# What is the cost of your milk?



## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

How much do you pay per month for hay, feed, minerals, medicines, etc. for each of your goats (on average), and how much milk do you get? Or in other words, what is the cost of your homegrown milk? 

Seems like the cost of hay in my area is maybe a bit high. Didn’t realize until I saw some of your comments on hay prices. It’s $11 for a small bale of coastal here and $22 for a three string bale of alfalfa hay. My homegrown milk is a good bit more expensive than I thought it would be!


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

Feira426 said:


> How much do you pay per month for hay, feed, minerals, medicines, etc. for each of your goats (on average), and how much milk do you get? Or in other words, what is the cost of your homegrown milk?
> 
> Seems like the cost of hay in my area is maybe a bit high. Didn't realize until I saw some of your comments on hay prices. It's $11 for a small bale of coastal here and $22 for a three string bale of alfalfa hay. My homegrown milk is a good bit more expensive than I thought it would be!


Where are you getting 3 string alfalfa for $22? I'm paying $30.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

How much do these bales weighs? Two string 40 pounds and three string 80 lbs?


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

SalteyLove said:


> How much do these bales weighs? Two string 40 pounds and three string 80 lbs?


Yes about that weight for me.Good Hay is scarce in Texas right now, my alfalfa is coming from AZ and CA.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

GoofyGoat said:


> Where are you getting 3 string alfalfa for $22? I'm paying $30.


Russell Feed in Crowley.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

SalteyLove said:


> How much do these bales weighs? Two string 40 pounds and three string 80 lbs?


I'd guess that's about right. Never tried to weigh them, though, honestly.


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## Oliveoil (Sep 3, 2019)

Well, I don't milk yet this coming spring will be my first year, but my hay is a lot cheaper as it is grown locally. Lol, the hay I get is grown on my uncle's farm, which my family also lives on, so much much cheaper. But in general, hay here is a lot cheaper. For us $4 for a small square is expensive and that is what hay is around here now though for us these prices are way up.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

Oliveoil said:


> Well, I don't milk yet this coming spring will be my first year, but my hay is a lot cheaper as it is grown locally. Lol, the hay I get is grown on my uncle's farm, which my family also lives on, so much much cheaper. But in general, hay here is a lot cheaper. For us $4 for a small square is expensive and that is what hay is around here now though for us these prices are way up.


That seems really good! I can get local round bales for $85. I don't think I've seen regular small bales from the local pastures.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

So in one month, for 11 goats currently, we go through:

500lbs alfalfa pellets - $117
200lbs chaffhaye - $58
100lbs oats - $18
10lb BOSS - $5
1 round bale hay - $55
Vita-Ferm Concept Aid minerals - $36/50# (this varies, currently they're going through 1 bag at about 2 months. BUT in the last month of pregnancy, we blow through a bag a month easily.

I don't add supplements or meds because that varies GREATLY. I don't give any supplements unless needed.

So total feed for one month: $271 (counting half bag of minerals currently)
11 goats so each is $24.63 to feed a month.
In December we got 37.5 gallons of milk. But, that was with one doe only counting half a month as she freshened Dec 11. I also had one doe drop her milk down for a week as she had gotten slight acidosis but shes back up right now. I anticipate January to have much more than that. Then we freshen 3 more in Match so we will have quite a bit more.

SO if I only count 3 does in milk currently I'm spending $73.89 on them and got 37.5 gallons...that's $1.97 gallon. But if I use my whole monthly expense of $271 each gallon for Dec cost $7.22. But this month I'm anticipating a minimum of 55 gallons so that drops it to under $5.

It's going to vary quite a bit month to month. As you'll have varying amounts of milk each month (depending on how they milk) different supplement needs, different feed needs. In the spring we have lots of forage so our feed will go down a bit. We will also have 6 does in milk, anticipating 1/2 - 1 gallon for each per day. So during spring/summer, our costs will be lower. I'm keeping detailed records this year as at the end of the year I want to see what our total was for all milk vs expenses produced.


