4 ms·

You could easily raise goats without competing. They dont take up much room and there is a market for them. You just won't make much money. Like farming in gene

by eppp 4y ago

You could easily raise goats without competing. They dont take up much room and there is a market for them. You just won't make much money. Like farming in general.

shagie 4y ago
http://www.goatops.com http://www.goatops.com The issue is scaling. In order to make enough to live off of the income generated by the goats, you need a dozen goats, which themselves need food, shelter, and medical care. And for dairy goats, you also need the equipment for milking.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  A dozen goats is not a lot. Shelter you can build yourself and you just need enough so they have an escape from the sun & snow. Farmers do most of the medical care themselves except for the rare instances where you need to call the vet, e.g., we just had to put a horse down a couple of weeks ago. Food is the most important one because it's an non-stop expense, but it's not unmanageable since it scales directly with the number of animals.
  - shagie 4y ago
    That roughly agrees with my back of the envelope math. A dozen dairy goats should be able to provide about $80k/year and it doesn't seem like they'd need too much room (my parents house in the country has enough land out back to do this and the neighbors are far enough away to not complain about goats... and, well, the neighbors have cows and so aren't likely to complain in any case - this isn't an option for someone living in the suburbs though). Still, animal husbandry isn't something for me. It's not the animals, but rather the business side of it that is at issue. http://www.cs.uni.edu/%7Ewallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2018-10.html#e2018-10-21T09_53_29.htm http://www.cs.uni.edu/%7Ewallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2018... / https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26209541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26209541 (and my commentary on it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26215448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26215448 )
    - floren 4y ago
      I'm a bit doubtful about that math... A Nubian goat will apparently produce an average of 2000 pounds per lactation, which averages 284 days. Since gestation averages 149 days, you're getting less than 2000 pounds per year per goat. (https://extension.psu.edu/dairy-goat-production https://extension.psu.edu/dairy-goat-production) 2000 pounds per goat is about 250 gallons. A brief search tells me that you might get up to $5/gallon for milk wholesale, which gives you $1259 per goat per annum, or $15000 for a dozen. That's pre-tax, of course, and doesn't include your expenses. I guess if you sell directly to consumers for $26.66 per gallon, you could gross $80k. You can produce cheese and such, but that's an additional enterprise. And of course there's potential for income selling goats for meat, since yearly breeding is going to give you a surplus unless you're looking to expand the herd.
      - shagie 4y ago
        From your source, you chose the the one that's near the bottom of the milk production range. If you're trying to make money with a dairy goat, Alpine or Saanen would be better options. --- https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/how-to-make-money-raising-goats/ https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/how-to-make-money-raisin... > A goat farmer can earn $8 to $12 per gallon. The most profitable dairy goat breed is the Saanen, in which you can profit up to $36 per day. From https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/nubian-goats-the-key-breed-facts/ https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/nubian-... > Productivity: Average 6.6 lb. (3.9 kg) milk per day/1920 lb. (871 kg) over 305 days with 4.8% butterfat and 3.5% protein. ... Although yield is lower than for most dairy breeds, the high levels of milk solids impart a rich flavor and improve coagulation, making it an ideal constituent for making goats’ cheese. Compare with https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/saanen-goat-breed-spotlight/ https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/saanen-... (digging) - this gets to https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/640/3/032031/pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/640/3/0... - the saanen appears to be about 15% - 30% more milk in the same time frame depending on the source. The "sample dairy goat budget" on the page you provided is an interesting resource. The price for goat milk - https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/differences-between-goat-milk-vs-cow-milk https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/differences-between-... > ... For about a quarter per 8-ounce glass, cow milk offers more nutritional value than just about any other beverage you can buy at this price. Goat milk is nearly five times more expensive, ringing up for $1.24 per 8-ounce glass. The budget worksheet puts the milk at $6.50/gallon. My math was based on a that very rough $36/doe/day math without accounting for expenses. I was interested in the "is the herd size a dozen? two dozen? or a hundred? ... in order to live ok?" The worksheet puts a rough estimate of the total receipts which the worksheet puts at $1,323.10/doe/year. The returns over variable costs per doe per year is $359.01 and returns to management is $225.72.

by eppp 4y ago

You could easily raise goats without competing. They dont take up much room and there is a market for them. You just won't make much money. Like farming in general.

shagie 4y ago

http://www.goatops.com http://www.goatops.com The issue is scaling. In order to make enough to live off of the income generated by the goats, you need a dozen goats, which themselves need food, shelter, and medical care. And for dairy goats, you also need the equipment for milking.

HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
A dozen goats is not a lot. Shelter you can build yourself and you just need enough so they have an escape from the sun & snow. Farmers do most of the medical care themselves except for the rare instances where you need to call the vet, e.g., we just had to put a horse down a couple of weeks ago. Food is the most important one because it's an non-stop expense, but it's not unmanageable since it scales directly with the number of animals.
- shagie 4y ago
  That roughly agrees with my back of the envelope math. A dozen dairy goats should be able to provide about $80k/year and it doesn't seem like they'd need too much room (my parents house in the country has enough land out back to do this and the neighbors are far enough away to not complain about goats... and, well, the neighbors have cows and so aren't likely to complain in any case - this isn't an option for someone living in the suburbs though). Still, animal husbandry isn't something for me. It's not the animals, but rather the business side of it that is at issue. http://www.cs.uni.edu/%7Ewallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2018-10.html#e2018-10-21T09_53_29.htm http://www.cs.uni.edu/%7Ewallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2018... / https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26209541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26209541 (and my commentary on it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26215448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26215448 )
  - floren 4y ago
    I'm a bit doubtful about that math... A Nubian goat will apparently produce an average of 2000 pounds per lactation, which averages 284 days. Since gestation averages 149 days, you're getting less than 2000 pounds per year per goat. (https://extension.psu.edu/dairy-goat-production https://extension.psu.edu/dairy-goat-production) 2000 pounds per goat is about 250 gallons. A brief search tells me that you might get up to $5/gallon for milk wholesale, which gives you $1259 per goat per annum, or $15000 for a dozen. That's pre-tax, of course, and doesn't include your expenses. I guess if you sell directly to consumers for $26.66 per gallon, you could gross $80k. You can produce cheese and such, but that's an additional enterprise. And of course there's potential for income selling goats for meat, since yearly breeding is going to give you a surplus unless you're looking to expand the herd.
    - shagie 4y ago
      From your source, you chose the the one that's near the bottom of the milk production range. If you're trying to make money with a dairy goat, Alpine or Saanen would be better options. --- https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/how-to-make-money-raising-goats/ https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/how-to-make-money-raisin... > A goat farmer can earn $8 to $12 per gallon. The most profitable dairy goat breed is the Saanen, in which you can profit up to $36 per day. From https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/nubian-goats-the-key-breed-facts/ https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/nubian-... > Productivity: Average 6.6 lb. (3.9 kg) milk per day/1920 lb. (871 kg) over 305 days with 4.8% butterfat and 3.5% protein. ... Although yield is lower than for most dairy breeds, the high levels of milk solids impart a rich flavor and improve coagulation, making it an ideal constituent for making goats’ cheese. Compare with https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/saanen-goat-breed-spotlight/ https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/goat-breeds/saanen-... (digging) - this gets to https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/640/3/032031/pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/640/3/0... - the saanen appears to be about 15% - 30% more milk in the same time frame depending on the source. The "sample dairy goat budget" on the page you provided is an interesting resource. The price for goat milk - https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/differences-between-goat-milk-vs-cow-milk https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/differences-between-... > ... For about a quarter per 8-ounce glass, cow milk offers more nutritional value than just about any other beverage you can buy at this price. Goat milk is nearly five times more expensive, ringing up for $1.24 per 8-ounce glass. The budget worksheet puts the milk at $6.50/gallon. My math was based on a that very rough $36/doe/day math without accounting for expenses. I was interested in the "is the herd size a dozen? two dozen? or a hundred? ... in order to live ok?" The worksheet puts a rough estimate of the total receipts which the worksheet puts at $1,323.10/doe/year. The returns over variable costs per doe per year is $359.01 and returns to management is $225.72.