meat storage

[svrn]

I heard around here that people can jsut hang slabs of meat in their attic and that it will keep just fine.

My question is when I kill my first goat sometime in the middle of april when itll probably be around 70 degrees outside is that still a viable option? What about when it gets about 90 degrees or a 100 outside?

How should I keep my meat when I do this?

Is getting a meat fridge to hang the limbs my only option? How about burying large pieces underground rather than small pieces? Will it turn into high meat or will it rot to a lesser degree due to the small surface area?

I would like any meat storage advice that I can get and would prefer to do it without a fridge.

It would probably take me about 2 months to consume a whole goat so I guess thats how long I will need it to keep.

[van]

we buy fresh quartered lamb for the dogs and hang the quarters in the fridge.  The fridge is just a fridge and not a fridge/freezer combo so it maintains a very high humidity which causes mold etc. to grow.  I advise a combo fridge/freezer to keep the meat from growing fuzzy mold.   Have thought about just hanging it in a ventilated SS box in the shade which never gets much over 70 degrees.  Should work.  Burying is something I've heard of that people do for dogs, but would have to wonder about parasites, worms, gophers etc, getting to it,  maybe a stainless wire mesh.  Let us know what you discover. 

[eveheart]

I started out with smaller amounts of meat so that I could see how my meat-storage environment worked out without making a commitment to a whole animal. What works best for me is a refrigerator with wire-type shelves, using stainless steel S-hooks to hang meat from the racks. I use the freezer section for meats that are available to me frozen. Trying this out gave me information such as how much weigh a rack would hold and how long it took me to consume meat. At the same time, you can try an outdoor enclosure and see how that works from month to month.

[donrad]

Our ancestors would slice it and dry it. I love jerky. Smoking and salting are other options.

[Projectile Vomit]

The hanging method works when you can keep the temperature down below 40 degrees. If you hung your goat in your attic in spring it would be festering with maggots within days, and while the interior meat might be fine to eat I doubt it would be very tantalizing to look at and the maggots will get most of it.

I've never tried burying, but it's a method that I'm personally interested in. Anyone know of online references that discuss the method?

[svrn]

Our ancestors would slice it and dry it. I love jerky. Smoking and salting are other options.

jerky isnt as healthy. all of that moisture loss greatly decreases digestibility. smoking isnt raw any more and salt isnt good for you unless its a natural part of food ie oysters.