Fall Meat Harvest 1

November is the month that we harvest the meat that we've worked so hard to grow all year.  This week we have been working on our 3 butcher wethers (2 born here, 1 at TUH).  I decided to de-bone and can all of the goat meat to save freezer space for lamb and turkey....and hopefully venison.  Once canned, the meat can be used in soups, stews, enchaladas, tacos.....the possibilities are endless.

So Monday my friend CB came over and we worked all day processing 3 goats.  I am keeping the empty goat suits for tanning practice....

 Next we de-boned all 3 of the carcasses.  Once that was done, I began roasting the bones for stock. 

It took all evening and much of yesterday morning to get them a lovely golden brown that will be the base for our meat stock.

Next the bones are added to a large stock pot with carrots, celery, onion, and garlic...along with some herbs..

I add water to the roasting pans to loosen up the brown bits from the pan, and that is added to the stock pot as well as enough water to cover the bones and veggies...

Then I brought the stock pots up to a boil, reduced the heat, and let them simmer for about 16 hours until they look like this...

Next they are strained through a coarse strainer..

Then a fine strainer...

Once done, it is a rich smooth stock....and ready to be canned.

Meanwhile I cut all of the meat into cubes and began filling jars:

6 quarts

14 pints

3 half pints

Then I add salt; 2 tsp per quart....1 tsp per pint...1/2 tsp per half-pint...then topped each jar of meat with a bit of the broth...

Once all of the meat was jarred and capped, I filled quart jars with the remaining stock.  In all, the 3 wethers were turned into 19 quarts of stock and 23 jars of meat.  I've got 2 canners running with all of this waiting to be run next.  It will be 5 full canner loads in all!

The offal was used as dog food, the hides will be tanned and used, and every speck of meat and stock will be enjoyed over the months to come.  The lard and skimmed fat will be turned into suet cakes for the chickens.  The bones and veggies strained from the stock will be fed to the turkeys.  Nothing goes to waste.