900 goat dairy farm

[BrownSheep]

I recently just read ( http://issuu.com/hvpress/docs/vp_may_2015_web) about a dairy farm nearby that has 900 goats and milks about 600 hundred of those.

Just thought you goaties would be interested.

I live in big dairy country but had no idea we had so many large dairy goat opperations.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I recently just read ( http://issuu.com/hvpress/docs/vp_may_2015_web) about a dairy farm nearby that has 900 goats and milks about 600 hundred of those.

Just thought you goaties would be interested.

I live in big dairy country but had no idea we had so many large dairy goat opperations.

Wow. That's interesting.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[258 Pots]

another factory farm?

 

[OneFineAcre]

another factory farm?

No
A family farm trying to make a living
Google "economies of scale"
It's a fairly basic premise of microeconomics that dates back to Adam Smith
Wikipedia has a decent explanation

 

[BrownSheep]

Nope definately not a factory farm. Family dairy farms here are LARGE. To put it simply, my family has a feedlot CAFO-ed for 1000 cows an average dairy has no problem filling that with just replacement heifers.

 

[SheepGirl]

You can't expect to make a liveable profit off of a hobby farm--you need a LARGE working farm to make enough money to support your family and pay the employees to make a large farm operate smoothly.

 

[258 Pots]

You can't expect to make a liveable profit off of a hobby farm--you need a LARGE working farm to make enough money to support your family and pay the employees to make a large farm operate smoothly.

As John McLuaghlin would say "Wrong!", but thats your paradigm, mine differs...
Here are some facts to prove you wrong, sorry... Facts suck...
http://permacultureapprentice.com/how-to-make-a-living-from-a-1-5-acre-market-garden/

 

[SheepGirl]

That is for produce -- but keep in mind each spouse is only making $37,500 CA ($29,000 USD). And that is direct marketing their product which takes time and marketing which I am unsure is actually included in their budgets and expenses. Is that really a liveable wage, though? Enough to pay for the mortgage, utilities, groceries, clothing, transportation, etc?

Considering I profit around $100 per year per ewe, I would need 290 sheep to make the same profit -- if that... I would need more land which means my profit per ewe would be less, meaning I would need more sheep (and more land, roughly 58 acres with 5 ewes/acre) to make that much money.

 

[OneFineAcre]

As John McLuaghlin would say "Wrong!", but thats your paradigm, mine differs...
Here are some facts to prove you wrong, sorry... Facts suck...
http://permacultureapprentice.com/how-to-make-a-living-from-a-1-5-acre-market-garden/

You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

[OneFineAcre]

That is for produce -- but keep in mind each spouse is only making $37,500 CA ($29,000 USD). And that is direct marketing their product which takes time and marketing which I am unsure is actually included in their budgets and expenses. Is that really a liveable wage, though? Enough to pay for the mortgage, utilities, groceries, clothing, transportation, etc?

Considering I profit around $100 per year per ewe, I would need 290 sheep to make the same profit -- if that... I would need more land which means my profit per ewe would be less, meaning I would need more sheep (and more land, roughly 58 acres with 5 ewes/acre) to make that much money.

x 2.
Plus a dairy is more capital intensive with the need for buildings and equipment.