Cost Effective versus Fun

I think it is safe to say that hobby farmers typically accept that the costs associated with their farm's products and produce will be higher than larger producers who can benefit from economies of scale.  I suspect this is why local and hobby farmers like to focus on their products' superior quality and seek out customers willing to pay more for local, homemade, organic, free range, etc.

All this to say that while at Food Basics with Liam and Seamus today, we costed out whipping cream, buttermilk, and butter to get an idea of the cost effectiveness (or lack thereof) of our homemade butter.

Whipping cream is 1L for $6.49
Buttermilk is 1L for $3.79
Butter 454g for $5.49

To make homemade butter I used 1L of whipping cream.  This produced 0.5L of buttermilk and approximately 400g of butter.  0.5L buttermilk ($1.90) + 400g butter ($4.84) = $6.74  Compared to the $6.49 for 1L of whipping cream, $6.74 for homemade buttermilk and butter is not bad.  However, this does not account for the fact that butter often goes on sale.  For example, today it was on for $3.97.

Another assumption that came out of comments on my butter making post is that if I had my own milk producing cow, goat, sheep, etc. making homemade butter would then be cost effective.  Based on my experience, this may still not be the case.  Raising livestock is expensive.  There is the cost of purchasing the animal, breeding them to make lactation possible, feeding them (hay in the winter and we feed ours grain year round), and vaccinating them (I'll get to vet costs later).  Not to mention the costs in terms of time and effort.  All this to say that I both raise animals and make butter because I find it fun.  Besides, all of these adventures are great experiences for our kids.  I am very privileged in that the cost effectiveness of farming does not figure prominently into my homesteading pursuits, though it is interesting to consider it occasionally.

Since we are thinking about the costs of hobby farming, today is a good time to report on my somewhat depressing conversation with my farm vet.  I touched base with him about testing Loki for various diseases before purchasing him as a breeding ram.  I received the cost breakdown of the various tests, and though I cannot say I was surprised, they are indeed very expensive.

The CL antibody test is $40 per test + $64 shipping to send it to the US for processing.
The CAE test is $38 per test, processed locally.
The Johne's test is $32 per test + $44 shipping to send it to the US for processing.

To test Loki it would cost $218 + $50 for the vet to make a farm visit + whatever portion of the vet's hourly fee it would cost for him to draw the blood samples.  Realistically, we are talking close to $300 to test an animal that is being sold for $150.  In addition, the tests are not perfect and there is the possibility that they may come back inconclusive.

My vet also pointed out that breeding animals always involves accepting some degree of risk.   He explained that these diseases, while no one wants them in their flock, are very widespread.  He suggested that very few commercial farmers have a disease-free flock anymore.  In his opinion, most farmers just live with Nasty Goat/Sheep Diseases and get on with life.

After considering all this, Ian and I have decided to forego the expensive testing and proceed with purchasing Loki.  Cindy's farm is very well maintained, her animals are well cared for, and they live long, happy lives.  While this does not mean they are disease-free, I am comfortable in the degree of risk involved in using Loki to breed Alice and Violet.  Hopefully he does his job quickly and keeps any germs he might have to himself.  Then we can move on to the nicer parts of hobby farming - like adorable little lambs in the spring time and considerations such as how the hell I am going to get Alice up on a milking stand so I can make sheep milk cheese.  With a ram on his way, buying a sheep milking harness has now moved up on my to do list.  I think the odds are very good that this will not be cheap either.