05/27/2026
Please don’t offer a lower price when purchasing goats from breeders. A lot of thought and effort go into pricing and a lot of time and effort go into raising goats.
PS: I am only charging $100 for wethers right now 🤪
ChatGPT estimates for dam raised and bottle kids:
🌼Nigerian Dwarf goat doe raising twin kids — estimated total cost from breeding through weaning (including feed, housing, labor, and medical costs):
Breeding:
* Stud fee or buck upkeep allocation: $50–100
* Extra feed during breeding: $5–10
Pregnancy (5 months):
* Hay: about $50
* Grain during last trimester: $10–15
* Minerals, loose salt, baking soda: $10–15
Lactation & raising twins:
* Hay: about $45
* Dairy grain: $35–40
* Kid feed/hay creep consumption: $10–20
* Vaccines/coccidia prevention: $20–40
Housing & bedding:
* Straw/shavings: $40–100
* Barn, fencing, feeders, waterers, electric, equipment wear allocation: $75–250
Medical:
* Routine deworming, vaccines, supplements: $35–90
* Average emergency/illness reserve (mastitis, coccidia, pneumonia, dystocia, etc.): $50–300
Labor:
* Feeding, watering, cleaning, kidding checks, hoof care, health monitoring, bottle help if needed
* Estimated 40–70 hours total from breeding through weaning
* At $15/hour: $600–1,050
Estimated TOTAL true cost from breeding through weaning twins:
$1,035–2,125 total
($520–1,060 per kid)
🌸Nigerian Dwarf goat doe with twin kids pulled at birth and bottle raised — estimated total cost from breeding through weaning (including feed, milk feeding, milking twice daily, housing, labor, and medical costs):
Breeding:
* Stud fee or buck upkeep allocation: $50–100
* Extra feed during breeding season: $5–10
Pregnancy (5 months):
* Hay: about $50
* Grain during last trimester: $10–15
* Minerals, loose salt, baking soda: $10–15
Kidding & lactation:
* Increased grain for milking doe twice daily: $50–70
* Lactation hay increase: $55–65
* Milking supplies (filters, teat dip, sanitizer, towels, bottles/ni***es): $25–75
Bottle feeding twins:
* Kids consume roughly 35–50 gallons total milk before weaning
* If feeding doe milk, feed cost already covered through increased lactation feed
* Starter grain/hay for kids: $20–40
* Electrolytes, bottles, ni***es, cleaning supplies: $15–40
Housing & bedding:
* Kidding pen bedding: $15–30
* Kid pen bedding/heating/electric allocation: $40–120
* Barn/fencing/equipment depreciation allocation: $75–250
Medical & prevention:
* CD&T vaccines: $10–20
* Coccidia prevention/treatment: $15–40
* Deworming/supplements: $10–30
* Average illness/emergency reserve (scours, pneumonia, mastitis, etc.): $75–350
Labor:
* Feeding/watering/cleaning doe: included
* Milking twice daily: ~10–20 min/day for ~75 days
* Bottle feeding 2–3x daily, washing bottles, kid care, health checks: substantial additional time
* Estimated total labor: 70–120 hours from breeding through weaning
* At $15/hour: $1,050–1,800
Estimated TOTAL true cost from breeding through weaning bottle-raised twins:
~$1,575–3,025 total
Approximate cost per kid:
~$790–1,515 per kid
