Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Varminting and vertebrate pest control. Small game, hunting feral goats, foxes, dogs, cats, rabbits etc.

Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Boatman » 23 Feb 2017, 10:44 am

Like the title says, I'm wondering about any potential safety issues of eating wild goats and pigs after shooting?

I'm in North Queensland if that makes any difference.

It's all just meat obviously, but I'm no butcher and don't really know the difference between a well kept farm pig and one that's subject to the wild.

I figure once it's been roasting over a fire for a few hours you're pretty safe, but that's an assumption really?

Anyone fellow QLD shooters cooking up these guys :?:
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by pete1 » 23 Feb 2017, 11:09 am

I know the SSAA is doing a series on Youtube about hunting and eating there might be something in that, personally i haven't watched it. I've being wondering about this too, being told to look at heart, kidneys and liver to see if the animals heathy.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by bigfellascott » 23 Feb 2017, 11:13 am

Nothing wrong with eating wild goat, tastes a lot like lamb, infact I like it better than lamb really. Haven't eaten any wild pigs but I'd I'd imagine those that feed on crops would be nice eating, I know of an Indian fella that always wanted my mate to cut the back legs of boars for him to eat.

I always went the young kid goats (not the tiny baby ones but a bit older) as they were tender, don't bother eating the billies or big ol nannies as they will be tough too for the most part, the smallest out of the mob without being a new born type thing should eat well.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Sydor » 23 Feb 2017, 11:57 am

The problem is in potential parasites.
So my first rule is that all game meats must be well thermally treated. So no medium rare stakes :-(.

As far as I know - goats are quite safe and much safer then pigs because pigs are omnivores and pick up every s**t there.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by GLS_1956 » 23 Feb 2017, 12:27 pm

Goat I can't say anything about. But when it comes to feral hogs, the consensus of the hunters I talk to is that pigs that run under 150 pounds are good eating and you can cut chops, ribs, and steaks from them as well as ham and shoulders. Over 150 to 250 pounds you're looking at tougher meat so much will end up at sausage and over 300 pounds they tend to bury the carcass.

In all cases be sure to thoroughly cook the meat.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by duncan61 » 23 Feb 2017, 2:40 pm

Goats are one of the few animals that if they get sick they die very soon.Small goat is very good even fresh on the bone.The few pigs I have shot smelled so bad I discarded them.Maybe a small pig would be O.K.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Oldbloke » 23 Feb 2017, 8:32 pm

The few pigs I've eaten tasted pretty s**t years ago. I've eaten a few young goats ( called chevron ) were great. Like lean lamb. The old billy's r s**t. Just be aware that Q fever is a potential problem with goats. Normal hygiene procedures need to be applied.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by taffy4x4 » 25 Feb 2017, 11:47 am

Never eaten wild pig myself, but I understand there is a meat works South of Goondiwindi somewhere that buys pigs from local shooters and exports the carcasses.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by pomemax » 25 Feb 2017, 1:21 pm

Feral pigs can be hosts or vectors of a number of endemic parasites and diseases, some of which can affect other animals or people. Livestock health can be significantly affected by:
leptospirosis
porcine brucellosis
melioidosis
tuberculosis
sparganosis
porcine parvovirus
Murray Valley encephalitis and other arboviruses.
A number of worm species also carried by feral pigs can affect livestock.
Human health can be affected by:
leptospirosis, through contact with the urine of affected feral pigs
porcine brucellosis, through handling raw feral pig meat
tuberculosis and sparganosis, through eating inadequately cooked feral pig meat.
Taken from DPI web site funny not any warnings on Goat at all draw you own conclusions
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Archie » 25 Feb 2017, 7:58 pm

So here is what I don't get about this. That list above just looks bloody awful. But, in the US you can sell wild hog carcasses to registered abbatoirs that butcher them for human consumption. And whatever your opinion of the quality of American food, they have too many lawyers hanging around for meat processors to start poisoning people just for the laughs. I know everything in oz tries to kill you but it's usually with fangs. Why are our feral pigs so damn nasty to eat if theirs are ok?
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by No1Mk3 » 26 Feb 2017, 3:48 pm

