This right here is why I do what I do. No, it doesn't really save me money growing our own food. The goats, rabbits and chickens do require feed which is about $20 a bag for anything now a days. Last week I spent over $200 at the feed store, and it wasn't even a full restock day.
Even though I am spending an arm and a leg to feed my animals, I find it worth it to do so for the peace of mind that I know what the food is going into my families' bodies. The milk in the photo is from this morning's milking from our two goats. Right now, it's just milk, but in a few hours, it will be part of a meal. My next big investment will be purchasing a Cream separator.
A cream separator will help do exactly what it sounds like, it spins the milk at a high rate of speed and the cream, and the milk separate. Then I will have heavy cream at my disposal to cook with or to churn into butter. My family has not been to the store to purchase milk since February 2022 when these girls first kidded out. I have no idea what a gallon of milk is up to these days at the store, but I have heard its over $4. My family drinks a LOT of milk, so a gallon a day at $4 is $28 a week. Feed for these girls is approximately $20 a week. So, is the savings of $8 worth all the work? For me personally yes, milking is something I do enjoy, and it honestly only takes me around 15-20 minutes a day to milk the goats. Then I also think about the savings in fuel of driving to the grocery store to purchase the milk, and you know you never go in and just get milk... I always end up shopping around and buying a bunch of other things as well. So, all in all, I do end up saving way more than $8 a week. It's pretty amazing when I sit and think about it all. I do understand that milking at home is not for everyone, nor will I ever push it on anyone to do, but for my family our pair of does are definitely worth having.
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