How to Slaughter and Dress a Goat

This post describes animal death and processing in graphic detail and photography.

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HOW TO SLAUGHTER AND DRESS A GOAT

1. Obtain a goat
2. Restrain the goat
3. Deliver the killing blow
4. Shave the carcass
5. Rub the carcass down with turmeric paste
6. Process the head & organs
7. Chop the remaining body into pieces
8. Divvy up equal portions of meat for yourself and other family members
9. Cook and enjoy

Obtain a goat

Whether home-grown or bought, a goat is required for this operation. So get yourself a goat!

Upon hearing a cacophony of goat yelling, I went downstairs and was surprised to see a new kid tied to a post at our goat shed, two or three months old by my estimation. We had lost one of our kids in days past. It ingested something toxic while grazing in the fields and forests, we think. Nonetheless, I was surprised that my host parents would want to pay for the responsibility of another mouth to feed and care for. “Four goats isn’t enough for us?” I asked buwaa. He was at first confused by my question - it took a moment for him to understand what I meant. “Oh – we’re eating this one,” he said. This dealt another surprise to me as goats (and goat meat) are quite expensive here. There appeared to be no particular occasion for the decision, as far as I could tell; I supposed the opportunity to buy and slaughter a goat simply presented itself on this particular day and they took it.
 

Restrain the goat

Restrain the goat on level ground with hands and ropes. Keep the goat as still as possible with its neck held up and stretched taught. Place a log underneath the goat’s body to encourage it to splay its legs (optional).

Thinking the slaughter would not happen for some period of time, I had returned to my room when I suddenly noticed the poignant absence of the kid’s bleating outside my window. The dai were hauling it off to be killed. Not wanting to miss the activity, I rushed outside in my sandals and followed them to the side of our uncle’s house where they had begun setting up.

I did not have my phone on me at time of slaughter, so here is my drawn recreation, complete with poised khukuri and target area.

Deliver the killing blow

Take a wide, firm and confident stance. Deliver the killing blow to the base of the neck with a forceful chop of a large, strong blade, such as a khukuri.

Birendra dai raised the khukuri high, bracing for the cutting blow, only to have the goat squirm and move out of position. Reset. This happened two or three times until at last, after a several failed attempts, the goat managed to stand still. Dai brought the khukuri squarely down on the base of its neck, severing its head from its body. The head fell to the ground – eyes rolling back. Ramu dai crouched low to restrain the body after it, too, fell to the ground, kicking and writhing. Buwaa held a bowl under the neck to collect the blood that gushed forth in the goat's post-death throes.

The goat's severed head beside the bloodied khukuri and a pile of kindling.

 

Shave the body

Submerge the body and goat head in boiling water to soften the fur and make it easier to remove. Use long steel drinking cups to slough the hair off down to the skin on the body. Use razor blades to scrape off the remaining hair.

Scorch the head over an open flame to remove its fur. Treat remaining hair with razor-scraping, paying special attention to the crevices and hard-to-reach areas like around the ears and eyes.

“This water isn’t boiling at all,” Ramu dai complained to aamaa. “It’s not hot enough.” The group of four dai settled around the carcass -- buwaa, cousin-brothers Ramu dai and Birendra dai, and cousin Ammar dai. They got comfortable, some squatting, others sitting on simple wooden stools -- with razor blades in hand. So began the long and tedious process of shaving the carcass. To accomplish this task a variety of techniques were used: hand-plucking (least effective), khukuri-scraping (somewhat effective but inconvenient and only possible on large areas), and razor blades (effective but time-consuming). Using these various implements, they carefully scraped hairs off the skin, holding the legs this way and that, cleaning the armpits, the haunches, the loins; every so often asking me to refill the water bucket, and with jugfuls of water rinsing the discarded hair away down the rocks. The whole affair took perhaps 30, 45 minutes -- a slow and meticulous endeavor. “This is always so annoying,” grumbled buwaa.

Ramu dai begins shaving the body with a steel cup. His brother, Birendra, handles the head.

Buwaa (top right), Ammar dai (left) and Ramu dai (bottom right) in the final stages of shaving the goat carcass with razor blades.

