# Boarding goats...how much to charge?



## goatfarmer4891 (May 9, 2013)

Fenn Farms is becoming more well known in our towns and surrounding areas. We have people calling asking for multiple types of services including boarding. One guy would like for us to board his through the winter. He has 3 goats. This won't be a problem because we have plenty of space, but how much would you charge? If we provide the shelter, grain, and hay. Of course, yes there will be a contract in place as there is with all of our other services. Any ideas/suggestions?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I would break it down to how many flakes of hay are in each bale, divide the cost of the entire bale by the amount of flakes in it. Charge that amount for the hay, per day, per goat.
Do the same with the cost of grain and how big the bag is, divided by how many pounds they go through a day. 

Then add whatever you think is fair for your time.
(For example purposes, I'm using actual prices and quantity from the hay and grain in my area...)

Hay example: 1 bale of alfalfa = 12 flakes = $20/12= $1.66 per flake, round up to $1.70
Grain example: 1 bag of grain = 75lbs = $21.95 = $21.95/75 = $0.29 per pound, round up to $0.30

So one full size goat will probably go through 1.5-2 flakes of hay a day, and depending on the goat (milking, pregnant, buck, wether, or pet) it can be 1lb per goat, up to 6lbs per goat.

But lets say 1.5 flakes a day per pet goat, and 1lb of grain each, comes out to $2.85 per goat in just feed. 
You will need to factor in minerals as well as your time.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

When I had alpacas, we charged $3 per day per alpaca. Sometimes people gave discounts for multiples. Like $3 per day for the first and $2 per day for each one after that.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

ksalvagno said:


> When I had alpacas, we charged $3 per day per alpaca. Sometimes people gave discounts for multiples. Like $3 per day for the first and $2 per day for each one after that.


Charge more then that at least alpacas only poop in one spot lol 
Seriously though I have no idea. You could always see if you can find a place that already does boarding and see what they charge. But for the feed.....I have a few people who want to bring their does to be bred to my buck. I don't want to be stuck with a feed bill and have a chance of not getting paid or having to beg to be paid so my plan is they will bring the feed. I'll tell them when it starts to get low and they buy and haul feed to their goats.

Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I charge $200 a month for 2 goats in one area. I do full care except the stall cleaning, that's all theirs.


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