I butcher about 10-15 wethers/bucklings every year.  Very good.

Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Dairy and Meat Goats
http://www.freewebs.com/ozarkjewels/

Also Morningland Dairy Raw Milk Cheeses. www.morninglanddairy.com

Here is a old tasty recipe

Try taking the tougher parts (shanks and ect, Not Loin and such.)... coat them with olive oil, salt, pepper, a sprig of rosemary, and a light dusting of non-spicy curry powder .  Slow roast in a heavy metal pan at 200° for a long time (at least 5 hours or until Near fall apart).  

Carefully remove the meat (wrap lightly in foil and set aside) and then add some potatos, carrots, onions (cut into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes aka large rough chop) (Ratio 3-4 shanks to 3 pot to 2 carrots to 1 onion).  Mix the veggies around in the pan with the leftover fat/oils/drippings/tasties and salt and pepper again (lightly).  Once the veggies are coated with all the extra bits, throw them back into the oven at 375° for an hour (or until fork tender) tossing/mixing every 15 minutes.

Pull pan outa the oven and add 1 cup chicken stock to the scortchin hot pan and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon.  Once you got most of the tasty bits off the bottom add 1/2 cup heavy cream.   With just a few quick stirs it should turn a pretty yellowish color.  Thicken over medium heat (should be able to heat your braising pan over stove eye) until liquid becomes a thin sauce (the texture is called Nape but simply it is "a sauce which is nape will coat the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through the sauce will remain clear even as the spoon is turned around."  Here is where you add salt, pepper, and lite curry (careful) again to taste (the cream and potatos will have mellowed the curry and salt taste.)

Now you have a few tender goat shanks, veggies, and a slightly thin sauce.  Add the meat back into the pan and coat with sauce.  Heat in the oven at the 375° for about 10-15 minutes or until everything is nice and hot again and the sauce has thickened a little more.  Careful not to burn it.

Take it out of the oven and serve over a bed of rice and TADA tasty goat awesomeness.

Hope this helps.

Alabamabackyarder

P.S. Also you can try a long braising with wine and ect ... look up a recipe for Osso Bucco and substitute goat for lamb. Generally any lamb dish can substitute in goat.  Well, most can anyway.

Also, this info is for a certain Size of four legged carcass.  Should work for lamb, goat, sheep, ect...

General Picture information (gleaned from some sites) provided in these two pics:

From here on is a more detailed description of how to break down the carcass:

Lamb carcasses are generally not split into halves after dressing because they are not thick enough in any location to create cooling problems. Begin cutting the lamb carcass by removing the thin cuts, i.e. flank, breast and foreleg.

 Lay the carcass on the cutting table and mark one side from the cod or udder fat in front of the hind leg to the elbow joint . After removing the thin cuts from both sides, remove the kidneys, kidney fat and diaphragm.

Next the carcass is turned over and the neck removed either in thin slices to be braised or in one piece to be added to stew or to be boned and ground.

This is now a trimmed carcass. The trimmed carcass can then be separated into four primal cuts, each with different characteristics. A cut between the fifth and sixth rib removes the shoulder. Another cut between the twelfth and thirteenth (last) rib separates the rib from the loin. The loin and legs are separated just in front of the hip bones by cutting through the back where the curve of the leg muscles blends into the loin.

Split the legs through the center of the backbone. Trim off the flank and cod or udder fat. Utilize the saw and knife to remove the backbone from the leg.

The leg may be further trimmed by cutting through the knee-joint which is located about halfway between where the muscles of the shank end and the muscles of the lower leg begin. Work the knife and cut through the joint.

Several sirloin chops may be cut from the loin end of the leg. Legs may either be prepared with the bone in or the bones completely removed and the leg rolled and tied.

Loin. The loin is usually split through the middle of the backbone and chops are cut perpendicularly to the backbone. 

Lamb chops are cut about 2.5 cm thick. Double or “English” chops are made from a loin that has not been split. Remove the fell or connective tissue covering before cooking chops.

Rib. The rib of lamb is prepared by sawing through the ribs on both sides of the backbone.

The main portion of the backbone is then removed with a knife. Rib chops are easily made by cutting between the ribs. Remove the fell before cooking the chops. The breast portion may be barbecued in one piece or made into riblets by cutting between the ribs.

Shoulder. After splitting through the backbone, the shoulder may be roasted as is, made into chops, or boned and rolled into a roast. Arm chops should be made first by cutting parallel to the surface where the foreleg and breast were removed. Blade chops are made by cutting between ribs and sawing through the blade- and backbones. To prepare a boneless shoulder, first remove the ribs and backbone by cutting closely underneath the ribs, backbone and neck vertebrae. Next from the rear surface cut along the inside of the blade-bone to expose it and the armbone. Cut along the edges of the bones and remove them.

Roll the meat and tie it securely with clean twine. The boneless shoulder may also be made into a pocket roast and stuffed with ground lamb or other dressing. The edges of the pocket roast are stitched together.

Shanks. Both the fore- and hind shanks when removed can be barbecued, cut into pieces for stew or boned and the meat ground.

Mary Ann

At that age, how are you castrating them??  I band my butcher bucklings when they are about 1 month old.  If I intend to butcher them before they hit three months, I leave them intact.

The best time to butcher goats is anywhere between 3 months to 1 year.  That shouldn't stop you from butchering older cull does and bucks though.  I am about to butcher a 5 year old doe of mine who injured her back this past winter and will no longer be able to carry kids.

I prefer to butcher my wethers in the fall of the year they were born in.  No sense feeding them through the winter for just a little more meat. 

I don't even wean them from their dams, just butcher them.  This way there is no growth stall or weight loss due to weaning.  The fattest your kids are going to be is when they are nursing their mother.

At 5 months, you could butcher now(in fact, I would butcher instead of castrating), or you could castrate and just butcher them before winter sets in.

Please check out the Home Butchering page on my website. http://www.freewebs.com/ozarkjewels/homebutchering.htm

Hope this helps!

Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Dairy and Meat Goats
http://www.freewebs.com/ozarkjewels/

Also Morningland Dairy Raw Milk Cheeses. www.morninglanddairy.com

Its a moot point in the case of butcher bucklings.  They do not have a long enough life for it to matter(if it makes a difference or not).  So if you intend to butcher them, go ahead and band the little guys before they are a month old.  I band in the mornings, so that they have all day to run around with their mothers and forget about the banding, and I always band on a day with nice weather.

If you plan on butchering while they are still quite young(I don't wean, I just butcher), then you do not have to castrate. 

At 5 months, I would just butcher them now and not bother with castrating.  They shouldn't be smelly yet, and if you castrate at that age and this time of year, you will have a stall in growth at the least and possibly even a bit of weight loss.  Then you will need to wait a couple months to butcher them at their best.

Truthfully, you can butcher a smelly buck, I have butchered a two-year old buck, IN RUTT, and the meat was very good.  The key is to be terribly clean with the procedure and to *never* let the hair or outer hide touch the meat.

Anyway.......no, I doubt you can still band 5 month old bucklings.  Most are very well-endowed by that time.

Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Dairy and Meat Goats
http://www.freewebs.com/ozarkjewels/

Also Morningland Dairy Raw Milk Cheeses. www.morninglanddairy.com