# Meat yield?



## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

On average, what kind of meat yield in pounds can be expected from a boer-what is optimal butcher age? I have a friend that didn't think that a large nubian wether would differ that much. We did 2 large nubian wethers this fall and got 55# of good grind from them total.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I have never weighed it out mainly because I now butcher at 6 to 8 weeks old and just have them quartered. Am not going to feed those I am culling anymore. But believe there is quite a lot of difference in the quanity of meat you will get out of a boer


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## Rambar Ranch (Oct 25, 2007)

I think alot of the weight amounts would vary depending on if you butcher the meat and leave the bones in or you debone everything. The majority of mammals, i.e. cow, pig, lamb will give you a 50-60% ratio of meat with the bones still in the cuts. I'm sure a boer would give you quite a bit greater percentage of meat than a nubian even a well fed fat nubian.

Ray


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## Goat Land (Nov 8, 2007)

I think it is around 40 - 50% without the bones for a Boer. I also think you would get more meat out of a Boer then a Nubian.

Autumn


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

One of the mods can you forward the photo of the boer and nubian (adult) meat carcass photos stored in our hidden section? I think most are suprised by the amounts of meat the Nubian has in comparison to the boer, mostly because of length of body....Thanks...Vicki


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)




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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

Sondra, if you sent something, all I saw was a red X. Can you email it to me if it is the hanging pics?


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## Secondairy (Aug 12, 2008)

We took a 253lb "LaBoer" yearling wether to the butcher last week. He had excellent muscle on his loins and hindquarters. He also had a decent brisket on him, but he had a lot of fat on his carcass. This will be our first test goat to see if I like the meat, and I am sharing half of him with a friend. We are having all of the regular cuts done as well as some smoked ring bologna, ground meat and sausage made. I asked them to trim the excess fat, and use beef fat in the ring bologna, and pork fat back in the sausage so that I have a product that I am familiar with.

I will let you know how much I get back weight wise!

Kelly


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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

That's a BIG boy. I can't wait to hear how it turns out. We have been trying to save $$$doing our own butchering. It;s not hard but very time consuming. I would be interested what the final cost is. I know getting the extra sausages and salamis made add to the cost. We have an electric grinder that comes in very handy. Have also made our own bulk sausage(not link) and ene smoked the hams for our ig this year. Deer season was a big fat zero here but the goats and pig made up for it. Oh yeak we did meat chickens too. The steer is next. So, no lacking in meat and I am VERY proud and happy to be raising our own to know what is in--OR not in- it . I'm sure you all get the drift.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

It also may depend on the breed of boer that you have also. I know the boer meat goats that I have have lots more meat (muscle) on them than a dairy wether would. I had nubian/boer wether crosses and the boer wethers were larger at the same age. The nubian/boer wether crosses were taller and longer, but the boers had more body mass, wider, thicker carcasses with more muscling.


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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

I was able to see the pic, Sondra. I see the length in the nubian but the thickness in backstrap and leg especially on the boer. I guess I'll have to find out for myself someday when I start a boer herd. Until then.......it still tastes good to me. Just woild like to get the best bang for my feeding dollar and my time.


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## dq (Aug 15, 2008)

not all boers are equal. there are plenty of boers out there that are boers in name only. a 60# 1/2 boer wether we butchered recently yeilded about 14.5 lb of meat with arm and legs roasts bone-in that was with my rather inexperienced hands cutting it up though. we only kept the back strap, tenderloin,roasts and ribs and just a little neck and misc meat. A gentleman just butchered one here yesterday and he took alot more of everything. he wanted everything but the intestines really. cleaned out the "stomach" and everything to take home and cook, including the skin after he burned the hair off. depends on what you consider "meat".


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Just to clarify, which is which in the pic?


