Convince me...
 

Hubby asked about milking a goat the other day! What?! He was tired of the price of milk and the 4 gallons a week we use for our three kids. I told him I didn't think we would "save" money having and milking a goat, rather the only reason to do it was for a better product. Have any of you crunched the numbers on this?

You don't save money. You have real milk, fresh milk, and non-adulterated milk. :)

Not a money saver. They pay you back many times over in their ownership, though - mostly for other reasons. :)

It takes me around $1.50 a day to feed a milking doe. You have to think about initial cost for the doe, plus she needs a companion, meds, buck service(to maximize milk production your going to have to breed her annually). If you count anything for your time. No you won't come out ahead. :D

A lot also depends on your inputs. If you already have a barn and securely fenced pasture with cows or horses in a temperate climate with good forage nearly year round, it will be relatively cost effective. If, however, you have to build/fence from scratch, dry lot and feed hay and grain year-round, it can be expensive.

You must also be willing to devote time consistently to milk EVERYDAY, and for a period of time twice a day. That includes weekends. And you'll have to find someone reliable to do it for you to go on a weekend get-away or vacation. Its a real commitment.

You'll also have to be very self-reliant when it comes to vet care. Diagnosing, deworming, drawing blood, vaccinating, castrating, even disbudding you'll need to do as much on your own as possible. Good goat vets are hard to find. And vet bills for standard procedures really add up. Save the vet call for the serious stuff and understand at some point you may very well have to weigh the cost of saving an animal against what your pocketbook will allow.

We ALL have times we question "are we absolutely nuts to be doing this?" You really need a firm belief that it makes a difference in your family's health and a genuine love for the animals.

The hard truth is dairy products are HEAVILY subsidized. The price you pay for the gallon of milk you buy at the grocery store is cheaper than it cost to produce. The government picked up the tab so you can afford to buy it for your family - the wacked out remnants of an out-dated farm policy that addressed the needs of failing family farms and impoverished masses during the Great Depression.

But Alice is right, ultra-pasturized milk doesn't compare to the quality of the product you get when you raise it yourself.

Having a milk goat has been very educational for my 11 yr old daughter, an invaluable learning experience (she was the milker)...
We went looking for weedeating goats and came home with this one, I consider them "pets with benefits"....

I've never crunched the numbers, but the fact that I never have to go to the store because I'm out of milk is worth A LOT to me!

We are already up and running for goats (2 weathers), but obviously a milking doe adds a few extras :)

I am experienced with milking and all the in and outs....just never had to think about it from a cost point of view. I told my hubby if all he wanted to do was save money...this was not the way to go. Thanks for confirming that for me :)

I would rather do it because I want a better product for my kids and that is going to require far more than I think my husband understands :)

If you are getting wethers, then cost isn't the issue, unless you are going to eat the wethers. :D

Any milking animal will tie you down and take time and money.

Really excellent answers!! Goats are interesting, wonderful PETS for us...pets that give us love, entertainment AND milk. The milk is really important because we live at least an hour's drive from the closest grocery store and it is one of the two commodities that we are always running out of...the other being bread which I bake. The convenience when winter closes in or there are bad storms and the power lines fail us is really beneficial.

If you're already set up with wethers. Getting a milker is no biggie. An animal that pays her way is that much more lovable!!!

I can make my own milk cheaper right here, than have to drive to pick it up and pay someone else to milk for me. They have all the costs I have, or more. My goat feed is cheap. You have to have the right goats, just like anything else. No high strung show goat here....James

If all you want is cheap food, and there are no other considerations (quality of food, pleasure in having animals and producing your food, life experience for your kids, for example) then forget growing your own anything. Just buy stuff on sale and with coupons at Walmart and be done with it. Most people, tho, have goats, chickens, gardens, etc because they enjoy having them and are willing to put the effort and money into it. But it's sure hard to grow supermarket quality food cheaper than the food industry can.

Does Hubby plan on doing the milking himself, or just helping consume the output?

Peg

I don't want cheap food! We have chickens for eggs, our own organic garden and are preparing for pigs and rabbits down the road. I would love a milk goat, however my mom keeps talking me out of it. And I guess I talk myself out of it too. Those of you who have read about my experience may remember I was raised on a goat dairy. I know all too well what would be expected of me. I know hubby would help....he helps with all the chickens, garden and the two whethers we already have. I just know how easy it is to hop in the car and run the 2 miles for milk. A few weeks of milking and I think he would be over all the extra work; milking, straining and sanitizing jars and pails. Also (even though I attended plenty of kiddings when I was a kid) after losing Millie this year while kidding, I don't think I want another pregnant goat on my farm. That knocked the wind right out of me :(

Plus, you have to have at least two goats. Then they are addictive, so soon you have a whole herd.

Ya know I think in some ways that is what I fear most. Mom started with 1 doe and a whether. This was the late 70's. She wanted wholesome raw milk and the back to basics experience for us kids. Well long story short those two goats became 150 and the first grade A dairy in GA producing fresh chèvre for restaurants and retail markets in the Atlanta area. You see now why my mom talks me out of it, ha ha!

Costwise, it depends on what resources you have available to you. I am able to pasture the girls, and boys, and have fairly cheap hay available. I spent $200 per goat for feed for a year this fall. Barring any medical expenses, that's it. What I save in milk makes it worth it. If you factor in the cheese that I make, the girls pay for themselves and the boys and very well may make me a slight bit. We go through A LOT of cheese every year and at $10/2 lbs, it doesn't take too long to break even. If I stretch it, 2 lbs of cheese will last 2 weeks.

Yep! Trouble is, to have milk, you have to breed. To breed you need a buck. If you're going to get a buck, better get a decent one...Next thing you know, you're trying to learn good conformation, what a good udder looks like... looking at breeders' websites...studying bloodlines. As you learn what a good goat looks like, you start to really appreciate a quality goat. Then you want to breed quality goats. Pretty soon, you're picking up a buckling at the airport 2 hours away at 2:00 in the morning after having saved back and spent an amount of money you would have rolled your eyes at seeing someone else pay a few years prior. :D Well, then, of course you have to retain some doelings, see what you get. Need to keep a few head to have any decent kind of breeding going on. Goats are like a drug...so yeah, think hard before you take the first hit lol!

There are some disciplined folks who keep it at just a couple. I don't know how!

And that's not even to begin talking about if you decide to keep more than 1 breed. Oy!

Yes, when it comes to goats we can all get carried away. But seriously, homestead goats do not have to be that complicated. A productive milker does not have to be registered or show quality. And you don't have to be in the breeding business. Just breed your doe(s) to a meat buck and sell the offspring as meat weanlings. When you need a replacement doe in 4-5 years breed to a dairy buck or buy a new doeling. One of the things I love about homesteading is that variety is the spice of life and a little of this and that makes me happy. The times when I have been overwhelmed by any homesteading endeavor its usually been when it got too big, too involved or too many. That has held true with goats. I am down to a total of 5 and that is perfect for me.