Goat meat as competition? Just Curious

[Jalopy]

I know this is a cattle board and I have an understanding of how beef is produced and marketed both privately, as in through the local locker and through commercial slaughter plants. But my question is about goats and goat meat. I live in Iowa and I see a lot of goats in the midwest and if you travel elsewhere such as Texas you see a great many more. However I have yet to see goat meat at a retail grocery store in Iowa. There may be some places that have it but I haven't seen it so I am wondering if the goat meat is all sold privately or how is it marketed. I know that a lot of the goats that I see are not dairy goats so they are not kept for milking and most are dry lotted so they are not used for clearing brush so they must be for meat. I know some go through a sale barn about 50 miles away but those seem to be going back to farms and not to slaughter houses. I just am curious about why people eat goat meat when good beef is more readily available.

 

[Jogeephus]

Religion is the main reason. Here I can sell all the goats I can raise. Most will head to south Florida where there is more diversity in religions than here. I sorta doubt one could ever finish constructing a masque in my county due to fire hazards and other accidents.
edit But there are several other ethnic and religious groups that eat it regular. I was surprised at the demand.

 

[angie1]

I just am curious about why people eat goat meat when good beef is more readily available.

Its for cultural, health and financial reasons.

 

[backhoeboogie]

There are a lot that get Bar-B-Que'd by the hispanics too.

I don't think you find it at the supermarkets around this part of Texas but I could be wrong; I aint never looked for it.

I did see pigs feet a few times and hopefully I will never notice them again.

 

[Jogeephus]

I did see pigs feet a few times and hopefully I will never notice them again.

Our grocer has a bunch of "other meats" such as feet, jowls, chitterlins, ear, tail, heads and snouts. Don't start eating any of it cause we don't want to run short. Ain't nothing better than some pickled pigs feet and a cold one. Ok, maybe a pickled egg.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I'll take your word for it on the pickled things Jogee. Your word is good enough for me

Whoduthunk that a skirt steak could be so good? Fajitas are the new hot dog it seems.

Folks tell me that goat is a lot like white tail deer. I like deer. I'll have to take their word for it on goat. That way I don't have to get past the smell.

 

[alftn]

You Guys , goat is as good as beef, just different.. I eat alot of beef, I raise it for that sole reason,yes the calves are cute, yes I love my cows, but I raise beef to eat it...I do not understand why anyone who raises it does not kill some...

Bacon and pork chops are also 2 of my favorite things..If you have ever been around hogs...I have raised a few, wish I had a dozen or so now, of various sizes say 75 to 275 lbs. or so....Aint nothing like home raised food....My grand maw said only thing wasted on a hog is the oink....That is the truth

Goat is great, if cooked right , with the right sauce...MAKE YOU SLAP YOUR PAPPY

I put chicken way down on my list of things to eat..especially store bought

It is just what you are use to..eating

 

[backhoeboogie]

..If you have ever been around hogs...I have raised a few, wish I had a dozen or so now, of various sizes say 75 to 275 lbs. or so....

How about ferals? I'll be on the phone all next week calling those folks who said, when you get more hogs..........

There could be a dozen in my traps by morning.

 

[alftn]

Them wild hogs are not here were I live, yet.. Can you pen them hogs up and feed them out?

If so do they eat well?

 

[backhoeboogie]

Can you pen them hogs up and feed them out?

Yes we do pen them and feed them. Feed conversion is not that great tho. Mostly we put some fat on them and purge all the junk out of them.

If so do they eat well?

Awesome. We smoked two Thanksgiving before last. SIL (live in the city) thought the kids wouldn't eat it so she cooked the traditional turkey as well. We had the whole mob there and no one ate any turkey. They were calling their neighbors over to try it. These had been on corn for 6 weeks and weighed around 130 lbs live.

 

[1982vett]

I just am curious about why people eat goat meat when good beef is more readily available.

Its for cultural, health and financial reasons.

I think it is a bigger picture than that Angie. I'll back you on the cultural and financial reasons.......but health? Not. For cultural and environment reasons, these cultures utilize what worked in their environments (religious reasons as well). As they move around the globe they take their culture with them. Some immigrants left their old culture behind (somewhat). Something that is no longer done. Embracing your culture is no longer a taboo (supposedly) when it moves.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying goat isn't healthy.........well as a matter of fact I guess you are right. If it weren't for the goat, the health of many cultures would have been very bad............ Sort of goes along with the financial end too. You sell the portions that will bring the most in trade and utilize for yourself the portions that don't trade well.