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

One year, we sent both Boer X and Nubian wethers to a professional butcher, as they were to be sold in our local health food store. They all dressed out at about 40%. We got the report, which was filled out on each goat, as what we were paid for was the meat. Kathie


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

The doe at the left is a purebred Nubian 3 years old, the doe at the right is a purebred boer 3 years old. I do not have the text on the photo anymore, and can't find it anywhere, it used to be on our old site but it's gone now. Tamara was nice enough to have kept the photo but she also doesn't have the text. I contacted who I thought was the original poster but it wasn't her. Although she knows the photo.....Vicki


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

May I join in on this one? I'm very new here but meat yield is something I do have some experience with. I raise mostly Boers but do have a few Nubians that I milk for soap making. A good Boer kid will dress out at about 50%. Nubians will be closer to 40%. The reason is the meat-to-bone ratio. The Boer were specifically bred to have a high meat-to-bone ratio...although, at the expense of milk production. In my experience, if I feed a Boer doe and and a Nubian doe the same amount of feed, the Boer will put on muscle, the Nubian will make milk. This is why a 1/2 Boer, 1/2 Nubian doe is my favorite commercial "meat maker". If bred to a Boer buck, the doe will have lots of milk for her 3/4 Boer kids and they grow like crazy.


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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

Sheri, is your avatar a pic of your half nub/half boer? Or one of the kids? Where do you live on Canada? I do want to get some boers but not yet....


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## KingsCoGoatGuy (Dec 20, 2008)

Vicki, this is what we had on Yahoo Groups: Goats Canada.



> carcass comparasin, adult does, Nubian on left, Boer on right. This is what I have been seeing in carcasses, who is the better meat goat?


We took a 3/4 Boer 1/4 Saanen wether to the butcher this spring. He was just about 3 years old i believe and dressed out at 105 pounds without any bones. We took a Nubian X Boer wether who was 6 months old dam raised on a very small two year old FF, dressed out at 35 pounds without bones if I remember correctly. We paid $15 to have them both butchered and another $10 to have them all cut & wrapped.


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## Secondairy (Aug 12, 2008)

> We took a 253lb "LaBoer" yearling wether to the butcher last week. He had excellent muscle on his loins and hindquarters. He also had a decent brisket on him, but he had a lot of fat on his carcass. This will be our first test goat to see if I like the meat, and I am sharing half of him with a friend. We are having all of the regular cuts done as well as some smoked ring bologna, ground meat and sausage made. I asked them to trim the excess fat, and use beef fat in the ring bologna, and pork fat back in the sausage so that I have a product that I am familiar with.
> 
> I will let you know how much I get back weight wise!
> 
> Kelly


Man, am I rather disappointed. I will say that goat meat is _delicious_. I really like the ring bologna, the sausage has more substance than pork sausage, but is really good. The chop meat is also great. However...our huge wether really packed down into a milk crate well :/

I stuck the crate on the scale, and it weighed 35lbs. I added the meaty leg bones and it weighed 45lbs. The butcher told me that they took off 75lbs of internal fat and 'rind'. There were literally 2" rinds of fat on the steaks when they were cut, which they trimmed for me. The back straps were so marbled with fat, I don't know how much actual meat there is on them, but at least they were substantial in length and weight. I guess I can crock pot them and just spoon off the fat as it rises.

I split the meat with our friend - it was $100 for everything, 6 rings of bologna, 8lbs of sausage, 12lbs of chop meat, the two back straps, 7 steaks (each only about the size of my palm and fingers combined), and 2lbs of cubed meat. Normally a goat butcher is the same price as a deer in our area- $60. The extra $40 was for the additional whole meat they added to the chop and sausage, and to make the rings since there was little 'straight meat' to work with. I would have loved to see him while he was still hanging to see the actual dressed carcass size, but they did keep the fat and showed me, in case I didn't believe them. Butcher was stunned to see the flanks only had a little ribbon of meat over the ribs, and she ground one whole HQ to come up with enough for the ground products.

I think next time I will try one of our home raised dairy wethers @ about 6 months of age, before they pack the weight on. Also, this wether was heavily grain fed because he was a petting zoo goat ::YIKES:: I mean I knew he was fat, but I didn't realize he was THAT fat. Now I fully understand what is meant when it is said that goats put on fat from the inside out. The amount of marbling is really incredible.

Kelly 

P.S.
But it IS delicious! Expensive, but very good.