G'day Archie,
Our pigs are no worse than any other wild population. Selling carcases in the US is the same as roo shooters doing it here, know what to look for. Check the pigs liver for fluke or milk spots, use gloves to butcher and you are very unlikely to have a problem. Don't feed raw offal to your dogs, and if the fluke or spot infestation is severe don't eat it. Mild fluke (Flatworm), eat only the meat not offals, Milk Spot (Roundworm) the same and especially don't feed dogs the offals cooked or not, Tapeworm (Hydatids) cannot be transferred to humans by eating infected animals but never feed it to your dogs. As with most game, cook through and don't eat it rare. Cheers.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Oldbloke » 26 Feb 2017, 4:28 pm

No1Mk3 wrote:G'day Archie,
Our pigs are no worse than any other wild population. Selling carcases in the US is the same as roo shooters doing it here, know what to look for. Check the pigs liver for fluke or milk spots, use gloves to butcher and you are very unlikely to have a problem. Don't feed raw offal to your dogs, and if the fluke or spot infestation is severe don't eat it. Mild fluke (Flatworm), eat only the meat not offals, Milk Spot (Roundworm) the same and especially don't feed dogs the offals cooked or not, Tapeworm (Hydatids) cannot be transferred to humans by eating infected animals but never feed it to your dogs. As with most game, cook through and don't eat it rare. Cheers.


Sounds like good advice to me. With goats don't breath the gut vapours. That's where the q fever bug is. A basic p1 face mask will reduce the risk.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Archie » 26 Feb 2017, 4:44 pm

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Blr243 » 26 Nov 2018, 8:57 pm

Fallow. Pigs and goats I have chewed on a ton of it. The tastiest ones were the suckers that were so small that four of them fitted in one camp over. Obviously caught rather than shot.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Member-Deleted » 26 Nov 2018, 10:45 pm

Nearly all my life I've eaten wild pigs, goats, roo, but mainly pigs you can make bacon, hams all like the domestic ones
When we were boxing pigs we left the heart ,liver and lungs attached to the pig for them to inspect
We were told to look for TB, LEPTO,BRUCELLOSIS, QFEVER All can be caught by breathing the vapour that rushes out when you're dropping the gut out
We were told to wear rubber gloves and something over our mouth and nose when dropping the gut then wash out selves properly when finished
I only know of 3 Brucellosis cases or any other cases of the above diseases around here and it was those who though the didn't need the safety procedure's
We've had more Qfever cases come out of the local abattoir than people eating wild meat
People don't understand that lots of animals that go to the meat works are not disease free they live where the wild ones live only fenced and some get needled for some diseases but I will say the meat works have a very good but not bullet proof way of meat inspection
All my kids have been brought up on wild pig, goat and so on if you are careful and do the appropriate checks there's no reason you won't be ok
I believe all hunters should learn and know the signs and what to look for with wild meat disease but I;m assuming most already know
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by bigrich » 27 Nov 2018, 4:42 am

I love eating goat, I get mine from high country in northern NSW , and even full grown nannies and young bullies taste good. I’ve found that if I take my time browning the meat on low heat it comes out tender . Wild pig, except for suckers, I’m not keen on eating. Seen plenty of carcass that pigs have been into and don’t like the idea of eating something that eats rotten meat.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by bigpete » 27 Nov 2018, 4:51 am

Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Bent Arrow » 27 Nov 2018, 6:46 am

bigpete wrote:Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)


This is pretty much what I do. I know I miss a bit of meat, but not enough to loose sleep over.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by bigrich » 27 Nov 2018, 6:54 am

Bent Arrow wrote:
bigpete wrote:Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)


This is pretty much what I do. I know I miss a bit of meat, but not enough to loose sleep over.


