situation will be just fine before we have to compete with cattle ranchers and horse people for a few bales.
Thanks!


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## ksalvagno (Jul 26, 2012)

All ground meat would work. We did that with an older goat and used the meat for all the stuff you would use ground beef for. We had it put in 1 lb packages.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jul 26, 2012)

Believe it or not goat meat is one of the only meats in the world that NEVER gets tough. It always stays tender. I know people who have their goats for 10-13 years and when the goat can no longer produce, the eat it. So go ahead and eat the goat. It would be better if you weather him (if not done already) and fatten him up a bit before you fire up the grill.


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## ksalvagno (Jul 26, 2012)

Actually, alpaca doesn't get tough either. I've got an 11 year old and a 13 year old in the freezer. The steaks are heaven.


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## Calypso (Jul 26, 2012)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Actually, alpaca doesn't get tough either. I've got an 11 year old and a 13 year old in the freezer. The steaks are heaven.


You can eat alpaca???? I had never thought of them as a food source.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jul 26, 2012)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Actually, alpaca doesn't get tough either. I've got an 11 year old and a 13 year old in the freezer. The steaks are heaven.


That I did not know. I did know that there are other kinds of animal that don't get tough, but never knew of alpaca!! What does it taste like? I would be very interested in trying it!!


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## ksalvagno (Jul 27, 2012)

Probably closest to beef. It is a red meat. It is very lean so you have to be careful how you cook it. We like it much better than goat. It probably isn't a whole lot different than goat too.


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## purplequeenvt (Jul 27, 2012)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Probably closest to beef. It is a red meat. It is very lean so you have to be careful how you cook it. We like it much better than goat. It probably isn't a whole lot different than goat too.


X2

We put a 7 year old gelding llama in the freezer after he tried to kill me. The meat was excellent, but you for sure had to cook it carefully.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jul 27, 2012)

purplequeenvt said:
			
		

> ksalvagno said:
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I bet he tasted even better due to the circumstances of his departure from this world... LOL!!!


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## SkyWarrior (Jul 28, 2012)

My husband and I had two 3-year-old wethers butchered.  The meat is awesome.


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## purplequeenvt (Jul 28, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> purplequeenvt said:
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Of course!


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