# Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? Texas



## victor.hernandez (Aug 7, 2012)

Near San Antonio Texas, could being a Nubian goat rancher, just selling Goat that you breed, and possibly products and meat, be profitable? Could you actually make a profit? Would raising Goats be better than Cattle ranching on 40 acres? 40 acres is split up into different pastures. Could you make a better profit raising and selling beef cattle than dual-purpose Goats? I wanted to start Goat ranching, but some people say they are hard to take care of, not an off-hands animal at all, and you could barely even break-even in that. I would probably start out with 3 does from the same breeder, then later get 3 bucks from the same breeder. After I get established I would get 3 more doesfrom that one breeder, then I would get 6 more does and 3 more bucks but from a different breeder to prevent too much inbreeding. I wouldnt but her the original 18 goats though, just sell them. The herd would grow from there, but I would probably eventually limit the size of the herd to less than 30 or 40. I've been researching online all I can, but I will also be buying 4 books on goat ranching, and 1 on family chicken farming ( I also want to keep some 20-30 chickens) Thanks.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

Well, there are folks that do it. We had a member called "sideplanner", don't think they are still here, went over to www.goatwisdom.com, I think. Anyway, very knowledgeable about raising meat goats. Try to find some older posts and check them out.

If you have good pasture, and don't have to buy much expensive hay, that makes a huge difference. I raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats and I only have 6.5 acres. So, I must buy hay. I make enough (generally) to buy their hay and grain, etc., so while I don't make a lot of money...I make enough to "pay for my hobby". I have 7 does (well 2 others are not registered, we will use those alpine girls for milk) and 2 bucks. I think meat goats sell at auction for around $1./lb. I sell my doelings for $275.00 at 8 weeks old. Wethers go for $75. So, obviously, that is better then "market" price...but...I don't have hundreds to sell either. lol

This spring I sold 14 bucklings and 4 doelings. It was a buck year here, :GAAH: So, I bred them again to kid in fall...soon actually. We'll see how that goes.

Wow, I'm really chatty this morning! Good luck, you'll get more info soon.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

Not starting out, I don't think. It may take you several years to make a profit ...


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

Sounds like you have plenty space. You are in a great area!
But start off slow. There is a huge learning curve in goats.
Honestly you only need one buck to begin with, maybe a few more more does instead. Your first season should produce twins if not trips.
What does the word profit mean? :laugh:


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## Serenity Woods (Apr 2, 2012)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

What are your pastures like? Are they mostly grass? Goats typically prefer to browse rather than graze, just the opposite of most cattle. They'll be happiest if they have brush and undergrowth instead of grass. Just something to consider when making your choice.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

I agree with what everyone has said.
Our goats would rather be in the woods browsing, than in the grassy area of their pen eating the grass. They are very picky IMO, people who say goats will eat anything, don't know goats.

I agree with getting one buck and more does. I'd try to go for goats that are not related, see which bloodlines you like the best, then build off of that, keeping daughters to build up your herd.
If you buy does that have been bred before, only look for ones that produce twins or triplets. 
A sheep farm down the road explained to us at a 4-H meeting there once, that they cull any animals that produce singles.
Because... they said they sell the 1st lamb to pay for the expense of caring for the mom/her babies. The 2nd lamb is where they make their $$, not the first one they sell.

You have to worry about worming <which can be a real pain in the hot/humid & damp months>, cd/t shots are a must IMO and are not costly. Hay.. you would want better than 'cattle' grade hay. Our goats don't eat cattle hay very well. 
In the winter we'll feed round rolls of grass hay, and buy bales of better nutritional hay.

If you plan on having milk goats, you'll have to be hands on, they will need milked daily, grain to maintain their output, and overall daily care to maintain good health.

If it were me, and wanting to turn it into a business, I'd visit other breeders/farms and see how they are doing it, ask questions, etc.

