Naturally, farming goats is a big business, so of course there is profit to be made in it.
But that’s not to say it’s as simple as buying the goats and watching the profits come in.
You’ve got to think about all the expenses involved, and about providing them the best life to give the best yield.
Let’s find out more.
Can you make money from Angora goats?
You can definitely make money from Angora goats.
The primary, if not only, way that you will make profit from keeping Angora goats is from shearing their famous mohair wool and selling it.
Mohair is a valuable commodity and in fact, in recent years, global supplies have lowered significantly.
Demand, on the other hand, has not.
So, in other words, there has never really been a better time to invest in Angora goats.
Mohair currently sells for around $5.58 per pound, which is a figure that has been steadily increasing year on year.
While the yield from each goat can obviously vary quite a lot, it is somewhere in the region of 12 pounds of mohair per year, per goat.
So, as you can see, you do need to own quite a few if you are looking to make serious money.
The other thing to consider is the cost of maintaining the goats year-on-year, too.
You can make your biggest savings in bulk buying food at large quantities, but it won’t keep forever.
So, again, the more goats you have, somewhat counter-intuitively, the greater profit margin you will have.
Unfortunately, as the goat ages, its mohair slowly becomes less and less desirable.
Indeed, the prime time to get the mohair is when the goat is around two years old.
This “kid mohair” is considered the most luxurious of all mohair, and can sell for even more.
Equally, you can think about what you could do with the fiber to make it sell for a higher price—dying it, spinning it into products of your own, and so on.
So, again, it’s not easy, but if you can take the time to get to know the goats and how to look after them, it can definitely be a nice little side business.
How much space does an Angora goat need?
A key question in how profitable these goats are is how much space they’re going to need on your land.
This is naturally going to factor into the cost of keeping them, especially if you don’t already have land set up for them to live on.
Your goats will need two kinds of space—pasture space to roam around in, and a good amount of private indoor space which they have to themselves and don’t share.
In terms of the pasture space they will need, you will want around a quarter acre per goat.
This might seem like a lot, but goats are roaming animals, and they like to walk around and explore large areas.
The more space they have, the happier they will be, and the higher the yield.
For its indoor, sheltered space, it should have around 16 square feet to itself.
Again, this should not be shared with any other goats.
So, if you can provide this amount of space for the goats, that’s a good start to making a profit on them!
How many times a year can you shear Angora goats?
It will depend a little bit based on your local area and climate, but in general, Angora goats can be shorn twice a year.
Once in the spring before they kid, and again before the breeding season.
So, again, the yield from each goat isn’t going to be massive—you’ll need several at least to make a good profit out of it.
If you are looking to run a smaller business, then it’s definitely worth thinking about how you could turn the fiber into something to sell, rather than selling the raw mohair.
This will increase your profit margin sometimes enormously, and reduce the number of goats you need to make a profit at all.
Are Angora goats cold-hardy?
Of course, all of this relies on you being able to keep Angora goats in your local climate in the first place.
Unfortunately, Angora goats do not do particularly well in cold and wet conditions.
They tend to thrive in dryer, warmer conditions, and this indeed is the condition in which they were first bred.
So, unfortunately, if you live somewhere very cold, you’re unlikely to be able to keep Angora goats happy enough to make a good profit on their mohair.
They don’t have a great deal of parasite resistance, either, and cold conditions can make them more susceptible in the first place.
Like any business, making a profit with Angora goats means knowing the ins and outs of the particular animal.
You’ve got to be able to provide for their needs and be prepared for any eventualities; otherwise you will not get a good enough yield in the end.
That said, it just takes a bit of time and patience and you’ll be making profit with Angora goats in no time.
More in Angora
- Are Angora Goats Easy To Look After?
- Are Angora Goats Friendly?
- Are Angora Goats Good For Meat?
- Are Angora Goats Good Milkers?
- Are Angora Goats Hardy?
- Are Angora Goats Profitable?
- Are Angora Goats Rare?
- Do Angora Goats Need To Be Shorn?
- How Long Do Angora Goats Live?
- How Much Does An Angora Goat Cost?