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

[poorboys]

dh said that butchering a goat would be almost like doing a deer, so as long as you have the equiptment it would be cheaper to do it your-self

 

[ksalvagno]

Ours does them for a flat fee and it is pricey (at least I think it is---$75 per goat :/ ).

That isn't a bad price if that includes kill and cutting up/packaging all the meat.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

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.

I just wanted to say that you are VERY lucky to be able to get meat so easily. Doesn't work like that out here, not at all.

 

[Mamaboid]

I can kill and butcher a deer, butcher chickens or rabbits, clean fish, all those things, but I just cannot make myself do the actual killing when it comes to my goats. I keep telling myself I will get over it, but so far........not so much.

 

[michickenwrangler]

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.

Wow. My goat guy does it for $30 a goat.

For me, it's not so much the killing but rather NOT killing them right and making them suffer. I can dispatch a chicken pretty quickly, but I'd be afraid of not getting the jugular or not shooting correctly at the back of the head and making the poor thing go through pain and fear during the process.

 

[SkyWarrior]

We do our own slaughter and field dressing for the goats. My butcher charges me about $55 to $65 a goat to butcher and wrap, including deboning.