The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Other => Topic started by: Roxy on September 23, 2009, 05:36:26 pm

Title: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on September 23, 2009, 05:36:26 pm
With having all these goats all of a sudden, I am probably going to have a lot of kids too.

I have always been curious about goat meat, but had never tasted it.  I was at a farmers market, and got talking to a stall holder who was selling goat meat.  She offered me some to taste, I declined at first, them my curiosity got the better of me, and I had a little bit.  And I have to say I liked it!!!  I
assumed it would be like lamb, but wasn't - it was actually a bit sweet, and no fat at all.  The lady showed me some chops from an Anglo Nubian, and they too had no fat, and looked really nice.  Apparantly there is quite a market for goat meat in the posh restaurants!!  To be honest, I have only thought of a goat curry maybe, and not really looked into it.

This lady runs 150 goats, free range, and kills the castrated billies after 9-12 months.  She has said she is happy to buy any surplus kids I have.  I am tempted to have one for the freezer, but I doubt my OH would like that idea .....not once he had seen it running in the field.

I am seriously considering running some castrated billies on, just to see how they do.  I will not be eating my present goats of course :D
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: winshamrarebreeds on September 23, 2009, 05:52:20 pm
Goat meat can be used for all sorts things, curries, stews, but needs cooking slowly for a long time, otherwise it goes really dry, personally I love goat curry and goat in rogan josh sauce, really tasty.

In north devon there is a good goat meat farm which sells billy anglo nubians and quite reasonable good idea to buy some and fatten,  you will enjoy them

regards  Joy
Winsham rare breeds
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: ukag0972 on September 23, 2009, 05:53:06 pm
We eat our surplus castrated billies. We made the last ones into sausages and burgers and everyone loved them, including the school kids!!
You can always have curry and moroccan dishes too.
Very lean and requires alot of cooking but worth it.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: MrRee on September 23, 2009, 06:00:29 pm
I love goat me too,usually had it in middle eastern countries or restaurants in London.They really know how to cook it!

PS Is the guy in N.Devon selling goats called Adrian Mills per chance? I used to play squash with him!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: chickenfeed on September 23, 2009, 07:29:42 pm
 :) we tried our first goat meat over 20 years ago from some of my mums surplas male kids, we decided to take a side of goat cut up to a bbq but did not tell anyone what they were eating well it went down very well, it was all eaten very quickly then we told everyone what they had eaten after that we were very often asked if we could bring some goat meat for other ocassions we attended but it is more widelyavailable  today than it was then. but if i was to keep goats for meat today i would keep boers as they carry more meat than a dairy goat.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: ballingall on September 23, 2009, 10:30:13 pm
Boers crossed with a Anglo Nubian or Saanen type also produce quite a good meat goat. We have eaten goat before, but we rarely eat our own. We are a bit soft hearted maybe. But on the other hand, it takes a long of milk to rear a male goat- you can raise at least 2 if not 3 lambs on the same amount of milk for a male kid, so we tend to rear orphan lambs instead.


Beth
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on September 23, 2009, 10:46:45 pm
I know that at least half of the kids will be billies, and I feel responsible for their well being .....entire billies have a rough time sometimes, being passed from person to person, and the castrated ones go as pets, and sometimes that does not work out, as people can feel they are feeding them for nothing.  Keeping them for meat, means that they enjoy a nice free range life until the time comes - and I will not worry about where they have gone and if they are being looked after ok!!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: ballingall on September 23, 2009, 11:01:21 pm
Oh I totally agree Roxy. We are extremely careful what we do with male kids. We only keep them if we have a need for them personally or if someone has booked them. Fortunately in the last few years we have had extremely reliable people who have taken them castrated as pets- in fact we had more requests than we had billies last year! Far too many breeders just keep all their male kids, and hope they can sell them. Even people who have good show quality goats- maybe some of their goats are good quality , but it is still fair to all your kids all over the country when not every one of your goats is actually that high quality? That only ends up with people who have bought your goats believing that they have been sold the rubbish, and they won't ever buy from you again.

All that said, there are certain goats of ours who if they have males in the spring we will keep them. Christina our British Alpine is a Breed Champion, and she has not had a pure BA kid yet (she does not like travelling to see a billy goat!) so if she holds to the BA billy we have borrowed, we will keep hers kids. My niece's British Saanen type goatling, her line seems to be jinxed, and we are now getting paranoid that we may lose the line, so if she only has males we will keep one there as well, and not castrate it just in case. 

Beth
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on September 23, 2009, 11:18:44 pm
We had a lovely British Toggenburg nanny some years ago, called Cherry.  At the height of her lactation she gave 11 and three quarters pints of milk per day ......she was not registered as far as we know.  An excellent milker, except all she gave us was billy kids.  She had 3 sets of twins, and then triplets - all billys.  Fortunately we managed to home them all.

