So I thought I would break it down for you.
We have a homestead of 10 acres. We make all of our own milk, cheese, eggs. But we have to buy hay, feed, enclosure supplies and supplements. We have to pay for electricity for running the well pump for water. We can't make all of those things here. I don't have the skills to make 600 lbs of food a month or 1200 lbs of hay a month. I can't pay for solar power yet (maybe someday!). I have no idea on how to make chicken wire or hardware cloth.
The homestead pays for itself 100%. But not how folks believe that works.
We pay around 300 dollars in feed a month.
Our chicken feed is 64 dollars a month.
Goat feed is 78 dollars a month.
Pig feed is 100 dollars a month.
Rabbit feed is 13 dollars a month.
Duck feed is 12 dollars a month.
Our herd shares average 49 dollars a month. Folks get 2qts a week at that rate. At capacity we have 8 herd shares available. That's just under 400 dollars a month but we have to annualize that over the 9 months they're in milk. Once annualized it's 300 dollars a month.
Goat kids sell for an average of 200 to 300 per head and we have about 12 per season. Annualizes as 250 dollars a month.
Duck eggs sell for 6 dollars a dozen we sell 2 dozen a week. So about 24 dollars a month. Annualized for the 6 months they lay its about 6 dollars a month.
Rabbits sell for 15 each. Right now we sell 20 every three months during the summer which ends up being around 50 dollars per month.
We raise 100 chickens at 15 dollars each for folks. So 125 a month over the year.
Monthly Revenues:
Goats- 550
Ducks- 6
Rabbits-50
Chickens- 125
Total- $731
Minus revolving expenses the homestead annualized a perfect year clears $431.
Goats are our heavy hitters. They ended up being amazing for us.
But these are very perfect numbers. If we have no babies born early, too cold, etc. We have been on this property for 3 years in July. We have had all of those nasty things happen over our time. We also bought two new herds this year some of these animals were ill and had to be quarantined and nursed back to health (never free). We had to repair and replace fences. We had two enclosures cave in from the heavy ice storm this year. We're building a farm stand and investing in additional fencing for adding intensive rotational grazing. Very quickly those profits are absorbed.
That doesn't mean it doesn't work but rather just keep the cash on hand for these things because they will happen. Usually all at once. Right at Christmas. 😂
Here's the thing though. We're a family of 8 and we don't buy dairy, chicken, or eggs. And that little bit of security is so addictive. So this year we have poured profit into building out more enterprises which are eventually going to add to our security. We invested in pigs this year to hopefully add pork to the list of things we don't buy from the store. We added meat goats to supplement our meat costs.
The following is our security we love and want to keep nurturing:
We use 4 gallons of milk a week, two for drinking and cooking, two for cheese, yogurt and creamer.
We go through two dozen eggs a week. We eat about two whole chickens a week. Since we raise them from our stock they only cost us for their feed.
The farm essentially pays for us to have these things. Someday it may pay us to do live the way we do and that is the prayer. But for now it pays for itself and there is the difference between self sufficient and sustainable. The homestead is sustainable in that it pays for itself with the surplus it provides beyond our needs. Self sufficient is a dream and a myth but sustainable is obtained through careful planning and tracking.
I track every enterprise on our farm. Each large animal has its own pnl and each enterprise has to pay for itself directly or in my savings or we have to move in another direction. (Gardening I'm talking to you! 😉)
