added up what i pay for just hay :(

1078 Views 46 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Moers kiko boars, 13 d ago

daisymay

Discussion Starter · 1 mo ago

I know i pay alot, as i never have any "extra" money and I work alot of hours.
so, it comes to $10,440 a year just for hay(that is feeding exactly what they can eat almost free choice twice a day). Then i add in the senior i feed my mare which comes to 1,932(i had to decrease it a bit since i just couldnt afford it anymore), the pellets and alfalfa pellets i buy for the goats. 1,500 for both, only fed a little a day unless nursing.(as of price right now but it keeps going up every month). Then there is minerals, lots of supplements, vet things. omg this is why i am super broke!

And i only end up selling the wethers and a couple doelings every year which might pay for the "pellets"... Dang, i guess i really need to try harder somehow and sell a few. Anyone have any ideas on how i can sell? I have very good lines, i know sometimes the photos are not awesome, but give the general idea on the animal. it doesnt get warm enough to shave here.

i am finally admitting that its getting harder to take care of all my herd. I spend any time other then work, sleep and house cleaning(which i have been slacking) carrying for my animals. I love the labor, but add in trying to finish the fence and daily hauling lots of water plus being allergic to cut grass and pollen, it just get tiring especially since i keep hurting myself.
anyways enough of my complaining... i love goats and never want to be without them.

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happybleats

· #2 · 1 mo ago

Things are getting crazy high... best advice i ever got was go big or go small. Being in between means cost is way more then you reap in return. So we went small. Ots where we are for now. Reevaluating what your goals are and make the changes necessary.

Good luck

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daisymay

Discussion Starter · #3 · 1 mo ago

thank you, its just difficult to preety much give away very nice goats.... i know in the long run i pay more by feeding alot longer, but still super hard.

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Boer Mama

· #4 · 1 mo ago

Ouch 😓
I definitely couldn’t afford to feed hay year round. Unfortunately it depends on your market. And if people can buy baby ND’s cheap and pet goats flooding it constantly, they may not realize the worth of your lines.

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Calistar

· #5 · 1 mo ago

That is where I'm at now too. Hay prices have gone up so much. I just spent $39 for a bale of orchard grass- that's my new record high 🤪 All of my income and all of my free time goes to my animals (not exaggerating) but it's what I love to do. It's frustrating that the increases costs of raising goats are coming at a time when sales are also slow. I'm hanging in there by the skin of my teeth, but I don't know what the future will be like. You have nice animals and nice genetics, I hope you and your herd persevere!

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daisymay

Discussion Starter · #6 · 1 mo ago

thank you calistar! i wish i had someone close like you then we can just share genetics

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Isaiah 11 goats

· #7 · 1 mo ago

How many goats do you have? I spent 8k total on 8 full size goats plus dog food for the lgd last year and that was with quite a few extra expenses (new fences, FCE minerals, vet costs, new LGD/training).
I cut costs by letting them graze as much as possible, which in Wisconsin is May-maybe October. I use electric netting for this. We only have 5 acres but barely need hay in the summer. I also do as much “vet” work as I can myself. Most years I don’t need a vet at all.

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daisymay

Discussion Starter · #8 · 1 mo ago

30 nigerian dwarfs. im trying to sell at least five of them. There pasture is preety bare now, but i always had to feed hay. i thought of the electric netting for hilly areas but we have rock so i dont think i can get those posts in the ground.
i was trying to stay at 20 doelings/does and max of 5 bucks/bucklings. most of my girls are dry yearlings-two year olds.
im hoping the vet will allow me to bring one goat in so i can get another prescription. we shall see....

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Jessica84

· #9 · 1 mo ago

I just did the same math and got rid of 12. I have more to sell but I didn’t see any point in paying so much just for the stress and extra work. So the plan is to get down to favorites, pets, and get back to it being fun and not so devastating when they don’t pay for themselves.

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daisymay

Discussion Starter · #10 · 1 mo ago

how did you sell yours? or yours are meat goats right, so at least you can get some money back..

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Isaiah 11 goats

· #11 · 1 mo ago

I cut down to 4 last fall. A super nice buyer bought my extras so they all went to the same home together. I have dairy goats. I am planning to keep the baby from this year because with only 2 able to be milked I ran out of milk over the winter (1 is a buck and 1 is retired).
Can you sell milk to help pay feed costs? Or do they not give enough? I’m super blessed to live in a low cost area… hay is around $6/bale for alfalfa.

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daisymay

Discussion Starter · #12 · 1 mo ago

i can not hand milk due to my hands and cant afford a milk machine although many times i wanted to get one.

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Jessica84

· #13 · 1 mo ago

daisymay said:
how did you sell yours? or yours are meat goats right, so at least you can get some money back..