Rub the carcass down with turmeric paste

Mix together several tablespoons each of turmeric and ash. Add just enough water to make a thick paste. Rub the carcass down with the turmeric paste until thoroughly covered -- the skin should be dyed an orange-red.

Aamaa prepared the turmeric mixture, turning the small pan toward me and running her finger in circles through the thick, ruddy paste, beautiful in its viscous and saucy rapture. Applying this paste while dressing animals is not only a longstanding traditional practice, but practical one – the spices kill pathogens and bacteria on the skin's surface.

Aamaa runs her finger through the turmeric paste to mix.

Buwaa and dai rub the carcass down with turmeric paste in the washbasin. The goat's legs are left furred - they are too bony to bother and will be cut off and eaten later.

Process the head & organs

Slice the legs off the body; then slit the stomach open for gutting. Separate and remove the stomach, heart, intestines, liver, pancreas, lungs, and other organs for cleaning (or disposal, to choice). 

 

Head. Remove the jaw bones and other large, unpalatable pieces by hand and knife, then chop into pieces.

Stomach. Slice open with a knife and carefully pour the contents of the stomach into a bucket before disposing. Thoroughly clean and rub the stomach lining down with water until there are no remnants of food left. Chop to pieces.

Intestines. Rinse and clean thoroughly with water 2-3 times, inside and out. Chop to pieces.

Bloodlet blood from neck. Remove any coagulated and thickened chunks of blood. Save for cooking.

I watched as the men did their work, hovering and taking photos. At this point there was lots of cleaning and chopping of various parts, so they divided and conquered. Birendra and Ramu dai mostly handled the body and buwaa handled the innards, which required careful soaking, rinsing, and washing. The gastrointestinal tract in particular is known to harbor bacteria that will make you sick if not properly cleaned out. 

Buwaa took the bowl of blood decanted from the neck of the goat and swirled it with his hands. Looking up, he noticed me watching, and smiled, amused. He rubbed the blood through his fingers again and again, sifting for clots and throwing them into a steel cup when met. "You have to take this stuff out," he said, referring to the dark, coagulated blood. "Otherwise it'll be bad."

The two bothers working to de-leg the carcass.

Gutting the carcass and separating organs from bones and muscle -- some strength required.

Dai removing the jawbones from the head.

Goat brain and head-meat on a chopping block.

Aamaa and buwaa squeeze foodstuffs out of the rumen of the goat.

Buwaa cleaning the large intestines by filling and rinsing them with water like long, snaking water balloons.

Buwaa removing blood clots.

 

Chop the remaining body into pieces

Chop to small pieces any remaining body parts and organs. 

 

Chop, chop! Pieces of goat scattered around the butcher block as the dai take a break.

 

Divvy up equal portions of meat for yourself and other family members

Separate the meat and organs into as many piles of equal weight and composition as the number of family and friends you will be sharing with. You didn’t think you would be eating all of this meat by yourself, did you?!

 "Ay, ay, ay," sighed Birendra dai, standing up with some difficulty. He lay a hand on his spine. "Cutting meat makes my back hurt." He had finished chopping, weighing, and separating the meat into piles for various family units. With a lack of refrigeration in the village, sharing among friends and neighbors ensures that the meat never goes to waste - and exemplifies the community-centric culture. When it comes time for other family and friends to slaughter animals, they will share similarly with us.

Later in the kitchen I was stirring goat stew in the pot, and aamaa approached to ask me to deal a portion of stew into a bowl. "We should give some of this to her, shouldn't we?" Aamaa suggested gently, referring to a poorer family member. She was thinking of her and her young children. "People who are more well-off can buy and eat meat themselves when they like. I don't know if they will share with her. But I think we should... don't you think?" I poured out several ladlefuls of stew. Satisfied, aamaa shuffled out of the kitchen with the steaming bowl. 

Carefully weighing and equalizing portions of goat meat for the family groups.

Cook and enjoy!

Cook all the meat thoroughly and separate that which you will eat right away and which you might store for later. Cooked meat can be stored at room temperature for a few days if not eaten right away*.

 

Goat legs smoking on an open fire...  ♫♪

*not a recommended practice when refrigeration is available due to food safety concerns - practice at your own risk.