Goats For Fun, Meat And Profit

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Source Boer Goat Production
If you have never raised a goat, be warned, Goats Love to eat your Garden and Trees more than they like to eat grass or hay.

Boar Goat

My grand daughter, that lives in town where they have a no livestock ordnance, has been bottle feeding what she says is a boar billy goat and has discovered that the cute little ‘pet’ kid she has been letting set in her lap and is now a spoiled ‘pet’ and is growing up to be a Damn Old Billy Goat!

I reminded her that I Do Not Have Pet Cows, Pigs or Goats. They are food not pets! I am sure the goat will magically appear this weekend.
I will band him making him a wether. Feed him lots of sweet feed, corn and hay until the first of July.

By that time he will be 100-120 pounds and the perfect size to fit in to our slow smoker/BBQ pit style grill making an excellent 4th of July party goat!
After processing he will dress out at about 60-70 pounds.

We will cook half about 25 – 30 pounds of this goat and put the other half in the freezer.

Spanish Goat

If you are considering raising a goat or a few goats, a really good fence is a must have thing and must be in place ‘Before’ you get your first goat.
Over the years I have raised a lot of goats and it have found that anything short of a 4 foot tall fence will not hold many goat breeds. Some breeds are much harder to keep under fence than others. It seems to me that the heavy milk and meat breeds are the easiest to handle. Even the billies of these breeds seldom become problem goats.

Pygmy billy goat

Some of the worst breeds to fence in and handle have been the smaller ‘Spanish’ type goats and Pygmy goats. Be warned, Spanish and Pygmy billy goats seem to be born with a bad attitude.

No matter what breed you choose they all produce a lean, delicious tasting meat.
Some breeds just get heavier producing more meat per goat than other breeds.
Goats are social and will bond with a human if they don’t have other goats to socialize with.

Goats are fairly disease free, require little space and only need a southeast or east facing shed to provide shade and protect them from harsh winter conditions.
As for food, they can and will eat almost anything.
Small limbs, bark off of larger limbs when you prune your trees and bushes.
Grass and stemmy hay that cows and horses can’t or won’t eat.
They will eat weeds, vines, of all kinds, fresh green or dormant grass.

Roasted Goat – Cypriot recipe
Roasting time: 2 ½ – 3 hours
Ingredients:
2 legs of goat or lamb (about 3 kilos)
2 large onions, peeled and cut into big slices
12 – 14 small potatoes, peeled and slotted with a knife
2 – 3 carrots, peeled and coarsely sliced lengthwise
1 cup of water
3/4 cup of spry (vegetable shortening) or peanut oil (I use olive oil)
Salt
Oregano (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
2 – 3 ripe tomatoes sliced
Oregano (optional)
1/3 cup lemon juice
A pinch of cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
Wash meat thoroughly and place in a big baking tin.Place the potatoes around the meat, add salt, pepper and oregano.
Peel and cut the onions and well as the carrots and place in between the potatoes.Add the oil, water and lemon. Finally add the tomatoes on top and sprinkle some more seasoning on top, including the cinnamon.
Bake in a preheated at 350 degrees for about 2 1/2 – 3 hours, turning once. If the potatoes seem to be sticking on the baking pan, add some more water.
Roast until golden on both sides.

Note: If you like you may cook it in parchment paper and the baking tin covered with aluminum foil. In this case you will add half the amount of olive oil and after two hours you will remove the parchment paper, so that it may roast.

Ogooglebar my new word for March. Swedish word for “ungoogleable.

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Pig In A Pit? Smoked And Slow Roasted Pig? Update Report

FYI: This year, the first day of Chinese New Year (CNY) will be celebrated on Sunday, 10th February 2013, and lasting as long as 15 days, until Sunday, 24th February 2013 in accordance with the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Having little knowledge of the Chinese calendar cycle, only knowing that 2013 is the year of the Snake.

I found Spring Festival 春节 By bondingtool February 2, 2013. Fun, Interesting and Informative. I hope you can find time to visit and if nothing else enjoy the many high quality photographs.

Wild pig update. The Great Safari or BBQ On A Tiny Farm
My son-n-laws (SNL) BBQ/Smoker is just the right size to hold 1/2 of a 100 pound wild pig. After processing 1/2 of this pig weighed about 22 to 25 pounds.

It was slow (cold) smoked using Mesquite wood for about 6 hours. Temperature never getting above 110 degrees. Then SNL added more dry Mesquite wood and 2 more uncured (green) logs of Mesquite wood to the fire box for more smoke bringing the BBQ temperature up to about 180 to 190 degrees.

This Wild pig was cooked/smoked for another 8 hours skin side up until an internal rear hind quarter temperature of 165 degrees was achieved. Air vents were all closed allowing the pig to cool (rest) for about one hour. Removed from the BBQ cooker, skin removed and served while still warm from the BBQ cooker.

Grin … Don’t tell my son-n-law, but that pig was so tender and juicy it could be cut with a fork having a smoked flavor that would only be diminished by applying any kind of sauce. SNL did good!

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