Posted on 04/18/2014 9:52:22 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
COLCHESTER, Vt. (AP) -- A bunch of kids in a minivan are solving twin challenges in northern Vermont: refugees struggling to find the food of their homelands and farmers looking to offload unwanted livestock.
The half dozen kids - that is, baby goats - that arrived last week at Pine Island Farm were the latest additions to the Vermont Goat Collaborative, a project that brings together new Americans hungry for goat meat with dairy goat farmers who have no need for young male animals. Some dairy farmers who otherwise would discard bucklings at birth or spend valuable time finding homes for them now can send them to Colchester....
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdc.com ...
Are you kidding me?...................
While there are no federal statistics on goat meat consumption, the USDA says demand for it is increasing, driven in part by a growth in ethnic populations. The U.S. had 2.3 million head of meat goats in January 2013, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, with Texas producing the most, followed by Tennessee. …“Ethnic populations”? Is the AP using bigoted terminology here . . . ?
Yeah, but “they can slaughter the goats the way they are accustomed to”? Instead of a trained person inflicting minimal suffering to the goat during slaughter, now it’s gonna be Amateur Hour, with any idiot hacking away at the poor goat. What a totally crap idea. Poor little things.
We butchered a young billy last fall. First time I ever had goat meat. It’s delicious and very lean. We had goat burger, chops, roasts, etc. Highly recommend to anyone that has never tried it.
I have an acquaintance who supplemented his income as an apple farmer with supplying goats for Mooslim families to slaughter and eat. Not pretty but it helped pay his bills.
Goat meat is often called chevon or mutton when the meat comes from adults, and cabrito, capretto, or kid when from young animals.
Cabrito is the word from Spanish, and refers to the young, milk-fed flesh, similar to veal.
Old males, particularly those who were emasculated later in life, have a tough texture and are of rather gamy odor when being cooked. They are best used for compost.
Some Mexicans eat goat meat. They call it birria. I tried it once. I thought it tasted like lamb.
“or mutton”
Mutton is sheep meat.
Hate to seem xenophobic, but..........
Nannyburgers. Would Mooshelle approve?
“New Americans” eating the food of their “homeland”? Go back there!
Jamaican jerked goat is superb.
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.
Raised goats and sheep for local “ethnic” groups for the past several years. Their slaughter techniques very but can be rather horrific. The worst one is stabbing the animal in the heart and letting the blood squirt out while the animal slowly dies...
Gee, thanks for sharing that. Not. Anyone have mind bleach?
I have eaten goat. It ain’t beef folks.
Yay! More Third World nonsense! Why did they emigrate when they had to leave their beloved goats behind (and yes that’s a pun)?
Precisely. They love kudzu as well; there lies an idea for our friends in the Old Confederacy.
Well, political/regulator animal worshipers could ban slaughter done by non-”professionals,” but that would be the way to a political and social atmosphere worse than that of the USSR. The better way would be real agricultural extension services (like those in the past) educating rural people on how to slaughter a goat.
One kosher slaughter plant was recently shut down (and a good rabbi falsely accused and robbed) because of a misconstruction on the part of those who mis-perceive the teachings for us about this world. That’s more than enough. A goat has the spirit of a goat—no more. And we’re not intended to be vegetarians.
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