Goat-Raising Expenses

[Kusanar]

Where I live, you can GIVE raw milk to someone, but you cannot SELL raw milk. So, you can do something like sell a $5 quart jar that happens to contain free milk, or GIVE the milk to someone with a deposit required for the jar and a "suggested donation" that they can give you in exchange for the gift of the milk.

 

[VolailleAmant]

I always kept my goats in an enclosed barn at night during kidding season. No predators to kill kids and i could have a heat lamp to dry off newborns. Depends where you live if a 3 sided shelter would work. Good luck.

Thanks! I have a fairly large chicken coop divided into 2 halves, would the un-used part of my chicken coop be able to house [temporarily] young kids until weather warms up so that I could move them outside? I am trying to think of do-able housing ideas so that this whole goat idea of mine will be more convincing for my Dad I am trying to understand it all so that my Dad will see how appealing it is to me.
Thanks!

 

[VolailleAmant]

Where I live, you can GIVE raw milk to someone, but you cannot SELL raw milk. So, you can do something like sell a $5 quart jar that happens to contain free milk, or GIVE the milk to someone with a deposit required for the jar and a "suggested donation" that they can give you in exchange for the gift of the milk.

Ah- I see, thank you for that info!
I will have to look into my County's Dairy-Sales Extension. Thanks!!

 

[VolailleAmant]

I hope you find the information you need! I also suggest posting this on backyardherds.com (same people) as I'm sure there will be more goat people there. Good luck!

Thank you! I saw that site, I am waiting to be "approved". Then I will need to figure out how to post something I am not techy at all! I am getting a lot of wonderful answers, answering my questions!!
Thanks!

 

[cassie]

Originally I used a 3-sided shelter, and depending where you live, these are just fine. However. I kept having dogs get in and kill goats. I just can't afford this. First it's an emotional cost of losing a goat, but let's face it, it's also an economic one. I have spent a LOT of money, trying to get the very best genetics that I can. I just can not afford to have this happen. (In case you are wondering, the dogs had to dig under at least three fences to get to the goat, and these are good sturdy fences, too.)(Oh, and I know everybody loves to blame coyotes, but if these were coyotes, they were mysteriously leaving behind dog foot prints. That's how I know it was dogs. There were only dog footprints around the carcasses.)

So what I do now is, I lock the goats in the barn every night. I have been doing that for 4 years now and have not had a single further loss. It is actually a horse barn but it has a cement foundation all the way around and is made of steel and 2X6 lumber. Even a bear would have one tough time getting in there. The stalls are all 12' X 12'. Now if you do that, you do need to keep your stalls clean. But you know, if you are keeping dairy goats, that is usually part of your daily management anyway, so I do not see this as a big hardship. I clean the stalls every morning, lock the goats out into the runs so the stalls can dry out, put in fresh bedding at night and let them all in for the evening feed. It's very simple to manage them this way and when I get up in the morning, they are all there!

Where I used to live in California, there were LOTS of coyotes. We would hear them daily and occasionally I would see one running across the pasture. I never lost a single animal to the coyotes. Not one. Coyotes are opportunists. If something is more trouble than it is worth to get to, they won't bother. Dogs are another story. They kill for sport and they are willing to go to great lengths to get to their prey. A good friend of mine had a dog get into his outdoor goat pens. After that he started locking the goats in the barn at night. Unfortunately there was an open window about six feet up from ground level. He did not think that was an issue until he went out to do chores one morning just in time to see a German Shepherd come flying out of the open window. Tony went inside to find blood everywhere and a number of his goats dead and others shredded. Some were in shock and some were so badly injured they had to be put down. These were high dollar animals. Tony routinely gets about $5000 for his prize buck kids and he has a waiting list. Aside from the financial loss, which was considerable, there was the emotional loss, and that is much worse. I no longer have goats, but if I did, I think I would invest in that electrified poultry fencing.

