Another step toward self reliance

Over the last year I have worked toward learning new skills.  This weekend I managed to fit in one exercise that has achieved that.  My friend and I went shares in some goats to kill and dress.  Once that part of the deed was done, we got busy with a mincer and sausage stuffer and made over 10kg of seasoned goat sausages.  The end result was great and I have even managed to learn the art of tying the sausages off.

Pretty chuffed with myself and I am now confident enough in the task that I will endeavor to do chicken ones in the near future.
Today I also spent about an hour researching and pricing mincers and stuffers so that we have extra equipment to cover big production days.  Having 2 sets of equipment means we will get the job done in half the time. Our aim is to provide meat products for 4 homes.  Almost like feeding a village when you think about it.   Sharing costs, work input and then at times enjoying the end result of all we have done, together.  Over a fire pit, bbq or even at times using the spit to do whole animals.
I am planning on introducing meat birds in the very near future, that will increase the food production by at least another 15%.  These birds can reach weights of 2 kg in just a matter of 10 weeks, when they are culled, dressed and processed. I will dress some out as roasting birds, some as chicken pieces and some as mince for sausages. The infrastructure is already in place so it will not be a huge task to prepare for their arrival.
I already have a small flock of ducks roaming through the orchard, where they clean up the pests that can be detrimental to the fruit trees in there.  I am also planning to only keep two ducks and a drake for future breeding.  The offspring with then be processed in various ways to be shared amongst those in my circle.