# Butchered our first goat....



## dhansen (Sep 13, 2012)

It took a LONG time for my dear hubby to kill and butcher one of our bucks.  It was pure love for me that he tackled this project.  I did all the cutting the meat off the bones.  I soaked the at for a couple days in milk and make a crock pot full of barbecued goat.  I tasted it and CAN NOT EAT IT!  I am hoping someone have a spicy recipe or something to drown out the distinct flavor. How can I tell my hubby that he did all that work for the dogs???????  Any ideas?


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## Catahoula (Sep 13, 2012)

Sorry to hear. I wonder if goat meat is like goat milk...their feeds can cause different flavor. I also heard a buck can have a stronger flavor than a wether or a doe. I have had goat meat once. It came from a farm that only feeds their goats alfalfa hay. (don't know if it was a wether...) We wanted to taste the true flavor of the meat so we just put salt and pepper (minimum flavoring) and grill it. It tasted like pork to me with a very mild flavor...that I knew it wasn't pork. It wasn't offensive and I would eat it again. I usually don't like the gamey flavor and I can't drink some goat milk or eat goat cheese for the same reason.  I don't have any recipes but check out the forum...Our Herd as Providers...that is a section on recipes.
Good Luck!


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## 20kidsonhill (Sep 13, 2012)

No help here, my husband doesn't even like the young onse that are just 6 months old.  He wouldn't go near buck meat.  How old was the buck?  

I would look up ideas and recipees for deer that is gamey tasting.


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## Shayanna (Sep 13, 2012)

Never ate a buck. We just cook ours in some oil and butter with salt and pepper.... Or stew it up in some chili or stew.


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## Island Creek Farm (Sep 13, 2012)

Not sure how bucks are in relation to deer, as far as taste?

We can't eat or even COOK mature buck venison, so we don't shoot them.  We shot a button buck this last year (oops), but his meat didn't taste gamey at all.  I've had goat at an indian restaurant, in a curry...you could tell from three feet away that it was mature buck goat meat.  ICK.

We are going to castrate our Boer/Alpine cross bucks as soon as possible next year to raise for meat, am hoping the lack of testosterone will improve the meat flavor.

Try soaking overnight in cold salt water, have also heard soaking in milk or buttermilk will draw off the gamey flavor, not sure but worth a try!  Someone had posted that it shouldn't have a "buck" flavor unless hair (hence the urine) gets all over the meat, not sure about that either.  Deer processor told me you have to be sure to get all the lymph nodes out too, that they lend a bucky flavor too...

Another side note, I've had chili, tacos and spaghetti all made from bucks, with the maker saying "you can't tell it's not beef!", but I could...ick, buck!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Sep 13, 2012)

If you want to slaughter a buck and you are sensitive to the "buck" in it, as some are with deer bucks, what you should do it wether it and let it eat pasture for a month or two and it should lose the extreme game and buck taste.


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## SkyWarrior (Sep 13, 2012)

My husband took two wethers out and then we had the meat packed and butchered by a local butcher.  The meat was fabulous.  Sort of a mix between beef and lamb.  These boys were 3 years old.  I've eaten deer bucks (2 x 4s and 2 x 2s), elk, moose, and antelope, and the only time the meat tasted bad was when it was improperly cared for or the animal was much older.

We hunt, so I'm going to give you my take on meat taste and care.  I don't know how you cared for the meat, but I'll tell you what works for us.

First, after the kill, you MUST cool off the meat FAST.  That means field dressing immediately and skinning just as quickly.  Hot days make it that more likely your meat will taste spoiled or gamey.  Some people claim that cold running water ruins the meat, but I've never experienced it.  I've used cold water to wash away blood and debris, plus cool it off.

Remove as much fat as you can when you skin and field dress.  Drain as much blood out as possible.  Don't puncture intestines or let urine or other fluids get on the meat -- if you do, you can cause problems.  Rinse well with cold water if it happens.  Keep the musk glands and anything that touches them away from the meat.  If goats are like deer, they have musk glands in their hind legs just below their hocks.  Anything that touches the musk, the entrails, the urine, the sex organs needs to be cleaned before touching the meat.

It should take no more than 1 hour to skin and field dress an animal.  You will want to butcher it quickly in a cold area or take it to a butcher to cut it up.

I know a lot of people like to age their meat,   but honestly, most people don't age meat correctly and allow too many temperature swings, thus making the meat inedible.  Fast freezing will "age" the meat and will make it taste good.  If you don't have a deep freezer, you will run the risk of having your meat taste off, because of the heat.  

If you did all the proper preparations (and I suspect that the time your DH took to kill and dress the buck may have seriously affected the taste), then the age and whether the buck was in rut was the problem.  

Hope this helps!


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## PattySh (Sep 13, 2012)

The meat from a wether is delicious. A buck is a very aquired taste. You might try to hide the gameyness in a curry recipe. We butchered a boar pig and same deal I simply can't stomach it, no matter how spicy the sausage. I would not butcher anything in the future but castrated pigs and goats. Castration does not seem to affect the taste of beef for some reason.


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## dhansen (Sep 14, 2012)

My husband definitely knew what he was doing when butchering the buck as he has butchered many deer during hunting season.   I think I may have destroyed our attempts to eat goat meat forever because used a buck first.  Dumb me.  I did soak the meat in milk and we did cool it off as quickly as possible. Oh well.  We can still sell the boys to others for meat. I can still love on my does  and thoroughly enjoy their milk!


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## Goatherd (Sep 14, 2012)

This may be of interest to you:  http://www.ehow.com/how_6148215_goat-taste-out-goat-meat.html


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## DonnaBelle (Sep 14, 2012)

We are getting ready to take our first 2 goats to the butcher.  They are about 6 months old, dairy goat wethers.  I am hoping that I will like the meat, if not, we have Hispanic friends that do for sure!

I am going to try brining them and soaking in buttermilk.  Plus I am going to have some ground up with about 10% beef suet added for a little more flavor.

I'll let you know how this plan works.  

DonnaBelle


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