Goat as a competition? I think it is just filling a market that wants it. A market that doesn't want anything else.

Take the fajita backhoe has been talking about. It has been a "rage" down here for 20 years or more.....sort of old news. Was once and inexpensive cut of meat nobody wanted till someone showed us how to use it effectively (notice it is wrapped in a tortilla and not bread). Culture. Shoot, even the roach coach has evolved into a taco wagon down here. Culture making a shift and serving a market.

As a side note, a few goats come thru the local auction from time to time. Usually this one buyer buys them @ $20-$25 a head. Week before last a man of "culture" and his family happened to be their. The price of goats that day went to $75-$80. All about your market.

 

[3waycross]

I'll take your word for it on the pickled things Jogee. Your word is good enough for me I'll second that. I watched someone eat a pickled egg the other day and gagged.

Whoduthunk that a skirt steak could be so good? Fajitas are the new hot dog it seems.

Folks tell me that goat is a lot like white tail deer. I like deer. I'll have to take their word for it on goat. That way I don't have to get past the smell.

Not true. I really like goat but it has to be cooked the right way and is a greasy meat. On the other hand. There's not much better than cornfed Whitetail. Maybe a young Elk but it's a toss up. Give me deer any day. We used to roast a goat once in a while for Easter until we found out that Antelope kid tasted even better.

 

[alftn]

Hey man do not knock the picked egg , picked pig feet , or sardins. They have there place...

Have you every ate boiled peanuts? I love peanuts, Raw or roasted, but cold slick boiled peanuts , gag a maggot.... Some people love them...

 

[3waycross]

Sardines absolutely.......even canned smoked oysters but you can keep all that pickled crap. I gag just looking at a jar of pickled pigs feet.

 

[TexasBred]

Sardines absolutely.......even canned smoked oysters but you can keep all that pickled crap. I gag just looking at a jar of pickled pigs feet.

3way....you just can't drink enough whiskey to make you "like" someof this stuff that other folks enjoy. I've seen my share of those ragged ass looking pig feet sitting on the counter in some kind of red juice....looking at them makes a guy want a drink. I can't imagine taking a bite of one.

 

[dun]

Sardines absolutely.......even canned smoked oysters but you can keep all that pickled crap. I gag just looking at a jar of pickled pigs feet.

3way....you just can't drink enough whiskey to make you "like" someof this stuff that other folks enjoy. I've seen my share of those ragged ass looking pig feet sitting on the counter in some kind of red juice....looking at them makes a guy want a drink. I can't imagine taking a bite of one.

Like lutefisk!

 

[LazyARanch]

Like lutefisk!

Hey I'm 100% Scandahoovian and even I don't like lutefisk!!!

(I will eat pickled eggs however! YUM!)

 

[Jogeephus]

Sardines absolutely.......even canned smoked oysters but you can keep all that pickled crap. I gag just looking at a jar of pickled pigs feet.

3way....you just can't drink enough whiskey to make you "like" someof this stuff that other folks enjoy. I've seen my share of those ragged ass looking pig feet sitting on the counter in some kind of red juice....looking at them makes a guy want a drink. I can't imagine taking a bite of one.

WHISKEY! No wonder you don't like em. Pickled delicacies require copius amounts of cold beer. A couple of years ago we were doing some spring cleaning when I came across a jar of Dragon's Eggs we'd put up about 8 years earlier. (Dragon's Eggs are emerched in a pickle brine with liberal amounts of jalepeno, habenero and scotch bonnet peppers and some garlic to mellow the fire) After 8 years these things looked like chocolate easter eggs. Me and a buddy took the jar and an ice chest down to the pond and tried our best to quell the fire. Life was good but the next day there were a few folks downwind of us who suffered due to our transgressions. ;-)

I do like goat meat when its cooked properly. One thing I learned is to be extremely careful not to get hair on the meat. Seems like the hair embarks a foul taste to the meat. Best goat I ever prepared was made from soaking it in a vinegar type Italian dressing brine for a day or so then cooking it slowly. It was delicious.

 

[msscamp]

I just am curious about why people eat goat meat when good beef is more readily available.

Its for cultural, health and financial reasons.

You left out personal preference.

 

[TexasBred]

Best goat I ever ate was in Monterrey Mexico...just roasted on a spit hanging out over a bed of coals.It had no seasoning, no nothing....just a golden brown, tender and out of this world. I have no idea what part of the goat it was but it was definitely good. (Now that I think back on it.....It might have been German Shepherd)