Good Luck


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## victor.hernandez (Aug 7, 2012)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

So Should I start with 3 Females, and a buck(all from different bloodlines)? There is mostly pasture, and some trees with bushes. Once I get used to wotking with goats, should I buy a few more Does, and maybe another buck?


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## HamiltonAcresBoers (May 9, 2012)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

I wouldnt do nubians in TX. boers are the BIG thing down there. They sell for big bucks, if theyre out of good bloodlines. Try starting off with 5 registered does, and a registered buck, and grow from there.


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## Skyz84 (Jul 25, 2011)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

Hi neighbor!

I don't know about other breeds of goats... but we have 6 acres of land and 11 Dwarf Goats... This was our 2nd year with goats and 1st year breeding them. Because of the drought and the high hay costs all I can hope is we will at least break even by this time next year... and that's just hoping. I'm hoping to start making soap to put all of our extra milk to good use and hopefully bring in a little extra cash. I'm a stay at home mom and I also work from home. My at home job makes me just enough spare cash to pay for the animals...

Last year we were paying an average of $15 a bale in hay...We got lucky this year and got a great deal on good hay ($5-$7 a bale) so we stocked up enough to last until next spring... so considering the awesome hay price....our average monthly expenses on hay, grain, minerals, supplements, etc... is about $120 for just the goats.. but that is considering with 6 acres of land we don't have any grass/browse... nothing.. just dirt and a few patches of dead grass.
That doesn't count fecals, wormers, vet visits, medications or additional supplies for milking or kidding..

I'm hoping one day it will actually be profitable.. but I know that is probably a long way down the road.. I'm sure some people do it... I think the biggest advantage is a large amount of quality land.


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## Skyz84 (Jul 25, 2011)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*



HamiltonAcresBoers said:


> I wouldnt do nubians in TX. boers are the BIG thing down there. They sell for big bucks, if theyre out of good bloodlines. Try starting off with 5 registered does, and a registered buck, and grow from there.


I think the most important factor is starting off with QUALITY lines. I've seen boers go here from under $100 on CL... most average around $200-$300... then I see some NICE lines listed for up to $1000... don't know if they manage to sell them for that... but it's a HUGE variation in price depending on the quality of the animals...

Also make sure you start off with clean, health tested animals...


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## victor.hernandez (Aug 7, 2012)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

Well I wanted to have a goat that produced sufficient milk and was useful for meat, and I was also thinking about keeping Boers swell with the Nubians, but they seem way too expensive. Which ever I choose, after each doe (3) produces atleast 2 kids from the 1 buck I have, I would have 10 right there, but I don't want to inbreed or linebreed, so I would have to realeat the same process with another 3 unrelated does and another buck to get another 10.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

Compared to a cow. A goat is not that expensive.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*

If you're thinking of using the meat just for yourself, full sized dairy wethers also have some meat on their bones. Granted not as much as meat breeds.


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## Skyz84 (Jul 25, 2011)

*Re: Could I Get Goat Ranching To Be A Profitable Business? T*



victor.hernandez said:


> Well I wanted to have a goat that produced sufficient milk and was useful for meat, and I was also thinking about keeping Boers swell with the Nubians, but they seem way too expensive. Which ever I choose, after each doe (3) produces atleast 2 kids from the 1 buck I have, I would have 10 right there, but I don't want to inbreed or linebreed, so I would have to realeat the same process with another 3 unrelated does and another buck to get another 10.


As far as expensive.. I think a lot of it is... you get what you pay for. I've seen Nubians, Boars, Nigerians... and all breeds... listened locally for very cheap... but they are from backyard herds, no health testing, no reliability.... Your going to pay more for any breed if you start looking into specifics.. Like Health Testing, Milking ability..etc. I see backyard Nigerians for sale all the time for under $100 but when you start looking at quality animals.. the price starts going up into the $300-$600 range.

Also remember.. if you are planing on building your herd from breeding your own.... Some years you may get more boys... other years more girls... and some years may be even... Then sometimes you lose kids due to one reason or another.. This year we bred 4 does... We ended up with a total of 9 kids..7 boys & 2 girls..... Only 5 lived to sell... 2 does and 3 pet wethers...

