Slaughtered first goat today

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  • July 22, 2012 at 8:24 pm #43951
    Andy Carson
    Moderator

    I slaughtered a goat for the first time today. It was a 50-60 lb whether and it went very very well. I was generally guided by the book “basic butchering of livestock and game” by John Mettler. It’s details about goat slaughter are kinda thin, as the book refers you to the venison section, for the most part. I also Google the area of the head for stunning, and was glad I did, as the spot to hit was not exactly where I would have guessed and their skull is very thick in the front. I set up a small tarped over area for the slaughter in front of a doorway to the hay shed. It gave me a doorway to hang the goat from and an outside area to work in. I was expecting the process to be much messier than is was and had a hose buckets of soapy water and clean water and a washable table to work on. I didn’t use most of the buckets as the hose was more convenient, but was still glad I had them. I took about an hour to prep and it only took about an hour to process the goat. Overall, I found goats to be increbily easy to butcher. Hard to think of a more perfect animal. You can restain them my hand. Their skin and hide is easy to pull off by hand, only really needing the knife uin a few places. The amount of meat is easily be worth the effort, but it is not hard to find space in the freezer. I was selling this goat, though, and “helping” my friends butcher it (though i basically did it). These friends were Chinese and i have to say I really respect their ability/tradition to eat everything. And i mean everything!!! I was going to toss the foot into the offal pile, and they asked “what are you doing with that??? “Oh, you want that???” They also took the stomach, lungs, kidneys, liver, heart, and the whole skinned head. Again, much respect for this. They told me there was an old Chinese proverb that said you must bring the goat head home to you wife to prove that its not a dog. Funny. The offal pile ended up about the size of the pile from a half dozen chickens. Pretty impressive.

    P.S. My friends even talking about taking the intestines, but reconsidered as they felt cleaning them at my place would be an inconvieniance and they weren’t set up at to clean them at home. I bascially said ‘Be my guest, but I don’t know one thing about how to do that.” In retrospect, I should have talked them into cleaning them at my place harder, and not been so suprized. Kinda shocking at first, but I do like using the whole animal.

    July 23, 2012 at 12:52 am #74512
    Carl Russell
    Moderator

    Good job Andy.

    I have found goats and sheep to be so easy to handle that I don’t even bother to stun them. I use a saw-buck….. X’es together like a sawhorse… to cut limb-wood. I restrain the animal, lift it, and place it upside down on top of the crosses. I tie down the front feet and hind feet to the belly, and the whole body to the sawbuck.

    While pulling down on the chin, I slice through all of the vessels and can even decapitate reasonably fast….. just like poultry. I have found this to work flawlessly, with virtually no resistance or struggle from the goats…… and they die quickly.

    Carl

    July 23, 2012 at 2:59 am #74515
    Andy Carson
    Moderator

    I saw the sawbuck in the book, Carl, which I am pretty sure I saw you recommend in another post. I have to admit I was attracted to it, but wasn’t sure if it was easy to save the blood. My minds eye had it running around the sides of the neck through the hair and dripping in unpredictable places. I wanted to keep the blood relatively clean, so i stunned, hung, and cut over a bucket. Is it easy to catch the blood in the sawbuck setup? If so, please share your technique.

    July 23, 2012 at 2:08 pm #74517
    f3farms
    Participant

    although i have never done it my self(have done hunderds of deer)i have read alot about the different way people slaughter goats.

    Ritual slaughter is known as shechitah, and the person who performs the slaughter is called a “shochet,” both from the Hebrew root Shin-Chet-Tav, meaning to destroy or kill. The method of slaughter is a quick, deep stroke across the throat with a perfectly sharp blade with no nicks or unevenness. This method is painless, causes unconsciousness within two seconds, and is widely recognized as the most humane method of slaughter possible.

    Another advantage of shechitah is that ensures rapid, complete draining of the blood, which is also necessary to render the meat kosher

    i have sold alot of goats to people for slaughter.the kids often joke around about eating one of our goats but we are never really hungry enough to do it!
    Rob

    July 23, 2012 at 3:06 pm #74516
    Andy Carson
    Moderator

    In the article, there is discussion of industrial restaint methods for cattle and sheep slaughter. I think goats would be similar. I could use a sawhorse type setup to support the goat in an upright position, with legs in a hanging natural position, strapped in place. I felt like the process of tying the goat was more stressful that the killing act, although still acceptable to me. I put him on a table, on his belly, with each leg tied to a leg of the table. I think he initially objected to the “legs out” position, but when he was tied tight, he relaxed again. It was more stressful than it may have possibly been, and although it was perrfectly acceptable to me, this doesn’t mean it could get even better… The sawbuck would work too, no doubt, but I like the belly down position (instead of on the back) for blood collection purposes. If I had a good reason to avoid stunning the goat, I probably would. For this goat, I just gave it a single hard whack on the back of the head (behind where the horns would be) with a heavy framing hammer and he was instantly out. This is the recommended stunning position for goats, which is somewhat different from cattle and sheep due to heavy bone in the “butting” area of the skull. I was happy with the effects and will probably do the same unless there is a reason to change. No need to fix what is not broken. I do think I will work on my restrain apparatus, though, I think this is a great suggestion.

    http://www.grandin.com/humane/restrain.slaughter.html

    Rob, I found that the slaughter and precessing was very very similar to deer (albiet a small deer). It sounds like your skills would certainly be up to the task if you are ever interested in it. It’s hard to know if I am ever going to get to eat many of my own animals. There always seems to be such a market for them that I seem to only eat culls and old ones.

    July 23, 2012 at 5:04 pm #74518
    f3farms
    Participant

    i know they use a “table “type thing that is like two pipes that the goat staddles when slaughtered.it holds them up.again never seen just read.i agree if it works don’t fix it

    July 23, 2012 at 11:32 pm #74513
    Carl Russell
    Moderator

    I have never had anyone in my family or customers who knew how to do anything with the blood, so I have never tried to collect it. Having never tried it, I can’t really comment on the effectiveness of one position over the other for that purpose, but I do have some opinions about restraint and death.

    I have found that both goats and sheep become very subdued when turned on their backs. Once lifted into the sawbuck, it is a simple matter to then tie the animal with very little struggle. Also when on its back, pressing down on the chin, the skin and flesh on the underside of the throat are tight so that they retract quickly away from the knife blade, making the cut fast and easy.

    With those two things in mind I would always defer to that method. The neck usually arches up (or when on the back, downward) once in the throws, so I don’t think it would be a hard thing to put a bucket down and catch the blood.

    However, these acts are another fine art, each person finding ways that work best for themselves. Sounds like you have it pretty well worked out, so stick with it.

    Carl

    July 24, 2012 at 4:02 pm #74514
    Does’ Leap
    Participant

    I use a .22 to the brain stem and then a knife to the neck. With my animals, any kind of manipulation (tying, flipping, etc.) would cause a certain degree of stress which I am trying to avoid at slaughter. More than one way to skin a cat…..or goat.

    George

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