 

[VolailleAmant]

Where I used to live in California, there were LOTS of coyotes. We would hear them daily and occasionally I would see one running across the pasture. I never lost a single animal to the coyotes. Not one. Coyotes are opportunists. If something is more trouble than it is worth to get to, they won't bother. Dogs are another story. They kill for sport and they are willing to go to great lengths to get to their prey. A good friend of mine had a dog get into his outdoor goat pens. After that he started locking the goats in the barn at night. Unfortunately there was an open window about six feet up from ground level. He did not think that was an issue until he went out to do chores one morning just in time to see a German Shepherd come flying out of the open window. Tony went inside to find blood everywhere and a number of his goats dead and others shredded. Some were in shock and some were so badly injured they had to be put down. These were high dollar animals. Tony routinely gets about $5000 for his prize buck kids and he has a waiting list. Aside from the financial loss, which was considerable, there was the emotional loss, and that is much worse. I no longer have goats, but if I did, I think I would invest in that electrified poultry fencing.

Oh no! That would be terrible to find! And that money into them? They sell that well? Wow. $5k is a lot of money

 

[cassie]

Oh no! That would be terrible to find! And that money into them? They sell that well? Wow. $5k is a lot of money

HIS goats sell that well. He has some of the top producing goats in the country. In fact, he has several national breed leaders for both milk and fat production. He also has his herd appraised and the conformation scores on his goats are very high. Many have scores of above 90 which is considered EXCELLENT. Excellent is an official rating. It isn't just a description.

 

[Zoomie]

HIS goats sell that well. He has some of the top producing goats in the country. In fact, he has several national breed leaders for both milk and fat production. He also has his herd appraised and the conformation scores on his goats are very high. Many have scores of above 90 which is considered EXCELLENT. Excellent is an official rating. It isn't just a description.

HOLY COW! His linear appraisal scores are in the 90s?! That is really impressive... Oh how I wish... some day... I do have the bloodlines, time will tell!

@the OP: yeah, if you participate in some of these national programs that really helps your sales. BUT. Depending on where you live it's hard to participate... I live in the Back of Beyond and getting the linear appraisal people out here will not be cheap. So far I can't afford it. Normally a bunch of farms get together and share the cost, but that's not possible where I live because there ARE no other small farms doing what I do. I had my herd all lined up to participate in the DHIA program of milk testing, I got the local county agent guy agree to do my testing, but he lost his house and had to move out of state. So far I have not been able to find anyone else to do the testing. And again, that costs money. So yeah, you might get more for your stock, but on the other hand, you have also invested a bunch in them and deserve those fancy prices.

 

[Kusanar]

Thank you! I saw that site, I am waiting to be "approved". Then I will need to figure out how to post something I am not techy at all! I am getting a lot of wonderful answers, answering my questions!!
Thanks!

It's the exact same software as this one is, so if you can work this one, you should be able to navigate that one ok as well.

 

[RiverOtter]

I raise dairy goats, and yes, you can make money off just a few - BUT you have to be creative and NOT break any laws.

First, you want good quality animals. You're not going to show (as one poster mentioned, a show herd runs at a loss until you make a serious name for yourself and can keep enough animals to do so) so registration isn't too important, but production IS.
So pick a breed and get a couple of really nice ones that will put milk in the pail for you.

Source a good hay supplier and a steady source of grain and get a bag of high-copper goat mineral (NOT goat and sheep mineral, which is really just for sheep) with just 2 goats, you won't need a lot of grain storage, a metal trashcan will be fine.

Put a 4th side on your 3 sided shed and you're good to go!

How to make a profit; First, forget about selling milk. Just forget it. With just 2 goats and no milkroom, the regs are against you and you don't want to be fined.
What you sell will be mostly "value added product". Goat's milk soaps and lotions sell fairly well nearly everywhere. I "sold" my milk as milk-fed pork. Milk, pasture and a bit of corn raise a very, very nice pig. Another thing to look into is to offer a service - orphan raising. Baby anything thrive on goats milk.
Don't overlook the value of what YOU use. Every bit of milk and cheese you use yourself, you're not paying to buy - it counts!
While selling milk is out (just trust me, it's more trouble than it's worth) selling cheese might not be if you want to look into that.
And last but certainly not least, to make this milk, your goats will have to kid every year. Doelings can be sold as bottle babies for a decent price from productive mothers and bucklings can be sold, or better, raised, as meat animals (again, you're selling the milk, in a different package)
Many small (2-5, after that you run into economics of scale issues) goat raisers I know, the kid sales pay for the feed for the year and everything from the milk is a bonus. While years that they might each have a single buck it wont, but then other years they might both have twin does - it evens out.