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## Nigerian dwarf goat (Sep 25, 2017)

GoofyGoat said:


> alfalfa is coming from AZ and CA


mines coming from new mexico. it does all year round



Feira426 said:


> That seems really good! I can get local round bales for $85.


lucky! i get rounds for cattle for 100 dollars a peice


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I’m paying $11 for roughly 100#, it’s from my parents so I’m getting a good deal. At the feed store sometimes it’s about the same weight sometimes less and right now it’s $17.50. 
I’ll go off of what I’m paying at the peak of feeding 
Hay- 13.75 per goat per month
Protein tub-1.17
Vaccines comes out to 0.40 a month 
Grain I really don’t feed the does grain but I do the kids, so I’ll leave that out. 
Straw it depends how wet the winter is so I have no idea how to figure that out. 
Minerals is about 0.30 
Copper bolus 0.23
So that comes out to 15.83 per goat per month when I’m having to feed the most hay and they are sucking down their protein tubs.
I don’t milk so I can’t help you there, but when doing your figures, even though it sounds like your main reason in goats is milk, you also get sales off of kids too.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Jessica84 said:


> I'm paying $11 for roughly 100#, it's from my parents so I'm getting a good deal. At the feed store sometimes it's about the same weight sometimes less and right now it's $17.50.
> I'll go off of what I'm paying at the peak of feeding
> Hay- 13.75 per goat per month
> Protein tub-1.17
> ...


How do you figure minerals price per goat?

I agree about kids sales. That's why it's easier for me to just keep track of everything and at the end of the year figure out my costs. Since it does vary month to month. We also plan to sell soap this year and milk for pet/craft use. So all of this will factor in.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Yeah that’s how I do it too. It’s easier to get all my yearly expenses together and then divide by the number of goats I have. But even that isn’t totally accurate. Last year I started with 70 does and 1 buck, ended with 44 and 4 bucks. But it’s close enough.
The minerals i just bought another 50# bag after 2 months. So the amount the bag is divided by the number of head then divide again by 2. Defiantly not 100% accurate since I’m not including the kids picking around in it and the fact that when the does are bred they really suck down the minerals but close enough for a figure


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

my milk costs $1,000 a gallon. Seriously though, its expensive. lol My hay is $50 for a 80 pound bale. $20 for 40# of alfalfa pellets.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Dayna, that's as bad as the "free" venison the neighbor got. After the hunting license, new shotgun, scope, (can't use an old one) ammo, clothing, scent kill, etc. it worked out to about $16 a pound! 
(If we throw in his new truck to get to W.Va. Is about $561 a lb!)


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

Dayna said:


> my milk costs $1,000 a gallon. Seriously though, its expensive. lol My hay is $50 for a 80 pound bale. $20 for 40# of alfalfa pellets.


Oh goodness!! That's really high. Where are you located?


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

Feira426 said:


> Oh goodness!! That's really high. Where are you located?


Hawaii


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

Dayna said:


> Hawaii


Wow!! I've wanted to visit Hawaii since I was a little kid. Do you like living there?

Usually I can see everyone's locations but I guess the mobile version of the site leaves some stuff out.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

Feira426 said:


> Wow!! I've wanted to visit Hawaii since I was a little kid. Do you like living there?
> 
> Usually I can see everyone's locations but I guess the mobile version of the site leaves some stuff out.


I love living here. It has its challenges just like any other place. But I find it to be an amazing place to live. Funny thing, people always equate Hawaii with the beach. I go to the beach, in boots, about once a year. haha I just like to walk on the rocks and hear the waves crashing. My island is more agricultural than the other islands.


