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["clanSkeen" <sgian AT planetc.com>]

> Yeah, I suppose.  I'm afraid that we haven't used our animals very well in
> the past and have just made them pets (though not treating them like
> people) in the past.  My family would still rather take him to the auction
> and use the money we sell him for to buy meat. :-)  I just don't think 
> we'd
> get cleaner meat at the grocery.  No antibiotics or hormones with our
> animals. Our animals are 100% drug free! LOL


I agree that you can't buy better than you've raised.  I've a brother who 
says he doesn't want to eat anything he has petted but me, I want to have 
petted it, know what it has eaten, how it has been treated, how it died (and 
what state of mind it was in as it was killed) (and if we kill our own then 
I can also honor it as it dies), how it was butchered, a lot of things.

Also, goat is quite good.  I don't know how old yours is but we've eaten OLD 
billy goats and killed properly and aged they are very good, flavorful red 
meat.  We've also eaten them not so old but my point is that even then they 
are good to eat.  Good roasts, good ribs, good sausage.  There is not so 
much of them that they are hard to process and now is a good time of year 
for them to be able to age (kill, gut, hang).  We've tended to put up goat 
as whole joints (the butt, the shoulder), put shanks in together (usually 
boiled for soup at some point), take the loin off and use it separately 
(usually baked medallions with rice), and eat most of the ribs first.  We've 
found the secret to freezing especially the less fat meats like deer and 
goat is to use a zip lock bag and pour some bulk olive oil in there with the 
joint of meat to coat it all, then freeze the whole thing.  It doesn't take 
much oil but it improves the keeping and eating quality greatly.

Although none of that may be of help to you.

Denise