BUT if things did work out in your favor.. and you kept back your doe kids then.... sell your buck and buy a new unrelated one to bred to everyone. OR keep him and buy a 2nd buck. Gives you more possibilities for breeding. If you plan to keep both Boers & Nubians... You could have a boer & a Nubian buck... SO sometimes you could make purebreds and other times you could make nice crosses.

Just what I have learned.... Start small so you can get in a routine and learn. We are VERY copper & Selenium deficient at our place. Our goats require regular supplements besides just the minerals. We also have a LOT of worms... We have to keep a close eye on worming.. seems to be about every 3-4 months. In the beginning we had to play around with feed, hay, minerals, etc. It took a while to find out what worked best for our land to keep our goats in a condition we were happy with.


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## JayeMaye (Nov 13, 2012)

Goat/sheep farming has been somewhat profitable for us, especially with the ag exemption. On ~half of our 73 acres (east of San Antonio), we now have almost 100 (does, a few bucks, and older kids/lambs who we'll either keep or send to auction). In addition to that, this fall batch has produced 20 kids and 30 lambs with more on the way. They kid about twice a year (every 8 months on average), with the sheep producing a little quicker than goats. Goats sell for more at auction, but the sheep (a Barbados-mix) are more prolific and require less maintenance than goats (care and attention needed for hoofing, health, kidding, untangling their horns from the fence -- the grass is always greener on the other side for those greedy guts/goats). For goats, we've had several different types: milk producers (Toggenburg, Nubian), meat (Boer), Spanish. The best/maintenance free type of goat is a Spanish-Boer mix. Boer goats pack the meat, while Spanish goats are more resilient and live longer, healthier lives. Milk goats are the worst on hoofing here, even though we've put out rocks and concrete blocks across the pen entrance to help file down their hooves. Milk goats also tend to have more trouble with their bags than Boar or Spanish, so we don't focus on milk production as much as meat production. Our goats have sold from $60-$300 a head at auction, depending on weight/age, time of year, and buyer. We bail are own hay, so no extra costs there, but we do buy grain. For now, at least.

We chose goats/sheep over cows because we wanted a smaller (in weight/size) livestock. Many of the goats have become our pets. And they do like their pats, especially around the horns. Their personalities are what won us over, and they always keep us laughing. 

For bucks, we keep about 2 goats and 2 sheep bucks, who are about the same age and from different mothers (and fathers when we first started). Then we stagger 1 or 2 future bucks, who will eventually take over in 3-5 years using the down-line breeding method. It depends on how good our current buck performs. E.g., we've noticed that whether you get twins or not depends not just on the doe but on the buck as well. 

Once you get in a routine, it gets much easier. Having multiple pastures is key to good maintenance. We rotate pastures and worm every month to avoid worms. Hope this helps. Also, 4 x 4", 12-gauge wire, 4' high is the fencing we use now to keep predators out and goats in -- wish we knew that from the start. We just trusted the store guys without checking further and got 12 x 6 -- a big mistake -- even our dogs were able to get through. It was the same for the coyotes. And don't get me started on the vultures. Happy farming.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

> I wanted to start Goat ranching, but some people say they are hard to take care of, not an off-hands animal at all, and you could barely even break-even in that.


If you are serious about making a profit, I HIGHLY recommend Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care." It is almost unbelievable how many diseases (worms included) can be prevented and cured with just a healthy diet and correct minerals, which are easy to give via her basic stock lick.
I use her methods and have found them very reliable so far!
Also, I second what Di said about pasture. My goats actually eat a lot of grass.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

I am Edwards County, lots of goat ranchers out here. Some have other businesses but many that is all they do. I use to live in San Antonio, so I know the area. There is some cattle around here but not much. The rocky soil makes goat ranching much more profitable. Exactly where are you? I am new to goats but I personally know folks who have been ranching for generations.


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