[Penninehillbilly]

The practical side seems well covered, now just start looking at him as joints and look up some recipes so you'll be looking forward to trying different ideas in cooking. Luckily in a way I had other things on my mind when I took our first 2 in, we'd been flooded and the insurance asessor wa coming up, so I just dropped them off, sorted paperwork and dashed home.
(interestingly you may remember 'Peter Boddy's, Todmorden' in the horse meat scandal, when I took the last boy in, left it to hang a few days, if I'd gone to pick it up a day later it would have been seized by officialdom). Actually just got some of that boy out of the freezer for tomorrow
 

[Skirza]

I feel for you, I really do. 2 years ago we were 'blessed' with 3 billies and even though I knew from the start that they were destined for the freezer, nothing prepared me for the actual day. We have a 3 hour drive to our 'local' abattoir so I was in quite a state by the time we arrived. To make matters worse, the lovely guy who unloaded us announced, "I hate doing goats, they seem so intelligent". Really  NOT what I wanted to hear at that moment. Anyway, they were unloaded and put in a comfy pen full of clean straw and the paperwork was sorted. Now I knew...really I had told myself...that I mustn't look back, but of course I did. There they were, 3 trusting little faces looking over the side of the pen. That just about finished me. My OH and I managed about 5 miles down the road before we had to stop and just bawled our eyes out.


Moving on a week, drove (the 3 hours) back down to the abattoir and picked up 3 boxes of jointed and bagged meat and I have to say, it was the best meat ever. Roast leg of goat is just lovely with summer veg and mint sauce 


So my advice, be brave, be strong and have a BIG box of tissues ready. After that, enjoy your happy home produced goat meat knowing that at least you know  you did  your best for him and he had a happy life.

[jinglejoys]

Also make sure the price you are quoted doesn't shoot up when you are collecting them! I used to find that it doubled between the quote and collection especially as they knew you couldn't take them straight to the local butcher any more or have a man come in to do the job on site

[plumseverywhere]

He's actually my daughters pet but its just not working out and after a few months of trying everything to keep him confined to his fields, we've had to give up as my health is suffering. He is uprooting fences (proper, newly planted post and rail, heavy duty fencing) and doesn't feel the ping from the electric fences - the others scream and respect the fence and its like he is immune to it. On the tester it is registering full whack so I know its strong!
I've fished him out of the neighbours gardens too many times, i've nearly had my foot severed with a lead rope burn. My other goats are so well behaved and I've had them from kids too so I don't know where this has come from! he's massive, strong, deliberately naughty (i have hnever thought I'd say that about livestock but he knows what he's doing!!) and the health and wellbeing of my family and I have to come first. If he escapes onto the road and causes an accident....??
rather than risk a 'pet' home where I won't know how well he's cared for (and as a wether that is the best he's going to find -= a 'pet' home as companion etc) I need to do what's right.
As he's milli's pet and because the plan was to keep him, we won't have his meat back but will probably have some from another goat as a friend is taking him for me.
Very sad its come to this but better I plan his end than that he accidentally ends up in the wrong hands and has an end that I wouldn't have wanted for him in a million years.
gosh, what an essay! sorry folks!
I am sure now that anything born with the intention of going int he freezer would be raised and slaughtered as such and we could eat it. just not this particular one      

[Penninehillbilly]

Gosh Plums
That sounds worrying, you are obviously taking the only option for yourselves and his welfare, well done for not taking the easy option and offering him 'free to good home' which I'm sure many would think was best, but I would always wonder how they were doing, this way you know he's not going to end up tethered out in all weathers. And he doesn't sound very suitable as a 'pet'.
Good luck, hope everything goes smoothly, in this situation I certainly wouldn't have a problem, he's had his chances and as you say, the end will be controlled and humane, not a mess out on the road. (that sounds rather graphic, but I've decided to leave it in)

[plumseverywhere]

I was actually worried about posting 'the truth' on here for fear that some may feel I AM taking the easy option by choosing slaughter    Its been a long, hard decision. Not least as I've had to explain to my daughter the rationale behind the decision, she's only 11 and although she's a grown up 11 its still felt like I'm pulling her heart.
He IS currently tethered on a swivel, 20ft lead and access to hay, water and shed but there is no way on earth that this little man is going to live out his life tethered. Soon as I let him off though........ he's gone. Just waiting for the abbatoir date to come round as each day I hate seeing him tethered to one place and much as I take him for walks on a lead to eat blackberry bushes and bindweed, I can't do it for hours each day.
My 6 yr old told her grandad today that our goat is going for meat but he's had an awesome happy life where we've been kind and loved him and "grandad, that's the best you can do for any animal, isn't it?" 