Same as I do. Not enough meat on the front legs for the amount of effort to carve up IMHO
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Member-Deleted » 27 Nov 2018, 11:21 am

Nearly all my life I've eaten wild pigs, goats, roo, but mainly pigs you can make bacon, hams all like the domestic ones
When we were boxing pigs we left the heart ,liver and lungs attached to the pig for them to inspect
We were told to look for TB, LEPTO,BRUCELLOSIS, QFEVER All can be caught by breathing the vapour that rushes out when you're dropping the gut out
We were told to wear rubber gloves and something over our mouth and nose when dropping the gut then wash out selves properly when finished
I only know of 3 Brucellosis cases or any other cases of the above diseases around here and it was those who though the didn't need the safety procedure's
We've had more Qfever cases come out of the local abattoir than people eating wild meat
People don't understand that lots of animals that go to the meat works are not disease free they live where the wild ones live only fenced and some get needled for some diseases but I will say the meat works have a very good but not bullet proof way of meat inspection
All my kids have been brought up on wild pig, goat and so on if you are careful and do the appropriate checks there's no reason you won't be ok
I believe all hunters should learn and know the signs and what to look for with wild meat disease but I;m assuming most already know


THIS ^^ is good advice., I have been eating wild pork for decades, I only eat pigs that have been around grain crops/stubble, while they will still eat other things, if they can get at grain and the associated vegetable matter, they will predominately eat this, years ago in the Moree area we had a meat inspector that use to come out hunting with us sometimes, he reckoned that the wild stuff we were processing to eat was cleaner overall than the domestic stuff going through the meat works.

As for wild goat, the same applies for pork, if in doubt throw it out, I reckon goat is better than mutton, unless the mutton is merino that has been raised on saltbush country, I also butcher the odd red deer, I always reckon that meat processed yourself is a better option and taste, it is also a bloody lot cheaper. :drinks:
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Member-Deleted » 27 Nov 2018, 11:26 am

bigrich wrote:
Bent Arrow wrote:
bigpete wrote:Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)


This is pretty much what I do. I know I miss a bit of meat, but not enough to loose sleep over.


Same as I do. Not enough meat on the front legs for the amount of effort to carve up IMHO


If you are careful about how you go about, gutting, cleaning the carcase and yourself, there is very little risk, I have been doing it for decades with no problem, while there are cases of people catching diseases from butchering animals, among those that I know, they have caught these from working at meat works.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Stix » 27 Nov 2018, 12:16 pm

bigrich wrote:
Bent Arrow wrote:
bigpete wrote:Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)


This is pretty much what I do. I know I miss a bit of meat, but not enough to loose sleep over.


Same as I do. Not enough meat on the front legs for the amount of effort to carve up IMHO


Bludy hell richo-keep em for me mate... :thumbsup: or better still take me with you & ill carry em out...!! :clap:

I dont understand this "not enough meat on fronts" that people think about goats...?
The shoulder meat is bludy beatiful...!!..& very easy to cut off...!!

Sure the front legs dont appear to be a huge hunk of meat, but there is still a decent amount of it... :thumbsup:

They do take up a bit of room if have to carry a few goats worth of legs out, but i just try bone em out there n then if ive knocked too many over....
& they are sure easy enough to bone out on a board once back to camp or home... :thumbsup:

Here is a boned out shoulder/upper front leg, with shanks.
Sometimes i bone out shanks, sometimes cook em bone in for somethin to knaw on after...either way they bludy dynamite.. :thumbsup:
2018-11-27 12.24.49.jpg
Boned out shoulder of goat & 2 shanks
2018-11-27 12.24.49.jpg (411.66 KiB) Viewed 19915 times


The entire boned out front leg of a decent kid weighs nearly the same as a boned out rear leg-the difference with this goat was around 100 grams less--bugger all in my book... :thumbsup:

Its just the carry out space &/or time to bone out thats any issue...but i rekon its worth it. :thumbsup:
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Member-Deleted » 27 Nov 2018, 1:42 pm

Hey Stix nice looken goat there mate I reckon if you froze it well packed it in ice it would make it over here nicely ;) :) :D :lol: :lol: :thumbsup:
You get a few where you are mate ? We have to go 2-3 hundred klm to get them but there 's plenty well there was last I went before
the dry the ones here the meat gets a little tainty in very dry places other than that they're good eaten :thumbsup: :drinks:
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Bent Arrow » 27 Nov 2018, 2:12 pm

bigrich wrote:
Bent Arrow wrote:
bigpete wrote:Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)


This is pretty much what I do. I know I miss a bit of meat, but not enough to loose sleep over.


