Why raise goats?

[ARose4Heaven]

I am looking for small animals that I can make $$$$ with. I have chickens and LOVE them. Now I am looking for something a little bigger. How does one make money on goats? I need some REAL convincing arguments because my DH is VERY set against them. (He is a cattle and Hog man).

 

[ksalvagno]

Boer goats can be a good money maker if you have ethnic people around who like the meat.

If you just want a couple of dairy goats for your own personal milk, then there are the benefits of making your own cheese, yogurt and drinking the raw milk. Also can feed extra milk to other animals. Not to mention making soap and selling it. You won't make a lot of money on a dairy herd but you get other benefits that are money savings or even health cost savings by eating healthier food.

 

[iamcuriositycat]

Hate to be a downer but... making money with livestock is very, very difficult, especially on a small scale and if you want the animals treated well and raised healthily.

I raise ducks for eggs, quail for meat & eggs, and want a milk goat because I like controlling where my food comes from, knowing that the animal that produces it is healthy and happy, and that everything that went into the food is good for me and the environment and my family.

By the time I factor in equipment, supplies, structures, the animals themselves, time, etc... I'm lucky if a dozen eggs has cost me less than the price of the most expensive eggs in the supermarket. But they are WAY better.

Making money can be done, but it's rare. On the other hand, I do sell eggs and ducklings, and the income from that offsets the cost quite a bit in summer. In winter, they're definitely a drain on the budget, and any exceptional expenses such as new pens etc., are rarely covered by sales.

My husband is not a big fan of the animals either, but we've learned to compromise because we love each other and love being together. I put up with the sound of football in the house during the football season because I love having *him* around, and he puts up with the sound & chores & expense that go along with livestock because he loves me and likes me to be happy. I definitely am getting the easier end of the deal here, lol!

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

I see my dairy goats as something that saves me money rather then a money maker, although I think there is a possibility that with the sale of kids I don't need I may either break even or possibly come out on top with what I put into them plus I get the milk and cheese and meat from wethers that I don't sell.

I figured a while ago that it will cost me around $1,000 a year to feed my Nigerians. Although I need to re-figure that because I have lost some goats and changed feed and supplements around.

My 4 girls should give me pretty close to 2 gallons of milk a day, which back then I figured that it would be about $1 a gallon of milk. I currently am paying $7 a gallon (2 a week) for raw cows milk from a cow share program and pay $32 for a 5lb block of raw cheese every month. That doesn't even include my use of buttermilk, butter, sour cream etc. So with the many different uses that I will get from the milk, and how little I am paying for it, my goats are actually saving me a lot of money.

I wouldn't be able to really make money off of my goats unless I was willing to put out the money for all the expensive equipment needed to become a grade A dairy that pasteurizes, which I never would do because pasteurized milk is not good for you at all. So it just depends on what works for you.

 

[julieq]

Might speak with some of the meat goat crowd, but we personally don't know of anyone who makes money on dairy goats. We got into it years ago for the milk (and yogurt, kefir and cheese...) and stayed with it because we just enjoy them so much!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

I see my dairy goats as something that saves me money rather then a money maker

yep. but i'm ahead of CrownofThorns because i've had my goats longer so they have "paid" for themselves by saving me money on things i'd normally buy ... like most of our dairy in the summer.

also we use our goat milk (3 gallons a day) for our barnyard... we save 30% across the board on feed b/c we supplement feed for chickens, turkeys, pigs and such with the goat milk.

you might try the angle that you can feed the extra milk to the hogs - makes a nice pig for sure. but you'd be smarter to get a full sized dairy goat to really make it worth your while (i really like the la manchas which are a smaller, full sized goat).

but if he is into cattle anyway -- what dotcha get a dairy cow and really get the milk flowing?

my buddy milks two jerseys and grows out 20ish hogs a year. saves a ton of money on feed that way. plus you cant easily get cream from goats like you can from a sweet little jersey cow.

good luck!

 

[scrambledmess]

Do you have cattle and/or hogs now?

I did a lot of looking into what we wanted on our mini-farm in the way of larger livestock. I found in general for our start up costs, feed costs, etc that goats were the least expensive of the three and I think the rewards are higher as well. You can't milk a hog. Both hogs and cattle are grossly messy in comparison. Even with my large family, a couple dairy cows is WAY more milk then we could ever use. It takes forever to grow out a steer for the freezer as compared to a goat, thus the food cost is MUCH higher on steer. And since hogs don't typically graze, your food costs there are pretty high too.

As far as making money? LOLOLOLOL umm sorry. Maybe some day we will start to break even from year to year. But we only just got started and everything at the moment is money out with none coming back in. But we only have two pet pygmies and 2 bottle babies (soon to be 4 or 5.... ). So nothing that can give us money back anyway.

Our pygmies eat less then ANYTHING else on our property, including eating less then our chickens.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Are you wanting to do meat or milk? Right now due to the corn prices and hay prices sky rocketing the only way you can make money on meat goats is to have plenty of your own feed and pasture land.

If you are raising goats just for meat and the occasional percentage or commercial replacement animal you would have to keep your costs way down and be as efficient and thrifty as possible and try to kid out your does 3 times every two years to get as many babies on the ground. Right now the recommended selling weight for a kid is 60 to 80 lbs, if you sell it much lighter than that you just don't get enough for it and if you sell if heavier your return on the addtional weight is just not there to cover you extra feed costs, unless they have done all the gaining on pasture alone, which is highly unlikely.

You would need to put your feed costs as much as possible into your growing kids and not your all ready grown does and bucks. Our doe herd is only on Pasture and free-choice loose goat mineral year round. The only time they receive grain is for 2 weeks prior to being exposed to a buck and the again for 3 to 4 weeks prior to kidding and for 5 to 6 weeks while nursing kids we wean our kids at 7 weeks, so we can put the grain into the kids and not the does. The does are put back on hay or pasture until the next breeding. Kids are feed to 60 to 80 pounds(about 3 to 4 months) and they are all sold for meat or as replacement breeding stock. We only keep a coule for ourselves as replacements.

Can't afford to keep them longer than that, or profit compared to rate of gain goes way down.

 

[jodief100]

I had expenses last year of abotu $1000 more than income.

Includes market meat goats and pasture raised chickens.

I had a lot of capital expenses that will be amortized over the next 7 years and I received money from the Commonwealth to pay for some expenses.

The taxes benefits make it worthwhile. Some years I make money, others I don't. It is not easy and you have to have a market. I couldn't do it without the funds form the Commonwealth.

 

[GoatRancher11]

The taxes thing makes sense. I'm just starting out myself but our family has a good amount of land. I have actually leased about 10 acres closer to my house before I transfer everything to our farm in the coming years.

When you start out, with planting pasture (if you decided to do this), fence costs, house for goats (this can be done for cheap) and then actually buying goats, it will take a little while to recoup your costs. BUT if you are looking to profit, keep your eye on the ball and look at it as a long term venture. If you choose the right type of goats (in my opinion, it's Kikos), you will eventually start to profit I think.

I say that but I am just a beginner myself. It's one thing to say something, it's another to actually do it.

The best thing to do is what you are doing. Ask for advice from those who have "been there." That is certainly what I have done. Through email, the phone and visiting a few farms (3), I have gained a lot of knowledge I feel like.

I, like you, am ready to get my feet wet now! It is certainly a hobby at first and should be an awesome time!