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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

Wow, Kelly and Alex. Coulddn't have 2 more different situations/stories, huh? Alex, you got a great price on that butchering. Kelly, unfortunately, your processing is what got you in the wallet. We were given a grinder, so we grind our own. We have smoked and brined hams and also mixed the seasoning in for bulk sausage. Haven't gotten as far as stuffing it into links though. We have a local guy that cuts mostly wild game but will do other livestock as well. He will come to your house, do all the cutting and throw it into a bin for you to wrap. I think that is what we will do for our steer. He won't come, though until it is hung sufficiently for 2-3 weeks so it isn't too tough. He recommends we take a steak off of it every few days until it is how we want it, then call him to come.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

We have it real good here as my processor does the large goats for $25 cut and wrapped,frozen and small one $10 or $15 if we want sausage when just pay $4 for extra seasoning.


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## stacy adams (Oct 29, 2007)

Gee Sondra, you do have it good! That really is a good price!


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

amyrob said:


> Sheri, is your avatar a pic of your half nub/half boer? Or one of the kids? Where do you live on Canada? I do want to get some boers but not yet....


The avatar is Charlie, a pet Boer cross wether who is now about 8 years old. He's very tall and we think he might be part Saanen, but we're not sure. I am in Southeast Saskatchewan, fairly close to the Manitoba border. Where do you live?


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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

Further west on Libby, MT. We have Canada close by but you are further east.


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

amyrob said:


> Further west on Libby, MT. We have Canada close by but you are further east.


Well, I hope you weren't planning to buy goats in Canada. You can't import breeding stock into the US from Canada yet. Our border has reopened, but yours hasn't.


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## amyrob (Nov 21, 2007)

No, I was just curious. Some MT goat breeders advertise selling in MT inly because if the vet records fro interstate transport.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

TB is your only hangup for interstate shipping, or even from the US to Canada. And then each state is different with their regulations also. Never take anyones word for anything always contact your own state vet, via your local vet, so you know for yourself. Vicki


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> TB is your only hangup for interstate shipping, or even from the US to Canada. And then each state is different with their regulations also. Never take anyones word for anything always contact your own state vet, via your local vet, so you know for yourself. Vicki


Last time I checked the federal government web sites, The US border was still closed to breeding stock imports from Canada, period. Goats going from Canada to the US must go directly to an abatoir or feedlot. Goats can be imported from the US but only if both the buyer and seller are on the National Scrapie Identification Program, and both farms must be at the same level on the program. Bucks are not quite as hard to import, since, as terminal carriers of scrapie, they cannot pass it on. Therefore there are a lot fewer hoops to jump through to import a buck from the US.


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## KingsCoGoatGuy (Dec 20, 2008)

Sheri, The, "Goat Keeper" magizine had a write up on the boarder and what they were letting into the US. If I can remember it was only breeding bucks if they were on the Scrapie program. Which last I heard from the CNGF was that program was out of funds, and they are more interested in getting us to tag or leg band our animals in case a disease out break happens. (Since we are not on off topic, all I will say is we have a program in place that has worked for a hundred years, and that is tattoos. The guys in the ties need to smarter up  lol ) I don't know if you are a member of the CGS but they had a notice in the "Quarterly" newsletter, about the plans from the CNGF.
Now importing from the US is possible. I was going to get a buck from Vicki, but alast those plans are put on hold... Not enough in the buck fund this year  Blue Thunder Nubians imported a Kasdemur buck in 2007, so you are very able to bring them in. I do not believe he is on the scrapie program... I do remember reading and sending Vicki the link to the importing into Canada info and getting does in was alot harder then bucks...


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## Guest (Jan 29, 2009)

SheriM said:


> Goats can be imported from the US but only if both the buyer and seller are on the National Scrapie Identification Program, and both farms must be at the same level on the program.


This certainly wasn't the case when I shipped kids to Canada last summer (2008). I do not participate in the Voluntary Scrapie program with the specific 'levels' of certification.

I was required to have the kids tested for TB and Bangs and include the results on an International Health Certificate.

