OT- advice on selling goat meat

I need some opinions and insight. Wife discussed this morning over breakfast that she would like to look into selling goat meat.

Here is a little bit of background. About 5 years ago the wife wanted to get into something on her own, she didn’t like cattle (as we have enough and she’s bored with them she says) So she did her research and her and her friend disappeared with the truck and cattle trailer one Saturday and came back with 10 registered boer goat nanny’s. Fast forward to today and she has 75 Does and 8 Bucks. The Does and Bucks she deems worthy of selling as commercial breeding stock get registered and sold at various commercial boer goat consignment sales and the others not deemed worthy of being sold as commercial breeding does, they are either sold individually off the farm or loaded up and taken to the livestock sale. I’ll admit it’s been profitable for her.

She did some research and come up with several things. 1) There is a growing Hispanic population in the counties around us 2) there are only a few goat farms that sell goat meat of those they sell the goats on the hoof and it’s the owner’s baby to butcher. 3) there is only one chain grocery store that sells goat meat within 60 miles of us and they cannot keep it in stock as it sells fast 4) there is a USDA inspected slaughterhouse about 40 miles from us that will butcher goats, vacuum seal and label cuts of meat for re-sale.

She envisions that the goats not going to be sold as commercial breeding stock, we would have them butchered, meat packaged and labeled for re-sale and then advertise and sell.

I for one cannot imagine it being this simple and suggested she do a lil more research on farm to public sale of meat.

I know there are folks on here that raise goats and Iam open to all advice and insight.

I have been there and done that. There is a great market for goat meat summer sausage and a goat meat stick. My e-mail is open if intrested in my experience let me know,
gitrib

Yup. Sell it on the hoof. The customers like to do their own most of the time.

I just talked to a guy who makes specialty sausage- says you have to be federally inspected to sell to the public, but not if you're cutting and wrapping a customer's own animal. So maybe sell it on the hoof to a customer, have him lead it over to your butcher shop, where he hires you to cut and wrap his goat. Worth looking into- fed. inspection is going to be pricey, I think.

There's nothing to butchering, cutting and wrapping a goat. My folks used to come out for Sunday dinner, and dad and I were always looking for something to do around my place. We had been given a pair of twin wethers- one had never been "right", always skinny, had bad lungs, I think- no amount of doctoring seemed to help. The other was fat and sassy. Dad suggested I go get my .22, some butcher knives and a shovel- "We'll bury the skinny one, and butcher the fat one." Which is exactly what we did. And were done in time for dinner.

As long as it's only in your state I don't think federal laws apply but I'm not sure about that. Your county AG agent may have the info she needs. If not the AG department at a state college may be able to help.

Rick

How about a combination deal? You have customers willing to buy live, you can market some at the grocery store, to get a market going, and over time you may want to keep a bit more profit for yourselves by selling direct from home, if local regs allow that. In MN a butcher shop cannot process meat they raised themselves. (Used to)

I dont know the regs,but around here in Eastern WV you see signs of freezer beef

jimmy

As long as you pay for the USDA inspection as the goats are processed, I think this should be fine. I think the transport from the processor to retail might be an issue though. You may have to hire it done or buy a freezer truck.

I know a guy who used to milk goats and he sold all his meat animals once a year just before Chanukkah to a private buyer. There all went to a kosher butcher and the meat went to NYC for the holiday. Kind of a traditional food for the holiday like turkey on thanksgiving, I guess.

Marketed our own and would buy 30 to 50 a week. Quit because we had no way of knowing what purchased goats had been fed. Anibiotic? Wormers? Regulators do not like gitrib

In some ritualistic ceremony?

Some do...some don't. I know of one church bunch that just wants it fresh...won't buy anything else.
And, no, their not what you thinking>

(quoted from post at 19:43:33 01/16/12) Marketed our own and would buy 30 to 50 a week. Quit because we had no way of knowing what purchased goats had been fed. Anibiotic? Wormers? Regulators do not like gitrib

Click to expand...

All commercial "butcher shops" are federally inspected no matter how small (to be legal). We used to have several in our rural area - four-five years ago the USDA shut them all down except for one. People now drive over 80 miles to have a hog, deer or cow processed and packaged.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Small_Very_Small_Plants/index.asp

Used Modern verson forposting picture first time missed something as I did not get my remarks posted. We used a state inspected plant and sold all summer sausage and Gorky stickx (xmoked meat stick) No hassel from regulators on site. Prolem could arise at retail level if it was sampled and antibiotics were found or wormers. Product had to be Labeled listing all incredatse. gitrib

All you got to do is sell on hoof to Mexicans.They love goat meat.

feel sorry for someone who has wife 75 goats mine has a dozen of the dang things and that is way too many

here in Northern Va the Middle Eastern population is buying up goat meat, and there are several ethnic butchers who are buying...2 in the Woodbridge area.

Advertise to the Mid-east community, sell on the hoof they have a special ritual for slaughter. Halal (sp)???

Hey gitrib -
Your email is not open. Pls shoot me an email as I am looking at local butcher shop.

Thanks!

Learn Spanish.

Individual sales are a hassle been there done that.In Virginia two good goat livestock markets
Winchester on Mondays and the Saturday Market in
Harrisonburg.

Back before the ethnic population shift, and before I could afford cows, I raised goats to feed the family.

In short, they eat, ditto, ditto, ditto, and when it's time to butcher, as you can see in the picture posted in this thread, there's nothing there.

So, I wouldn't recommend it, but lotta people growing them around here so they must know something I didn't.

You need a strong "field" type fence to keep them where you want them and they are good grazers. If you can afford the fencing and have pastures that you can rotate then you could save on the feed bill.....feed around here has moved from $7 ish to $10 ish/50# bag, since the drought for cattle feed...assume goat feed is priced similarly.....oats/sweet feed like horses like.

On the positive side if you are interested, I raised Nubians but the current popular goat species is the Boar breed....Brown fronts with white rear halves. Must be more profitable than Nubians.

HTH,
Mark