How many freezer goats for a family of 7 (AND) goat vs. beef?

[Pearce Pastures]

As I being making tentative plans for raising goats for meat, I got to thinking about how many goats we would need to process per year to keep the freezer stocked.

For any of you who do this regularly, how many do you do a year and how many people are you feeding with it?

I am also curious how many folks use this over beef? We split a steer with our parents each year and I wonder if we would still want to do that or maybe at least reduce it to buy a quarter to split instead.

 

[alsea1]

I have no idea. So far the rabbits have been the most reliable as far as stocking the freezer.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Goat meat and yields are more like venison. The meat isn't marbled like beef or lamb, very lean and boneless meat % from a carcass is usually pretty low.

That being said, goats take up less space and less feed and less time to get to eating size.

We have 4 freezers (1 upright, 1 small chest, 1 from the house fridge and 1 from the porch fridge--I sell milk and dairy products and keep them out there) and even with a 1/4 beef and 3 goats, we had space left over for veggies, ice cream and other essentials.

We're a family of 3 1/2 (stepdaughter only here on weekends) and we're not huge meat eaters.

Figure out approximately how much meat you're eating per person per day. For example, over a week, for us we usually go through about 5 lbs of meat. Over 52 weeks, that would be close to 300 lbs, our 1/4 from our steer usually ranges from 250-300 lbs (they're BIG steers). Goat meat for us is an occasional thing to mix with chili or a stir-fry. I sell most of my goat meat, but we eat what we don't sell.

So, plot your typical meals over the course of the week and how much meat you're going through to see how much you'd need.

That being said, when I was talking with my goat meat customers on the phone a few days ago, he said something about grocery store prices when I realized, other than bacon and kielbasa, I haven't bought meat at a store in close to 2 years!

 

[poorboys]

we are two, but feed kids and grandkids and share our food with others, I butcher about 3 wethers a year, I usually do chops and ground goat, sometimes I get more or less, I do share some of my meat, but I do prefer the goat over beef, less fat very lean. if your not doing beef consider doing more wethes to make up for the beef, my dh and I have found we buy very little beef, Prices way to high, everything in our frezzer is what we have raised and when we go to the store it's usually just for side-dishes. saving at the market sure helps.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Goat yields about the same as venison in my book. About 1/3 bone, 1/3 guts and hide, 1/3 meat. I got about 23 lbs of meat from a ND, which gets used up quickly. For a household of 2, we figured we probably go through about that in a month, give or take. So, with the venison we get, I figured we needed about 8 milk goats in freezer camp a year with two deer. If we get a bear or an elk, that will change the amount. And of course, if we have chicken or turkey, that will reduce it as well. Boer goats will, of course, provide more meat. My understanding is you can get about 50 lbs of meat from a young one.

So think about how much meat you cook with a day. We typically use 1/2 to 1 lb of meat a day, which includes leftovers that go to my DH's lunch the next day.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

We buy about 1/4 of beef, we get 8 or 10 chickens from a friend's farm, we process 2 - 4 male goats between our own and a friend who can raise them but not kill or eat them and then every year I always end up with 2-6 turkeys from the same. People who have raised them for thanksgiving but can't do the deed. We also process 1-3 (this isn't a pet anymore) type pot belly's as sausage and chunks for soup/stew or just ground. Oh and we just started sheep this past year. I take in bottle babies and we're selling the them to pay for the milk and time and then eating the rest. We did 13 last year and kept 3. One died due to farm sitter stupidity but we're processing the other 2 yearling males and a ram that my finn had in about a month. Of those 3 for processing, I'm selling all the meat off the biggest one to pay for processing on the other two.

I also farm out as MANY goats as I can from June to about October as weed eaters. It makes for some cheap meat come butchering time. I also try to farm out and then sell / eat all my bucks.


I have tried to put the word out that if someone has an animal that needs to go, I can take it and humanely process it and bring back part of the meat or just let them know it was quick and they were tasty. I also take drop off deer. Sometimes I come home to find a field dressed deer on my porch. The neighbors love me.



We are 2 people. I wish it was as easy to get veggies as it is to get meat.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Great info all! Thank you.

I think we will likely go with a quarter beef split, continue to raise our poultry (we eat about 1-2 per week and our parents about 1 per week), and then plan for maybe 7-8 wethers a year. We have the freezer space for it so that won't be a problem.

The next big thing to tackle will be processing...learn to do it ourselves or pay the butcher. For the first time, I know I will have the butcher do it but I am hoping that I can get past it like I did with the poultry and do it myself. Our uncle offered to show me how since he does his own deer, but we will see.

 

[michickenwrangler]

As an FYI, not all butchers will process goats. While any town here of more than 300 people has 1 processor within town limits and usually more scattered in the townships, there is only ONE processor within my area that will do goats. One that advertised itself as "anything but chickens" I called about doing goats and they said no, only cattle, sheep, pigs and deer.

However, the place that does goats is reasonably priced and I am satisfied with what they do. They even put up with me hugging the goats and sobbing before I leave.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Ours does them for a flat fee and it is pricey (at least I think it is---$75 per goat :/ ). Maybe that isn't bad but I have no point of reference other than what we pay for a steer to be done. I really should try to get over it and do it myself in our ongoing attempt to be more self-sustaining.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

I find butchering is never as bad as I think it's going to be.