[Dogwalker]

Well done for making a very difficult choice, It sounds like the best you can do for him and your family.
Difficult for you all but it's an important lesson for children to learn about and as long as you can all talk about it the girls will cope fine.
good luck with it all.

[shygirl]

I was actually worried about posting 'the truth' on here for fear that some may feel I AM taking the easy option by choosing slaughter 

slaughter isnt the easy option at all but it sounds like the best one. our first goat jumped in the neighbours garden who sent the police after me for it  it doesnt go down well with friendly relations.
its a shame you arent getting him back as he looked a good weight.

[Penninehillbilly]

How is your 11 yr oldtaking it? hope she's OK
how old is he and when is the date? best to get it over with, I've been able to phone up and take them in the next day (I now know killing days are Monday and Thursday) so give myself shortest time possible to think about it.
I will get shouted at for this, but I don't have a problem with tethering if done right, you are obviously looking after him, its the ones looking sad and miserable with tangled up chains that upset me (once gave the local pub owner a rousting, 'pet' goat had tangled it's chain up so much it's collar was twisted and it could only stand over the peg, hot day, they were sat round a table drinking beer. I brought the goat home!
   I recently had to keep a young male tethered because he's was pestering the girls, but away from kids and dogs, water in reach, moved regular. and within sight of the house. Another trick if you can try it is to use a chain nearest the peg and extend it by a few links or so through the day.
   Anyway I hope you get him away soon and then theres no turning back. But your 6yr old has the right idea, I would much rather we eat our own animals that had a good life and quick end than something that was part of a 'system'.

[plumseverywhere]

She's taking it fairly well. He can't go for about another 10 days. On the day he goes, I will have my daughter taken out so she's not here to witness him walk onto the trailer. When we grazed some sheep here, she took it awfully when they went on the last journey. We kept two as lawnmowers but the rest belonged to friends, my daughter was 9 - she ran into the field, opened the gate and told the sheep to "run...now!!" and then she sobbed all day and turned vegetarian for 2 yrs.
Well done you rescuing that tethered goat! we saw so many like that in spain, sweltering heat with no shade. hated it. If ever there was a right way, we are hopefully doing it well! so far so good but its sad that his herd mates are all free to roam, otherwise I wouldnt' feel so bad.  the tether rope got caught on my foot after another goat butted him, it sawed right in several mm's with a bad burn, couldnt' walk for 3 days! another reason, he has to go

[Lesley Silvester]

You are doing the right thing, Lisa. I think, under the circumstances, giving the meat to someone else is a good idea. When I first became a goat owner, I talked to someone very experienced and she told me that she and a friend always swapped the male kids just before they went for slaughter so they didn't take the one they reared.


TBH, although it was Curry that went off to the abattoir, it never felt like him coming back. It was just a load of meat and that's how we feel when we eat some of our goat meat. Next time a male kid is born, tell yourself and the girls right from day one that he is going to be meat so you are more ready for it.

[plumseverywhere]

Will do    We only let the girls keep this kid because they'd been bullied out of school the day he was born and it felt like a 'new start'. of course 18 months on, he's chaos! Will female kids be escape artists too? am I destined never to keep any more young goats?! agh!

[jinglejoys]

Looks like you could do with a goat training coarse 

[plumseverywhere]

if you hear of one, JJ let me know    wouldn't mind but I've had the other 3 since they were kids and have never known a goat so insistent on making me stressed!!

[Anke]

There is always the odd one that doesn't fit in - in the caprine and the human world! I think you have made the right decision, not passing him on to another (unsuspecting) goatkeeper who then finds s/he cannot cope with him either would not be any better.
 
Incidentally I have just borrowed a new cookbook from the library (I rarely buy books nowadays unless I can get them secondhand), and it has a few very interesting goat meat recipes in it - goat meatballs, "slow braised goat's leg in cider etc", and most interestingly - goat bacon! yes, goat bacon - I will definitely try that this year!
 
It's called: "The Ethicurean Cookbook" - I thought it was quite a weird title!