Took them to the sale. They did decent but honestly I didn’t even care what they went for I don’t have to feed them any more. I have to give my kids a few more weeks before I can sell them and the market will have crashed by then but I can’t keep them longer then I need to with the price of hay and I just don’t have the energy to deal with the whole private sale thing. I spend more time and energy catching loading, talking and dealing with the ones that want to pick at stupid things to try and get a lower price. So the sale is the best for me

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SayYesToGoats

· #14 · 1 mo ago

We just got a simple pulse milking machine. I can't milk more than 4 at a time and I'm still hand milking 8 because we're not ready for the milk machine yet(still a rainproof stop). I can't wait to use it because hand milking is just too much for my hands.

Not sure if I will really "get into" Show goats with how the market is.... I mean I did just buy a pricy buck but it's getting hard to do all the work and keep up with the costs... Really think I started too late to get into it now. I don't mean to be a downer but less and less goat get sold every year and wethers are like hitting teeth, so hard to sell and for almost nothing compared to the cost to raise them. And of course, my does just gave me 10 bucks and 4 does, soo not much feed money there. 😢

I don't know how I would part with all of them but concerning cutting way back to only show quality goats
( the few that I have) and my soul goats that I can't get rid of. Thinking maybe 15 counting the retained kids from this year.

Hay for me is about 15 per small bale alfalfa and 14 per small for grass. I try to get the bigger ones to say but I'm having a lot of trouble hauling it right now. It's about 195 big bales of mixed alfalfa/hay grass.

I wrote a story lol. This is all just my take on it, not sure what the future holds but I hope I can still keep my favorites.

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daisymay

Discussion Starter · #15 · 1 mo ago

yes its hard to sell wethers. i recently sold two bottle kids for $100 each. my hubby is like.. that is crazy with all the time and how cute they are.
so i spent half the night with the doe to kid, then another few hours getting the kids drinking. everyday making sure they are all good and offering bottles so i can keep them liking the bottle. Then they are smaller so i take extra time to cuddle, feed fresh black berry leaves or alfalfa leaves too.... just to finally find someone to buy them a few weeks later.... i always fall for the boys for some reason... o and they had flashy blue eyes too. how much hay can i get for $200.. not much but better the nothing right...

im just so happy with how my herd is doing and finally getting kids old enough to see how they freshen then i cant due to the market....
the closest sale yard is 3 hours away and i heard the kids go for like $10-25 dollars if your lucky.

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BloomfieldM

· #16 · 1 mo ago

Im sorry you are struggling, I wish people could make a living just by working hard and caring about something. I wish the world worked that way... we would all be happier.

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Moers kiko boars

· #17 · 1 mo ago

Im sorry, yes the market is low,and costs are high. And going to increase,with no antibiotics without a rx. So thats an added cost, thankyou big farms. Im going to sell over ½ my herd.

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Boadicea

· #18 · 1 mo ago

Isaiah 11 goats said:
I cut down to 4 last fall. A super nice buyer bought my extras so they all went to the same home together. I have dairy goats. I am planning to keep the baby from this year because with only 2 able to be milked I ran out of milk over the winter (1 is a buck and 1 is retired).
Can you sell milk to help pay feed costs? Or do they not give enough? I’m super blessed to live in a low cost area… hay is around $6/bale for alfalfa.

So when you say hay is $6/bale are we talking square bales? That is stupid cheap! A square bale of alfalfa is about $20+/- where I am. The girls get those on special occasions as I can’t afford that all the time. I buy round bales and pull them apart to put in feeders.

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Lil Boogie

· #19 · 1 mo ago

I get big bundles of 21 bales of Orchard grass hay from my best friend, and I get that from her for $125 for a bundle (which is 21 individual bales all tied together with a metal strap). And my alfalfa I got, was a big bale almost the size of the 21 bundles put together. It's a big square bale that you pull off big flakes, that are kinda like sheets. Each sheet is 1 bale of hay. There's about 18-19 sheets, and I only paid $225 for it. I'll be buying a couple more. I also have big pastures so in the summer the goats don't hardly get hay unless it's gonna rain or the pasture is are down. Only hay 4 of my adults are getting currently alfalfa, only about 2 of normal sized flakes of hay. That's it. My yearling does, bottle babies, and two young bucks, all get hay twice a day. My sheep, don't get any. They have enough pasture. We also have a bull that gets a bale of orchard grass here and there, when I find a bale the goats won't eat. The rabbits, probably go through two bales a month, so not bad. We do put some in our chicken coops sometimes.

My best advice, which is hard, I'd hate to have to, but you might try a sale barn. It's an awful alternative, but it is an option.

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Isaiah 11 goats

· #20 · 1 mo ago

Boadicea said:
So when you say hay is $6/bale are we talking square bales? That is stupid cheap! A square bale of alfalfa is about $20+/- where I am. The girls get those on special occasions as I can’t afford that all the time. I buy round bales and pull them apart to put in feeders.

Small square, yes. I can’t believe the hay prices I see quoted on here. It’s insane. When I first got a goats 12 years ago, hay was $2/small square. There’s no way I could keep my goats if I was paying $20/small square. My biggest expenses are grain and dog food.

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