When she was finally sold, yes, her next set of kids were twin nannies :D
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: jameslindsay on September 24, 2009, 08:26:32 am
I have 6 girls goats and 7 boys (all castrated). They are all kept as pets and I personally could never consider eating them or sell them on - for whatever reason.

I had a woman appear here the other day asking me about Pygmy Goats as she thought she would like to keep them. She told me she had kept 2 pigs previously but decided she wanted a change as she got bored with them. The pigs are now in her freezer, needless to say I would not have helped this woman find her new fashion accessories.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on September 24, 2009, 02:31:02 pm
That sort of thing worries me too, James.  Thats probably why I have so many animals here - and people keep bringing more to the door - young, old, sick, lame, they all end up here!!!  To be honest, thats why I would prefer to raise the billy kids for meat - otherwise I would spend ages worrying that they were stuck somewhere not being treated right.

Its a catch 22 situation.  I want milk from the larger goats.  To get milk I have to breed from them, ok, I can keep the nanny kids, but there is a limit to how many castrated billies I can keep on.  I am just trying to come up with a solution before the kids arrive, one that I am happy with, to deal with the surplus kids.

Two of the pygmy goats are already in kid, but I obviously will not be thinking of eating those :D
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: r+lchick on September 24, 2009, 04:17:41 pm
That is my plan when I can keep goats.  I will keep the mum and a girl and any offspring will go to the freezer.
I bought some from our local market and put it in the slow cooker.  It comes out like mutton (according to my friend), I just thought i tasted good.  It is very low in cholesterol so is a good meat to have.  Chin up, good luck and have a go (on a piece you have bought). Ros
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on September 24, 2009, 05:15:58 pm
I will go and buy a few different cuts from the lady at the farmers market - and expeiment with my slow cooker!!

I am still doubtful my other half will eat it though, whether its  mine or someone else's goat!!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: sandy on September 24, 2009, 09:21:09 pm
Goat meat is popular with Afro -Carabean community, we used to love Curry Goat ummmmmmmmmm from friends in Leicester. Sorry all those goats out there!!!!!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on September 24, 2009, 10:19:39 pm
Don't think the goats need worry about me eating curry.  My OH and myself have never eaten it.  Chinese, Italian, whatever, we love, but curry is just too hot (even the mild one!).  My friends cannot believe I have not had curry before.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: sandy on September 25, 2009, 10:21:14 am
Ohh you are missing out, I only like milder curry but strangly enough, curry goat is not a hot spice dish, not like curry realy but with cloves andmore like a stew, the meat is very tasty and ususlay served on the bone so can be a bit messy to eat but very  nice, not hot at all but spicey.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: sheila on October 30, 2009, 10:17:56 am
I have Afro caribeans in my family. at christmas most will by a goat between two families and slow roast some of it, and then use the tough bits for curry. mmm! deliciuos!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: sandy on October 30, 2009, 10:32:30 am
Ummmmmmmmmm,(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Drooling/drooling-5.gif), I wounder why it's not more popular? I suppose the sharpe bones and people not keeping goats so much, only for pets!!!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on October 30, 2009, 02:23:20 pm
The lady who sells her goat meat, told me that she gets orders from quite a few of the bigger restaurants and also hotels.  Apparantly the posh people cannot get enough of it - but I do wonder how many of these people are actually aware of what they are eating.

I have to admit that the sample of cooked goat meat she gave me was absolutely delicious, and no fat on it at all.  It had a nice flavour, different that what I thought. I think I probably expected it to be like lamb, as quite a lot of people I have spoken to have the same idea.

If you can put aside the pet goat image, and you get the chance, then try it and see.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: little blue on October 30, 2009, 07:45:43 pm
Whereabouts is her 'goat farm'? Just in case we end up with all male kids too!
I'd have no probs eating them, but don't think o/h would - he wont eat lamb having had a 'pet' one 20 odd years ago!
But if I didnt tell him, he might
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on October 30, 2009, 08:53:22 pm
Lady is in Lancashire Little Blue, but not too far from us.  Yes, disguised in a casserole your OH would have no idea of what he was eating.  You would have to keep a straight face when he said how good it was.  Only thing is what would you say when he asked what it was!!!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: cameldairy on October 30, 2009, 11:30:12 pm
That's a good idea, back when we used to raise ostrich and emus, I would NEVER tell some people (like my parents) what the meat was or they would have NOT tried even a bite. You could not tell it from beef. It was always fun to take a dish of emu or ostrich kabobs to a potluck and watch people gobble it up. Not till they were finished and raving to me how good it was, and that they wanted my recipe did they get to know. I would start by saying, "well, you take 2 pounds of emu meat and cut it in thin slices....." Then I would get: :o :o :-*
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: shetlandpaul on October 31, 2009, 02:33:16 pm
i have only ever had goat meat twice both times very nice. slow stew pot roasting would work the bones are messey but so is lamb chops. its better they serve a purpose than suffering.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: ellisr on November 04, 2009, 01:10:19 pm
I was brought up on a small farm and we ate all the meat from there. Goat was my grandmas favourite, and an awful good use for the unwanted boys. I remember when we had goat and the people on the next farm knew that was what we where having they always came round for a bowl of stew.

