# How can we make a living from goats?



## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

So the last year we have dabbled in goats. I say dabbled but we have worked pretty hard getting things set up and are wondering where the profit is going to be.

Show Boer goats: I'm guessing that in order to get high end dollars you would need high end goats and be showing them in order to push the value up by way of points. Since we are not looking forward to being gone to shows a lot of weekends that is most likely not going to be profitable. 

Commercial Boer goats: Ok, so these might sell for $100 to $150 per goat. In order to make $30,000.00 a year you would need to sell 200 goats at $150.00 per head. This does not account for feed, meds, hay, etc. 


So we also have some Nigerian Dwarfs ( Milk Goats) and I haven't even begun to see how to make a profit on breeding them either.

Myotonic goats ( fainting goats) Cute, interesting but do they actually sell well enough to make money? 

So... those of you who breed and sell goats or sell goats for profit how do you make it work and how many goats would one need to have to make it profitable?


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

We don't try to make a profit on our goats. At the moment they are for our use with an occasional sale. That said, our livestock inspector raises show goats for the 4-H kids. It has become big business. I was at her sale this year and she had 2 go for $1800, several in the $900 range. Her minimum bid on that sale was $400. She sold them all. She doesn't show them, just got started with some of the 4-H kids showing her stock and went from there. The packer here pays $2.09lb for goats. He takes them to California and sells them there.


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## Starcreek (Feb 4, 2015)

There are 3 basic types of goats in the U.S.: Meat (kiko, boer, myotonic, etc.), dairy, and angoras for fiber. I have no experience with angora, but I can give you a few tips on the others.

Dairy goats is what I have right now, and to be honest, the bottom has fallen out of the dairy goat market, just as it has for the gun market, since Trump was elected. The fear factor is gone. I don't honestly see how you can "make money" with dairy goats, but you can make them pay for themselves, by selling "herd shares" -- which allows you to sell the milk. Every state has a different law about selling raw milk, but where I am you can sell a "share" in your herd, which allows the "co-owner" to drink the milk without governmental retribution.

Meat goats are little more profitable, imo. If you have pasture or a good electric-net fence with solar charger, you can keep meat goats economically. You would need a livestock guardian dog to protect against dog packs and other predators, and a livestock trailer to move them around. Each year, you can expect one or 2 (sometimes 3-4) kids per doe, and you just pasture the little buck kids until summer is over and then take them to auction. There are certain Muslim and Hispanic holidays when goats bring a premium, and you could breed around those. If you become known to some Hispanic or Muslim butchers, they will actually come to your farm when they need some goats.

The other option is for brush-clearing. Do a little research on how many "goat hours" it takes to clear a brushy acre, and calculate your charges accordingly. Advertise, or get your services spread by word of mouth, and carry X-number of goats to the person's field and leave them for X-number of days, to clear the brush. Goats eat almost everything but the grass. I actually think, if you once got started and established, this would be the best option for making money, because people are more conscious of using natural methods nowadays that don't involve poisons.


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## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

terri9630 said:


> We don't try to make a profit on our goats. At the moment they are for our use with an occasional sale. That said, our livestock inspector raises show goats for the 4-H kids. It has become big business. I was at her sale this year and she had 2 go for $1800, several in the $900 range. Her minimum bid on that sale was $400. She sold them all. She doesn't show them, just got started with some of the 4-H kids showing her stock and went from there. The packer here pays $2.09lb for goats. He takes them to California and sells them there.


Ok so for 4h do you have to disbud them? I could see selling 4h stock here and our Boer line is very nice. People seem to want the dappled head Boer lately and we are breeding those as well as full dappled and traditional both registered and not.

Starcreek, we do have some pasture and it is very goatable since the last owner did not maintain it. We considered just pushing a crapload of commercial goats in there and trying to breed and sell but the numbers looked so big as per head of goats needed to make it profitable that we balked at the thought of maintaining 200 to 300 goats. Yikes!

I do like the idea of land clearing goats business but I would guess that would depend on client's fences. There are a lot of real big Yotes around here and I'm afraid the losses might be too big.


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

The goats have to be dis budded and casterated for 4-H but they do not have to be registered.


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## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

oooooooooops


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## Flight1630 (Jan 4, 2017)

terri9630 said:


> The goats have to be dis budded and casterated for 4-H but they do not have to be registered.


Remind me to never go there. Lol


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

Flight1630 said:


> Remind me to never go there. Lol


Just make sure your pants are zipped when your around the little green rubber bands and the medieval looking pliers and you'll be ok. Unless you have horns. Then you need to stay away from the "pipe" with the electric cord too.


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## Starcreek (Feb 4, 2015)

LastOutlaw said:


> Starcreek, we do have some pasture and it is very goatable since the last owner did not maintain it. We considered just pushing a crapload of commercial goats in there and trying to breed and sell but the numbers looked so big as per head of goats needed to make it profitable that we balked at the thought of maintaining 200 to 300 goats. Yikes!
> 
> I do like the idea of land clearing goats business but I would guess that would depend on client's fences. There are a lot of real big Yotes around here and I'm afraid the losses might be too big.


Last issue first: Coyotes are not a problem for an Anatolian Shepherd or Akbash livestock guardian dog. A pair of them, and you probably won't have to ever worry about predators.

The thing about goats is they multiply. If I were going into the meat goat business, I would get 2-3 Kiko does from An Peischel (in Tennessee) and a registered Boer buck from a reputable breeder (both of these choices would keep you from starting out with disease in your herd). Kikos are resistant to worms and hoof problems, so you rarely have to trim hooves or worm them. They also do not require shelter unless you have really severe weather or no trees in the pasture. And multiply? They can have from 1 to 5 kids per year. At the end of each summer, you gather the young males and sell them for meat. Breed with the females in the fall, and your herd doubles in size each spring. If you have a good, brushy pasture, you don't have to feed them, just make sure they have water and salt, and don't let them get to more than 2 goats per acre.


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