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## momto6ls (Aug 15, 2014)

I am horrified by the prices I am seeing here. Our hay went from $7 to $9 (for 75# of 4th crop premium alfalfa) in the last year, and I was upset. I would have to give up goats at $30 a bale! My husband doesn’t think they are worth it now LOL. I have food issues, and don’t do regular dairy. My whole family drinks the milk, I make yogurt and cheese and sell the extra milk to family and a close friend. I also make a mineral supplement from the whey that would be extremely expensive for me to buy. (Capra Mineral Whey- about $60 for a canister) The supplement helps me keep my pain from arthritis at bay, so I take quite a bit. By selling extra milk, and kids in the summer, I figure we provide a lot of what we consume at no cost. 

We’ve had some bad luck - I sold 2 does that were expecting, with a written contract of $450. She was to pay $50 every two weeks. That was in May. I have received 2 payments totaling $120, after incessant nagging. That was our money for hay... so we really had to scrape to get our supply for the year. 

from my perspective, the goats are a huge blessing. From my husband’s, they are an expense. But we could not afford to buy what we consume, so I’ll keep pushing to keep my girls.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

momto6ls said:


> I am horrified by the prices I am seeing here. Our hay went from $7 to $9 (for 75# of 4th crop premium alfalfa) in the last year, and I was upset. I would have to give up goats at $30 a bale! My husband doesn't think they are worth it now LOL. I have food issues, and don't do regular dairy. My whole family drinks the milk, I make yogurt and cheese and sell the extra milk to family and a close friend. I also make a mineral supplement from the whey that would be extremely expensive for me to buy. (Capra Mineral Whey- about $60 for a canister) The supplement helps me keep my pain from arthritis at bay, so I take quite a bit. By selling extra milk, and kids in the summer, I figure we provide a lot of what we consume at no cost.
> 
> We've had some bad luck - I sold 2 does that were expecting, with a written contract of $450. She was to pay $50 every two weeks. That was in May. I have received 2 payments totaling $120, after incessant nagging. That was our money for hay... so we really had to scrape to get our supply for the year.
> 
> from my perspective, the goats are a huge blessing. From my husband's, they are an expense. But we could not afford to buy what we consume, so I'll keep pushing to keep my girls.


If you have a written contract... go to small claims court. You can do it without a lawyer.

And dang! $9 for that size bale of alfalfa. I would be crazy happy!


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

I'd kill for $9.00 a bale alfalfa! @Sfgwife is right you can take her to court or go get your goats back and resell them.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

GoofyGoat said:


> I'd kill for $9.00 a bale alfalfa! @Sfgwife is right you can take her to court or go get your goats back and resell them.


Hahha me too me too! It is usually $20ish a #60-70 bale here.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

Jubillee said:


> How do you figure minerals price per goat?
> 
> I agree about kids sales. That's why it's easier for me to just keep track of everything and at the end of the year figure out my costs. Since it does vary month to month. We also plan to sell soap this year and milk for pet/craft use. So all of this will factor in.


Jubillee, I have been looking for information on selling milk for crafts - I want to know if there are any licensing requirements for it in TX - but I can't find anything about it. Every hit I get is about selling milk for human consumption. Usually I'm good at wording my Google searches and finding what I need in just a couple of tries, but in this case I must have looked at fifty sites and still haven't found an answer. Do you have any info?


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

A friend asked the licensing office about craft use and there is nothing about it. They have a license for pet use and then a full dairy.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

Jubillee said:


> A friend asked the licensing office about craft use and there is nothing about it. They have a license for pet use and then a full dairy.


That's great to know! I had a heck of a time finding anything about it online.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Hmmm, I am terrible at figuring all this stuff out. However, after much wrangling of my calculator I have realized that each gallon of delicious goat milk costs close to $87,000. Maybe I should charge more than my current fee of $8....


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

groovyoldlady said:


> Hmmm, I am terrible at figuring all this stuff out. However, after much wrangling of my calculator I have realized that each gallon of delicious goat milk costs close to $87,000. Maybe I should charge more than my current fee of $8....


Hahaha!


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

groovyoldlady said:


> Hmmm, I am terrible at figuring all this stuff out. However, after much wrangling of my calculator I have realized that each gallon of delicious goat milk costs close to $87,000. Maybe I should charge more than my current fee of $8....