The International Health Certificate was the only 'issue' I had in shipping to Canada as it had to be signed by the State Vet... 3 hours away!

Sara


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Same here as Sara, the rules here as of last month when I was trying to help out Alex was TB tests that I would have to hand deliever to Austin for the state vet to fill out the health certificate. Back when I exported my vet got the proper liscenses so we could export without having to use Austin in person. I don't have time during kidding season to do all that driving.

My scarpie ID number was all that was needed on my side and because of the age of the buckling he would go with his number on the paperwork, but no tag in his ear because of his tattoo.

This is exactly why I say to everyone, do it yourself. Ask your vet to talk with your state vet, because if I had listened to others on another forum, they also said you can't legally get breeding stock across to Canada from one person to another.

Since ADGA registered stock's scrapie numbers are their tattoos, for Texas anyway, you have met our half of any scrapie rules for shipping. Vicki 

Vicki


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

KingsCoGoatGuy said:


> Sheri, The, "Goat Keeper" magizine had a write up on the boarder and what they were letting into the US. If I can remember it was only breeding bucks if they were on the Scrapie program. Which last I heard from the CNGF was that program was out of funds, and they are more interested in getting us to tag or leg band our animals in case a disease out break happens. (Since we are not on off topic, all I will say is we have a program in place that has worked for a hundred years, and that is tattoos. The guys in the ties need to smarter up  lol ) I don't know if you are a member of the CGS but they had a notice in the "Quarterly" newsletter, about the plans from the CNGF.
> Now importing from the US is possible. I was going to get a buck from Vicki, but alast those plans are put on hold... Not enough in the buck fund this year  Blue Thunder Nubians imported a Kasdemur buck in 2007, so you are very able to bring them in. I do not believe he is on the scrapie program... I do remember reading and sending Vicki the link to the importing into Canada info and getting does in was alot harder then bucks...


Which Goat Keeper was that in? I'll have to check it out and get up to date. To be honest, the whole border closure, scrapie thing disgusted me so much I haven't kept close tabs on recent developments. I know bucks can come into Canada whether they're on the scrapie program or not because they can't pass on the disease. Last I heard, the border was closed completely to Canadian breeding stock, but like I say, that was a while ago. If that's changed, so much the better. And OT or not, don't get me started on the scrapie program! What I want to say about it cannot be said in polite company. :mad


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

BlissBerry said:


> SheriM said:
> 
> 
> > Goats can be imported from the US but only if both the buyer and seller are on the National Scrapie Identification Program, and both farms must be at the same level on the program.
> ...


Were these buck kids? The boys don't have to be on the program.


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## SheriM (Jan 20, 2009)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> Same here as Sara, the rules here as of last month when I was trying to help out Alex was TB tests that I would have to hand deliever to Austin for the state vet to fill out the health certificate. Back when I exported my vet got the proper liscenses so we could export without having to use Austin in person. I don't have time during kidding season to do all that driving.
> 
> My scarpie ID number was all that was needed on my side and because of the age of the buckling he would go with his number on the paperwork, but no tag in his ear because of his tattoo.
> 
> This is exactly why I say to everyone, do it yourself. Ask your vet to talk with your state vet, because if I had listened to others on another forum, they also said you can't legally get breeding stock across to Canada from one person to another.


I said you can't get DOES into Canada unless they're on the scrapie program. Bucks don't have to be on the program.


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2009)

SheriM said:


> *Goats* can be imported from the US but only if both the buyer and seller are on the National Scrapie Identification Program, and both farms must be at the same level on the program. Bucks are not quite as hard to import, since, as terminal carriers of scrapie, they cannot pass it on. Therefore there are a lot fewer hoops to jump through to import a buck from the US.





SheriM said:


> I said you can't get DOES into Canada unless they're on the scrapie program.


Actually you didn't say does. See your quote above.

Sara


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## KingsCoGoatGuy (Dec 20, 2008)

SheriM said:


> Which Goat Keeper was that in?


The free issue they sent out to all CGS breeders becuase they turned 10 years old with that issue. It had three ND kids on the cover.


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