USDA meat processing rules make it difficult or impossible for small scale farmers to find a processor to take small batches of goat or lamb. If it’s not USDA processed, it can’t be sold to the public.
The only solution is direct sale. Consumers buy the animal from the farmer and then slaughter and process it themselves or pay a local butcher to process the carcass for them.
The number one road block to locally raised meat is the federal government.
Been involved with selling pasture raised lamb at Farmer’s Market for 20 years. The USDA rules keep the meat costly. In fact, it’s those rules that keep Armour and Tyson in business, because if it wasn’t for the USDA making it so difficult and expensive, small local producers would promptly put them out of business with better quality at lower prices.
What if the goat is sent directly to the butcher...eh, “processor”. We’d drop of lambs and pigs to one local outfit and pick it up within a day or two all packaged. Is that no longer allowed?