Four important figures to have are 1) the approximate annual costs of rearing a doe and her kids, 2) average market value of slaughter goats, 3) the carrying capacity of your land and facilities, and 4) what sort of productivity you can expect from a doe under your farm conditions. One way to get estimates of these figures is to talk to other goat producers. However, many producers are so busy caring for their animals they have problems reciting these figures off the top of their head or have a mental block against it. Sometimes you get more information by asking basic questions about amount of feed fed daily, average size of their does, where they purchase their feed, etc. In truth, you will probably have to go to several sources including resource publications on goats, the feed section of your classified ads, feed stores, nutritional analysis labs, etc. to extrapolate estimates for these figures.

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