Wheww!! When I wrote that “cost of production” blog a couple of nights ago, I did not imagine the amount of responses that it generated. Calls from those that were depressed because they sat down and figured their costs. Texts “detailing” what their costs were going to be and how they were going to depreciate items and their 3 year plan. Several statements acknowledging that “they never dreamed that it cost so much to raise a goat”. Some even said that I need a sensor. <\/p>\n
Can you believe that? Somebody (or two) thinks that I need a sensor. I went back and re-read that blog. It was better the 2nd time. Nothing controversial, just straight up. I just wish I knew how many breeders sat there and roughly figured what it cost them to raise a goat. I know several have it down to the $. <\/p>\n
There are a lot of variables in terms of cost of production. The farther north you go, the more facilities are required to keep them warm. The farther south, the more you have to pay to truck in high quality hay. And a wicked good buck costs a pile no matter where you live. <\/p>\n
And in the spirit of cost of production variables, you can NEVER plan on the next goat calamity. I’ve had calls this week regarding a doe that wasn’t in good shape, turns out it is some kind of stress induced problem. Had another call with a yearling buck that was choking. I lost signal. They texted a few minutes later. He died. It’s always something new and unusual. <\/p>\n
I don’t know that this deal is about making money. Some will call it a labor of love. I don’t love dealing with does. I just don’t want to lose money. It’s hard to put a price on the fun, the thrill of a good baby on the ground, the good people associated with this industry, watching kids achieve goals and the stories. Most importantly, it’s about having my own kids involved with livestock and making a network of people and life experiences. <\/p>\n
As far as the making money part, it looks to me like the big check comes when you have a dispersal sale. It’s amazing what panels, feeders, huts and all the other stuff brings at those sales. <\/p>\n
I saw a new quote today and I liked it. <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“If we concentrated on the really important stuff in life, <\/b>there’d be a shortage of fishing poles.”<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, right now, we would have to go ice fishing. Have a good day and a better tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wheww!! When I wrote that “cost of production” blog a couple of nights ago, I did not imagine the amount of responses that it generated. Calls from those that were depressed because they sat down and figured their costs. Texts “detailing” what their costs were going to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}