Thursday, June 14, 2007
For Friday Ark...at The Modulator
My buddy POH, was shocked to learn that not only were goats used for food, but their meat finds its way into our mysterious American food chain in a number of sneaky ways like in pepperoni and other hard sausages.
Indeed, chevon is the most commonly consumed meat in the world. Beef, is actually the weird food. More people in the world are munching down on some goat more than anything else.
I just wanted to make it perfectly clear that my goats are milk goats. There seemed to be some misunderstanding about this. I don't raise meat goats. All of my goats have names and are very tame. You don't generally name meat goats.
Breeds of both cattle and goats are usually geared toward meat or milk. For instance, a Black Angus is a breed of cow that is specifically bred to produce meat. They carry all of their weight in their muscle mass. A Holstein (the black and white cow) is a breed of dairy cow. They carry most of their weight internally and have rather bony frames with large wide bellies.
Same with goats. Maggie has scrawny little legs and a big belly with a low center of gravity to carry around all that milk. She's a Saanen. All of my goats are dairy with the exception of Blinkin' who has a bit of meat in the woodshed.
Being a dairy goat isn't too bad of a life for a goat. I can think of worse things than sticking your head in a bucket of food and having your breasts massaged at the same time. I mean, just think about that for a second.
Just so we are clear on that.
I love your goats!
And, your "Get on...THE ARK" sign is just great!!
Steve
Modulator
i eat goats cheese whenever i can get my hands on it. at our markets, we sometimes have locally produced BLUE goats cheese! it's yummy, but sometimes a bit too blue for me, if you know what i mean.
I have eaten chevon, mostly in the form of "jerk goat" when i was on the other side of the world. i've never seen it for sale in australia (labelled, anyway).
You...or any of the Arksters... are welcome to use that little graphic if you like. I'd asked Leslie over at The Omnibus if there was a graphic link and there evidently wasn't so I took the liberty of making one. I can send you a higher res one you can play with.
I haven't had much success with making the blue cheese yet, Kazari lu. I keep trying...but I think I need an old fridge that I can set to 50% for the aging.
Manerva, it takes a few "freshenings" for them to produce well. They hit their stride at about 2 years of age. Dairy goats will continue to produce well provided they are in good health and managed properly. Once they get elderly, the pregnancies become riskier and it is better to retire them at that point for their own good. Which is hard on them since dairy goats have a very strong drive to be either pregnant or in milk.
I knew you wouldn't eat goats that you've named.
And I think I can safely speak for all women who have ever breastfed their children.
"Thank you" to Rosie's goats.
Those are some full looking pouches (or whatever they're called)
Get it? Udder? Mammaries?
Oh never mind, you’re a tough audience tonight.
Where do I sign up?
Just so we're clear on that.