Ain't THAT the truth!


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## CBPitts (Jan 29, 2020)

Hmmmm . . . Well, I do a lot of trades and we grow our own hay.

It costs us about $45/ton for our hay including fertilizer and fuel for harvest. The goat get fed hay for about 5 months of lactation. The 4 milkers go through a bale every other day at $1.12 per bale. I feed alfalfa pellets rather than deal with the wasted stems my brats won't eat. We go through about 75 pounds a week so $15. Just over 50 pounds of grain, $11. Half a bag of beet pulp, $7. Minerals at about $4 
I trade a finished pig worth about $600 for a 3 or 4 ton totes of triticale seed every year and then feed fermented triticale for the bulk of my grain. That works out to .10/pound.

So cash out of pocket is $45 weekly for 4 Alpine does. 3 are senior does and we milk share so get a little over a gallon and a half (they average 10 to 12 pounds of milk daily while raising their own kids) and the FF does about a gallon.

I'll go with the low end of production and the high end of feed and say 42 gallons per week. So $1.07 per gallon.

I make cheese, yogurt, soap, raise pigs on milk, and drinking milk then sell all our extra milk at $5/gallon pet food only. Plus selling registered kids.

My dairy girls paid for themselves as well as my 15 other goats, my cows, my weaner pigs, and had enough left over for me to buy a couple more goats this past year


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## Kass (Apr 26, 2020)

Ha Ha! At least you guys are getting milk! I just started! So I've thrown in $800-$900 already in under 5 months. 3 doelings, fencing , feed, hay, very basic meds, a vet trip, and a lot of complaints from my mom about loose goats: and I don't get any milk till spring at the earliest! 
Haven't even started on possible costs for the goat barn: my dad is very handy, he threw together a temporary pallet shed for them... hoping to start the permanent pasture and mini barn this year! Haven't gotten any minerals for them yet either... I feel so bad... the only place around that I can find sweetlix at is having a hard time keeping it in the store.
I can't wait till they can give a little back!!! but I love them so much! Wouldn't give them up for the world! ( Luckily I just got a job or my wallet would tell me differently! (rofl))

Anyway, I don't get alfalfa hay Just local hay and some alfalfa pellets. It has gone from $3 a bale to $4.50, but still nothing compared to what you guys have! Wow! I can't imagine... My 3 doelings go through about 4 bales a month. They just started nibbling the alfalfa pellets, so those will last a while. 

PS... I wish I could save money by producing milk for my family... but some of them (theres 6 of us) are VERY fond of cows milk... Ill try my hardest to convert them!


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## Nigerian dwarf goat (Sep 25, 2017)

Kass said:


> So I've thrown in $800-$900 already in under 5 months. 3 doelings, fencing , feed, hay, very basic meds, a vet trip, and a lot of complaints from my mom about loose goats: and I don't get any milk till spring at the earliest!


yep, that's how it works! Goats aren't cheap, and you most likely won't get enough milk for 6 people from FF doelings.


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## Kass (Apr 26, 2020)

Nigerian dwarf goat said:


> you most likely won't get enough milk for 6 people from FF doelings.


Thats alright. Its a start


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## Debra P (May 8, 2019)

Feira426 said:


> How much do you pay per month for hay, feed, minerals, medicines, etc. for each of your goats (on average), and how much milk do you get? Or in other words, what is the cost of your homegrown milk?
> 
> Seems like the cost of hay in my area is maybe a bit high. Didn't realize until I saw some of your comments on hay prices. It's $11 for a small bale of coastal here and $22 for a three string bale of alfalfa hay. My homegrown milk is a good bit more expensive than I thought it would be!


Wow, we pay $5 a bale.. where do you live?


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Kass said:


> Thats alright. Its a start


Ehhhhh...what kind of goats do you have? My FFs gave/give about a half-gallon each but they are Nubians. So 3...a gallon and a half a day isn't bad. We have 8 people in our house. It's not ideal for making a lot of extras (cheese, yogurt, ice cream etc) unless you don't drink a lot, but it would be fine for drinking. However, if it's Nigerians, probably not lol. Mad props to Nigerian milkers, cause I despise milking them, even the one with the better teats LOL.