Same as I do. Not enough meat on the front legs for the amount of effort to carve up IMHO


I take the front and back legs, back strap and the neck meat. As Murphy would have it, where I hunt I'm often a fair hike from camp when I nail a couple of goats so the trade off with gutting animals for the extra meat that I then have to carry out isn't very enticing. As Stix said, the front shoulder is a great cut, perhaps even one of my favourites. I'd say there's more meat on a shoulder than a back strap....
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Stix » 27 Nov 2018, 3:22 pm

Bent Arrow wrote:
bigrich wrote:
Bent Arrow wrote:
bigpete wrote:Simple way of avoiding Q fever....just take legs and back straps,then you don't have to gut the animals:)


This is pretty much what I do. I know I miss a bit of meat, but not enough to loose sleep over.


Same as I do. Not enough meat on the front legs for the amount of effort to carve up IMHO


I take the front and back legs, back strap and the neck meat. As Murphy would have it, where I hunt I'm often a fair hike from camp when I nail a couple of goats so the trade off with gutting animals for the extra meat that I then have to carry out isn't very enticing. As Stix said, the front shoulder is a great cut, perhaps even one of my favourites. I'd say there's more meat on a shoulder than a back strap....


Yep i rekon much more on the shoulder than the strap--but then that could be due to my lack of patience in navigating the spine... :lol:

That shoulder pic i attached earlier, without the shank weighed 750gms...so thats probably near enuf a kilo with shank from a billy kid with no adult teeth...ive never got anywhere near that with a single strap.

Id love to know how do you take the neck BA...? (Obviously cut it off, but im interested in where you start through to finish...)
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Stix » 27 Nov 2018, 3:31 pm

Hey Stix nice looken goat there mate I reckon if you froze it well packed it in ice it would make it over here nicely ;) :) :D :lol: :lol: :thumbsup:
You get a few where you are mate ? We have to go 2-3 hundred klm to get them but there 's plenty well there was last I went before
the dry the ones here the meat gets a little tainty in very dry places other than that they're good eaten :thumbsup: :drinks:


.if i had the cash id send you a foam box of it no problems... :thumbsup:

Unfortunately as im stuck in suburbia i have to travel...not to mention im currently struggling for goat property to hunt on...
And i have to travel a few hundred Km's at least... :thumbsdown:

Thats why i take my car fridge & atleast 2 esky's with lots of big ice blocks in case i strike many of the silly spooky-eyed hoofers...i dont like wastig too much.

I know of guys that just leave hundreds of kilo's in the hills.. :roll:
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by bigrich » 27 Nov 2018, 4:11 pm

the 12 volt fridge freezer i bought ,"kings" brand, from a four wheel drive acccessory wharehouse is one of the best investments i've ever made. cost me $560 with a cover as well. as for the front legs stix 'ole mate, im not as accomplished a butcher as you i guess old mate. the last front legs i tried really didn't have much on them . as has been suggested earlier, i try to stay away from gutting out as it lessens Q fever risk. for my tastes, goat and rabbit are definately on the menu, haven't had any success with deer yet. :thumbsup:
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by deanp100 » 27 Nov 2018, 5:14 pm

As an ex dpi meat inspector I can safely say, as I always do, 2 main points that are always raised with eating pigs.
1) it doesn’t matter if a pig is wormy or not. They all are. 99.5 % of parasites are dropped onto the ground when you gut them. There are basically no parasites in the meat.
2) the safety of the meat is not related to the diet. They can eat rotten dead cows all day and it won’t change the safety of the meat. Quality can be affected by diet, but not safety.
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Smiley » 27 Nov 2018, 7:04 pm

I know a meat inspector who is a slaughterman and runs the local box. He said he has not seen a wild pig carcass yet that he would eat.
I don't know, I'm just sayin.....
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Re: Safety of eating wild goats and pigs?

Post by Stix » 27 Nov 2018, 7:33 pm

Hmmm interesting...very conflicting views on wild pig consumption... :unknown:
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