[cambee]

Views please as they’re always so helpful. We have 3 ‘pet’ goats, the white bog standard type, mum and her 2 18 month wether kids. The problem is they are in an exceptionally good acre and half paddock which is now, due to the sun we’ve had, about the only one with any decent grass in it. Meanwhile our sheep and livery horses (money earners!) are scratching about on parched fields. We tried moving the goats on to the steep gorsey scrub land at the back of the farm where the horses winter graze but they escaped at every opportunity and it’s way too big to go to the expense of goat proofing it. So my husband wants to send them to the butcher. I’ve tried preloved as a live sale but no takers. I’ve put out feelers for a free rehome but not found one.  I feel really guilty about just disposing of them because they’re no longer convenient whereas sending our lambs off for meat feels fine because I always knew we would be doing that. Any suggestions?

[silkwoodzwartbles]

Can the horses not graze with the goats?

[Lesley Silvester]

That's a hard decision to have to make. I know what you mean about the sheep being different. I can easily divide my goats into keepers or meat goats (basically meat means the males) and give them names like Curry and Korma, just so I can't 'forget' that they are not pets.

[bj_cardiff]

I'm amazed you can't give them away free! I did a search of preloved to see the ad to see if there was anything putting buyers/rehomers off but couldn't find anything, minimally I'd say they were worth £50 each and to just wait for a sale.

[cambee]

I’ve actually taken the ad down whilst I’m indecisive but I didn’t put them up for free on preloved to avoid them being just taken for halal slaughter as I didn’t want that for them. If they have to go to slaughter the least I can do is stun them. We are in Derbyshire, it’s mostly sheep country round here. It’s not just the grazing (potentially a couple of horses could go in with them) it’s also the hay situation in the winter as we already know that our supplier is only giving us half of what we used last year and they came in every night last winter and ate hay like it was going out of fashion. I think the moral of the tale to anyone considering smallholding and reading this is think before you buy (and maybe don’t have the indulgence of pets).

[Scotsdumpy]

It's not a decision that I would like to make - the problem with giving them away is, as you say, they might end up in a shed somewhere having their throats cut. I might add I don't really have a problem with no stun slaughter as long as it is done correctly in approved slaughterhouse.  This year we are all struggling to find enough fodder for our animals and very soon (in my opinion) the market will be flooded with animals that can't be afforded anymore. Some naive people may see free or low priced animals and buy them without thinking of how they will be fed.
so, bearing in mind all of the above and you've explored all methods of finding a knowledgeable home for them or keeping them, then I would put them in the freezer.

[macgro7]

I’ve actually taken the ad down whilst I’m indecisive but I didn’t put them up for free on preloved to avoid them being just taken for halal slaughter as I didn’t want that for them.

Sorry to change the subject a little, but what's wrong with halal slaughter???
All certified slaughter (whether halal or not) is done in exactly the same way. The only difference is when it's certified halal it is performed by a Muslim who says a prayer just before. Everything else is exactly the same. Stunning, bleeding. No difference whatsawever.

[cambee]

Sorry if my reference to halal was misleading. What I actually meant was non stun slaughter by slitting of the throat. Isn’t that how most halal is done? On the other hand non stun slaughter by a bullet in the brain is just fine by me as it is quick and painless. Hope that clarifies things!

[Melmarsh]

Can you not put the sheep with the goats, I don't trust horses with sheep or goats unless they are known to be safe. Put the horses on their winter ground as they know the area and rest anything else you have until we get some rain to bring on the grass.

[cambee]

Vets advice has been sheep and goats don’t mix due to the detrimental worm burden to the goats. I’ve tried over the weekend to ‘adopt’ them out for free with no joy- one enquiry from miles away so turned out not to be a goer. I’ll give it another week or so then sadly it is the abattoir. We don’t want to sell goat meat as our lamb business starts this year (and they’re older goats so not kid meat) so I’m now looking for friends and family who want some goat. Shame as I’m much fonder of them than I should be but at the end of the day harsh lesson learned. No pets from now on.

[macgro7]

Sorry if my reference to halal was misleading. What I actually meant was non stun slaughter by slitting of the throat. Isn’t that how most halal is done? On the other hand non stun slaughter by a bullet in the brain is just fine by me as it is quick and painless. Hope that clarifies things!

Most halal in the UK is slaughtered in exactly the same way as non-halal meat - pre-stunned but with a prayer and by a muslim slaughter man.  "Kosher", on the other hand, is never pre-stunned.  If non-stun slaughter is done correctly, it's probably no more traumatic than a bullet in the brain - sharp knives severed blood vessels, and a very quick loss of consciousness.

In fact the research shows the pain level in animal which is killed with no stunning, I.e. just cut through the blood vessels in the neck, are much lower. If you do it correctly, with one sharp cut, you immideatly cut of supply of oxygenated blood to the brain so the animal stops receiving signals from the body. And therefore instantly stops feeling pain as the brain is disconnected. The heart is still pumping blood out of the system for a little while.

[cambee]

Re selling them as meat Scarlet, the main reason i don’t want to is they’ve been very spoilt and well fed and I’m concerned that (unlike our lambs who have been grass fed only) they may be very fatty. Macgro in another post expressed how surprised he/she was at the amount of fat on their goat and by the sound of things, that hadn’t been fed that much. I don’t want the first meat that we sell to be poor quality as this is the first year that we will be marketing our farm produce.  I am coming round to the fact that they’ll have to go to slaughter but will probably end up giving the meat away to friends and family. Funnily enough I don’t fancy eating them myself and that’s not squeamishness, we’ve been tucking into our first slaughtered with relish!

[cambee]

First slaughtered ‘hogget’ with relish!

[macgro7]

That goat tastes nice though.
I have about 10 jars of lard from her 

[cambee]

Just an update. Via one of the goat lovers Facebook groups I have managed to rehome the goats to what looks like a lovely new home they will share with horses and poultry. So glad that I didn’t have to send them to slaughter. Our Tup lambs are now fattening in the goats old field ready for our first lamb sales in October. Thank you for all the ideas and advice. This forum is a great way to think things through.