Mranimal Farm

All About Silkies, Nigerian Dwarf Goats & More

Small Scale Farming

Can You Make Money Raising Goats?

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We got our goats initially because we thought they were absolutely adorable and couldn’t imagine a world without them. Shortly after we started to wonder, “Can you make money raising goats?”

Can You Make Money Raising Goats

Surely, it’s a possibility. I mean, other people raise goats and seem to be doing just fine. Why can’t we? So, we started to look into the breeds we would want, the cost to purchase more goats, and the costs to keep them healthy and happy.

It was starting to look, with ALL of the expenses, like there was no way to make money raising goats.

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Gifts for Farmers That Are Useful ALL Year Round

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Gifts for Farmers

Getting gifts for farmers is tough business. Often times, minimalism comes along with the homesteading lifestyle. If you don’t need it, you probably don’t want it. This can prove a bit frustrating for your loved ones when the holidays come around and it’s time to buy gifts for farmers.

So, what do you do in this situation?

Fortunately there are some things that every homestead needs and most of them are useful all year round! So the next time your non-homesteading loved one asks what you want this holiday season, point them to this list of the top gifts for farmers that are useful ALL year round….

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Proper Goat Fencing – Time & Money Saving Tips!

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Proper Goat Fencing

Looking to find out more about proper goat fencing?  We have learned a few (important) lessons about what goat fence to use and what goat fencing to NOT use.

Goat fencing is something that we have talked about previously.  To see our reviews of several goat fencing types, click here.  Since our initial goat fencing review, we have added several goats to the herd.

As part of these herd additions, we added two bucks.

Proper Goat Fencing

 

Now, as you may know, you usually keep bucks separate from does.  To do this, we built a buck house (a simple shed) and partitioned off a part of the does pasture.

Sectioning part of the pasture off for the boys, of course, meant putting up more goat fencing.  At the time, like usual, we were trying to think about saving time as well as money while building the buck pen.

Want more info about getting your start with goats? Check out the Raising Goats eCourse and eBook….

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Choosing Hay – Tips to Choose High Quality Hay

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Choosing Hay – Tips to Choose High Quality Hay Instagram

Good quality hay is a main supply for your goats.  Figuring out what to look for when choosing hay can be difficult at first.  When we first looked for hay for our goats, we didn’t know anything about hay.  It’s easy to assume that hay is just hay.  But, in reality hay comes in many different qualities.  It is especially important particularly if you are feeding goats or horses (which can be sensitive to certain things) to know how to choose a high quality hay.

Here are a few tips to lead you in choosing hay:

1. Dry.  You want to make sure that the hay you purchase has been kept dry.  Hay that has not been kept protected from the elements may very well have gotten wet and rained on.  Wet hay will mold.  Mold can be very dangerous for goats and other animals.

Choosing Hay – Tips to Choose High Quality Hay Instagram

2. Dust-free.  Of course, there will be a small amount of dust possible in your hay.  But, overall,  when choosing hay you want the hay to be as dust-free as possible.  Dust can actually be mold.  Even if it is not mold, dust is still not good for the animals.  Many animals can have allergy problems from dusty hay.

3. Extra Junk.  Make sure that the hay you choose does not have excess debris, foreign plants or other stuff in it that shouldn’t be there.  You want to be sure that no poisonous plants are in the hay, no damaging insects/bugs.  And also, if there is a bunch of junk in the hay, your animals are not going to eat those parts and it will lead to a lot of waste.

Choosing Hay – Tips to Choose High Quality Hay Instagram

4. Not brittle.  When choosing hay you want to be sure that the hay will be easy to eat and digest.  If the hay breaks easily, then your animals will have more difficulty eating it and it will not be as appealing to them.  Also, if the hay is all stems and not many leaves they will not like it as much and will waste a lot.  Therefore, you want to get hay that is green, soft and a mix of leaves and stems.

Once you have your high quality hay, you will also want to make sure you have a nice hay feeder to put it in for your animals so that they can easily eat it!

Choosing Hay – Tips to Choose High Quality Hay Instagram

For more information on daily care for goats check out “Getting Started with Goats” the eBook or “Getting Started Raising Goats”  the eCourse.

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Goat breeds
Nigerian Dwarf Goats

Make Money Homesteading with Chickens – 6 Ways to Generate Income

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Wondering if you can make money homesteading with chickens?  The answer is YES!  We make about an average of $800/mo homesteading with chickens.

Our homestead goals are to not only be self-sufficient, but to also make money homesteading so that all of our time can be put into our homestead (and other things we enjoy) and not in full-time jobs working for other people.

Setting up a profitable homestead takes a lot of work – both in planning and in execution.  But it is possible.

One important thing we have learned in our effort to have a profitable homestead is that each expense should generate MULTIPLE streams of revenue.  Learning how to make money homesteading with chickens is a wonderful way to make a profitable homestead.  This is due to the fact that you can generate multiple streams of revenue with them.make money with chickens…

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