A couple of years ago I lived next to a fantastic butcher who had goat in one day so I bought it and took it home and popped it into the slow cooker to simmer slowly, when my OH came in he smelt the goat cooking and went into the kitchen and pinched a bit. He came through into the lounge and declared the meat in the slow cooker was fabulous what was it. Well I said it was goat and he looked at me strangely and said you can't eat goat they are pets (blinking city boy) so it took me a while to explain to him that no they were livestock and yes they were very edible. Now we have a smallholding and slowly getting the animals we want he has mentioned a couple of times about goat for meat so I think the city boy may have found something he likes ;)
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on November 04, 2009, 09:37:01 pm
Just had a giggle at your post - I suppose your OH saw eating the goat, almost like eating a pet rabbit!!

A lot of people I know are horrified that I drink goats milk, so I don't dare mention about actually eating goats, to them!!!

Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: r+lchick on November 05, 2009, 09:01:43 am
I think you all know this but just in case.  Did you know that goat meat is very low in cholesterol?  There is a whole list of the benefits of eating goat's meat that I can't remember them all, but that one did stay in the brain.  Found a good web site once - can't find it now though.  Another one was that goat's milk can stop you getting ulcers in the duodenum!! Lots of benefits.   :cat: :chook:
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on November 05, 2009, 10:27:32 am
ooh yes, the lady with the goat meat did mention it was low in cholesterol - ideal for those who have to watch that.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: ellisr on November 05, 2009, 06:36:57 pm
Just had a giggle at your post - I suppose your OH saw eating the goat, almost like eating a pet rabbit!!

A lot of people I know are horrified that I drink goats milk, so I don't dare mention about actually eating goats, to them!!!



He probably did look at it that way but is now quickly coming round to the idea of eating our livestock (even the chooks).

Goats milk yum yum yum it has been years since I tasted it. I remember the dogs would try every way possible to knock it out of our hands so they could have some.

Now I want goats  :goat: and a house cow  :cow:so I can have that lovely fresh milk I used to have as a child ;D

Ooooh the food safety people would have freaked if they had seen us as kids in the pantry with a spoon to get the cream from the milk grandma had just brought in from the barn ;D
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on November 06, 2009, 09:17:40 pm
ooh yes, I used to stand in the cow shippen where my uncle milked the jersey house cow.  I must have been about 10 at the time.  Once he had finished milking, I used to dip a cup into the bucket, and get the milk, then I would drink some, and pour some into the farm cats dish.......my uncle then took the milk into the kitchen, where it would be placed onto the old stone sink to keep cool.  I would then skim the lovely yellow rich cream off the top and polish that off too.

The amount of rich jersey milk I used to drink, I am very surprised I have always been a size 10 ....and also very surprisd that I was never ill from drinking all that unpasturised milk!!!
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: ellisr on November 07, 2009, 07:56:24 pm


The amount of rich jersey milk I used to drink, I am very surprised I have always been a size 10 ....and also very surprisd that I was never ill from drinking all that unpasturised milk!!!
Really strange as I have always been a size 10 as well, I wonder if it was the good food we were brought up on that hadn't been 'touched' by the food industry.

I am so craving goat meat and milk now, me thinks I will have to look into fencing part of the field and investing in some.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Gordon M on November 09, 2009, 05:41:37 am
We used to be fed on goats meat about three times a week when I worked in Pakistan, it was a real treat! It's amazing how few types of meat people eat or have access to here in the UK, you can scarcely get a butcher to supply rabbit nowadays. I for one would love to get some goat meat again, it really is delicious, never had it curried though.

Gordon.
Title: Re: Does anyone eat goat meat?
Post by: Roxy on November 09, 2009, 02:27:37 pm
I like rabbit, too.  And you are right, you do not see it in the butchers much, if at all.  But, about half an hour from us, there is a proper game butcher, and outside, depending on the season, he displays, rabbits, hares, pheasants etc.  still in their fur and feathers.  As we have quite a few big estates (not housing ones, the landed ones, where they have shoots! he can probably source his stock from there.  He has been there for years, so I assume he sells enough, along with the usual meat to keep going.