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## Kass (Apr 26, 2020)

I have a Nigerian Dwarf, a Nigerian/Saanen and a Nubian. Once we get all set up and we see how much milk we are getting we may look for an Alpine or Lamancha in milk to add to our herd.


Jubillee said:


> Ehhhhh...what kind of goats do you have? My FFs gave/give about a half-gallon each but they are Nubians. So 3...a gallon and a half a day isn't bad. We have 8 people in our house. It's not ideal for making a lot of extras (cheese, yogurt, ice cream etc) unless you don't drink a lot, but it would be fine for drinking. However, if it's Nigerians, probably not lol. Mad props to Nigerian milkers, cause I despise milking them, even the one with the better teats LOL.


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## CaramelKittey (Oct 31, 2019)

For orchard grass hay, we are paying $4 for a roughly 40lb bale. About $30 for 16lbs of Sweetlix minerals, which lasts about two months with three does and one whether. About $15 for a 50lb bag of Purina Goat Chow, which lasts about 4-5 weeks.


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## momto6ls (Aug 15, 2014)

Update:
I’ve been keeping a new budget for the last year, and our milk is FREE... well actually a lot of WORK. LOL

I kept the money from Selling milk separately in my budget. Any time I spent money on my girls it came out of there. We just finished kidding and have 3 doelings and a buckling. We’ll sell them and that will be the majority of our hay for the year. I still have $100 in the goat account, everyone is healthy after kidding (hallelujah!), and we will be selling milk again soon. That makes me feel really good. Even with the loss of those does (contract to buy broken - you can’t get blood from a turnip :ahh, we still came out ahead for the year! So all the milk we drink, yogurt and cheese we make is just the cost of time for care. My kids do the milking. My husband does the supervising. I just enjoy the goats!:coolmoves:


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

Something to consider is how efficient your goats are at converting food into milk. You might have 1 doe that gives a gallon on a couple pounds of feed and 3-4 flakes of hay a day, and another that can't do that. Right now, I have 1 doe that's milking a gallon a day on about 3 lbs. of feed and 1 lb. Alfalfa pellets/day, plus about 3 flakes alfalfa/grass mix hay when she's dry lotted, or about 1 flake when she's out in the woods browsing during the day. That's about $1.04 in feed, and about $0.10 in hay (my hay is really cheap compared to some of ya'll!) Another doe isn't giving that much, though she receives the same amount of feed and hay, but as she's a young first-freshener, I will give her time to build up to a higher level of production. I don't expect to make much, if any, money off of her this year, but since she's a nice looking doe with a good udder, I think she will make me some money over time, and I plan to keep her daughters.
I have been keeping very careful records of expenses and income, and will add everything up at the end of the year to make sure that I'm not spending more than I think I am. I have expenses divided into recurring and one-time expenses. The recurring are things like feed, hay, minerals, dewormer, copper bolus, probiotics, and for the milkers, any milking supplies I use regularly like milk filters, dish soap to wash the milk pail, bleach....and the one-time expenses are things like fencing, barn repairs, feed tubs, vet bills, new goats I've bought... I averaged the one-time expenses that I've incurred over the last few years, and came up with a yearly one-time expense 'allowance' for each goat, in addition to the recurring expenses. Again, I will have to revisit all of those numbers and adjust if necessary. This is my first year actually trying to make the goats pay for themselves. So I will know more once I've been doing this for longer.
I am currently making money from the milk & kid sales. I'll never be rich, but I love my goats, so as long as I can make a little bit off of them, I will be happy!
It takes some extra effort to track all of the money you shell out here and there, and all of the dollars coming in (or dollars you can count as income since you're consuming your own milk products instead of buying them), but I think that's the only way to calculate the actual cost of your goats.


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