Dairy Goats: Can They Save You Money?

As many of you may already know, we have recently become dairy goat owners again. So I suppose it’s no surprise that goats are so much on my mind lately.

One thing that continually astonishes me about goats is their low-maintenance nature. Oh, they want you to think they’re high maintenance, alright, whining if they even think it’s going to rain and all that, but their actual requirements are surprisingly low.

Mostly, I’m referring to how much they eat. Vanilla currently consumes one quart of alfalfa pellets per feeding/milking, which occurs twice daily. Other than that, she subsists solely on roughage she grazes in the backyard on her picket line. Well, that and water.

I’m convinced that with a bit of management, a single dairy goat could be kept in the average backyard.

So what would it take to get into the family dairy business?

• A goat, of course. Preferably a bred doe. This could run you anywhere from $100 – $300, depending on how fancy you decide to get.
• Grass and/or hay. The grass is best, of course. As I mentioned earlier, the average backyard should be able to provide the necessary roughage.
• A picket line or portable fence system. If you let the goat have access to the entire yard at once, the good stuff will never have a chance to regrow, since she’ll always eat it first. Thus, the need for a picket line.
• Shelter. As I mentioned, goats aren’t overly fond of rain. A large dog house should do the trick, although you may need to make the entrance larger. I did a quick search on Craigslist and found a nice one for $40.
• Alfalfa pellets or hay. We supplement with alfalfa rather than traditional goat feed to provide extra nutrients, in the interest of remaining entirely grass-fed. Our goat eats one quart at each milking (twice a day). At that rate, a 50-pound bag ($15) should last about a month.
• A container for milking (preferably stainless steel). $15? Unless you get fancy and opt for a seamless stainless steel, heavy-duty milk pail. Those cost a fortune but can be worth it in the long run.
• Milk filters. My favorite? A nylon curtain from Goodwill, sterilized and cut into 12” square sections. These can be washed and reused almost indefinitely. Should cost $2 or less.
• Jars. Quart jars, half-gallon jars, spaghetti sauce jars, whatever suits your fancy.

Our current milker, Vanilla. I tried to get a picture of her yesterday on her picket
line, but neither she nor my photobombing toddler would cooperate.

Now for a cost breakdown.

Let’s say you’ve never milked before, and your lack of skill causes your goat to lose production, so she only gives 1/2 a gallon per day. That’s 3 1/2 gallons every week or roughly 14 gallons per month.

I think it’s safe to say that quality milk for $3 a gallon would be an excellent deal, which would come out to $42 for those 14 gallons, but with your goat, you only spent $15 on feed. Hopefully, but we should create some wiggle room and say you budget $25/ month for goat upkeep—still a great deal.

Of course, that figure doesn’t take the initial cost of the goat and all her …stuff… into consideration.

You could go all out and buy a registered doe for roughly $300. The benefit of this would be the ability to sell registerable kids for a significantly higher price than cross-bred kids. You also have a much better guarantee that she’ll be a good milker.

On the other hand, you could get an unregistered doe for perhaps $100. The quality of her udder and teats may vary. We once bought a Nubian/Sanaan crossbred doe for $100. She ended up being slightly harder to milk than our registered Nubians. When she kidded, she had two doelings which we sold for $75 each at 3 months old. Not a bad deal, eh?

Our wonderful cross-bred doe, affectionately named Tri-Pod because, yes, she has three legs.

Okay, let’s assume you go with the registered goat. If she’s fairly young, she should last you for several years, but let’s average the cost out over two years just to be on the safe side.

Your first-year expenses would be:

• $150 for the goat
• $40 for the shelter
• $20 for the picket line
• $30 for milking containers/jars/filters
• $180 for feed

Total cost: $420

$420 for 182 gallons of milk (sticking with our low figure of 3.5 gallons per week) equals $2.30 per gallon of milk.

If that’s more milk than your family will use (as milk), and it’s certainly more than we use, keep in mind that you can make your delicious yogurt and cheese, which costs even more than milk does.

Since you opted for the registered doe, it seems reasonable to assume that you can expect to average $200 a year by selling her kids at 3 months old. We’ve sold 3-month-old doelings for as much as $250 each; however, the bucks often sell for as little as $50 each.

We always hope, of course, for twin doelings but seldom ever get it. One of each seems to be the most common, but occasionally, we get twin bucks. That’s always a bummer.

So now, if you’re a neighborhood dweller, the big question is, what are your neighborhood rules?