Male goats

Fred21

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hi all, I am looking at keeping my male kids for meat any ideas for feeding rations ,should I castrate or not is there an outlet for meat cheers
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
@Fred21 did you put the parlour in? Where abouts are you based? Demand for entire goats is high, I would imagine still with horns preferably. How far are you from Birmingham and West Midlands? May be some other outlets near London but I don’t know of them myself.
 

Pigken

Member
Location
Co. Durham
Entire or not depends on market, certain festivals prefer stronger meat. Have used sheep feed and cattle ration, they just take as long as they take to be a weight for slaughter, fat cover on back seems to take some doing.
End market is most important, then correct slaughter and butchering for market.
When did them in past, one comment from buyers is they struggle to get young goat meat as to cull goat meat.
Oh and they reck everything, like pigs but clever not brute force.
 

Fred21

Member
Livestock Farmer
@Fred21 did you put the parlour in? Where abouts are you based? Demand for entire goats is high, I would imagine still with horns preferably. How far are you from Birmingham and West Midlands? May be some other outlets near London but I don’t know of them myself.
Hi no have not put the parlour in yet ,I am based in north of the country thanks
 

Pigken

Member
Location
Co. Durham
Hi no have not put the parlour in yet ,I am based in north of the country thanks


Well there is a place called bradystan, lots of restaurants and ethnicity diverse shops. They are not straight forward to deal with. But will snap your hand off for regular supply.
Have you found out price of goat dead weight. You have to set price and stick to it.
Caribbean style restaurant s use it in lot of dishes. Large goat dairy near York should have contacts for billies.
Would assume pressure will force them to start having to keep Billy's and not euthanase. Oh and entire goats have distinct aroma and can have vulgar dendancies.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Well there is a place called bradystan, lots of restaurants and ethnicity diverse shops. They are not straight forward to deal with. But will snap your hand off for regular supply.
Have you found out price of goat dead weight. You have to set price and stick to it.
Caribbean style restaurant s use it in lot of dishes. Large goat dairy near York should have contacts for billies.
Would assume pressure will force them to start having to keep Billy's and not euthanase. Oh and entire goats have distinct aroma and can have vulgar dendancies.
I’m guessing 7-8 months old would be maximum before meat starts to turn?

I havnt eaten goat since I went to smallholders meal/dinner party in the late 90’s and we had a goat broth. I can still taste it now, they’d put the 6 year old billie goat in it, I don’t know anyone from that day that has eaten goat meat since so be careful with ages with entires.
 

Mc115reed

Member
Livestock Farmer
A course mix is best for goats I was always told, T G Sargents in Staffordshire used too slaughter goats, not sure if they still do the goat farm near there sold up couple years ago but I know they used too open up real early for them too kill as goats need too be killed early morning and straight away the slightest bit of stress taints the meat
 

Pigken

Member
Location
Co. Durham
I’m guessing 7-8 months old would be maximum before meat starts to turn?

I havnt eaten goat since I went to smallholders meal/dinner party in the late 90’s and we had a goat broth. I can still taste it now, they’d put the 6 year old billie goat in it, I don’t know anyone from that day that has eaten goat meat since so be careful with ages with entires.

Would assume 7 to 8 months would be turning point, when have reared always had away by 7 month. But as you know, there is a smell to cooked goat, which put me off.
From about 4 months they shagged each other very frequently. Best kept in small groups up to 20 I found.
Can not remember but was one festival that they insisted on them been entire.
Give me beef or pork any day not goat.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Well there is a place called bradystan, lots of restaurants and ethnicity diverse shops. They are not straight forward to deal with. But will snap your hand off for regular supply.
Have you found out price of goat dead weight. You have to set price and stick to it.
Caribbean style restaurant s use it in lot of dishes. Large goat dairy near York should have contacts for billies.
Would assume pressure will force them to start having to keep Billy's and not euthanase. Oh and entire goats have distinct aroma and can have vulgar dendancies.
My mate used to supply Gloucester's jamaican population with whole goats at £15/kg DW. They would dice the entire carcass, bone in.
 

Fred21

Member
Livestock Farmer
Yeah, sort the market out first.
We used to milk 1000 and ran a Boer x suckler herd of 100 on the side.
The dairy males weren't worth fattening.
Worse than raising pet lambs.
Hi thanks, do you not milk anymore what happened ??
 

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