Planet ISKCON

by Brenda

I recently asked y’all  on Facebook how much you spend on raw milk. The prices ranged from $3 per gallon up to $20. The break down is like this:

• 43% pay $7 or less per gallon
• 45% pay between $8 and $13 per gallon
• 12% pay over $14 per gallon

We have 2 dairy cows, but only one is in milk right now. Our other cow just got “serviced” last month and we hope that she is pregnant! I am going to break down our costs for you, to show you how much we spent in the month of May (2013) on our dairy cows, and how much we made in milk profits.

• $36.54 per month  Alfalfa
• $170 per month Rolled Barley
• $9 per month Minerals
• .84 per month Food Grade Bleach for cleaning the pump lines
• $2.63 per month Diatomaceous Earth for deworming our cows
• $74.20 per month Teat Dip for sterilizing the cow’s teats
• $5.83 per month Pump Oil
• $35 per month Testing
• $40.00 per month Vet Services
• $31.25 per month Hoof Trimming (the cost is 3x this but we only do it every 3 months)
• $107.33 per month glass 1/2 gallon jars (our customers pay for these jars, but it is an initial expense, subtracted from the total profit)
• $10.45 per month Probiotic

Total monthly expenses: $523.07

And of course there were start-up costs, like buying fencing, stall equipment, the pump, the cows, etc. This is what we spent:

• $3,000 milking cow, pump & misc. equipment
• $600 gates for stalls and fencing materials
• $34.97 hoses
• $255.40 stall mats
• $308.28 stanchion supplies
• $163.84 wagon (for moving the 5 gal pail of chilled milk into the house)
• $500 second cow (2 years old, not with calf, never been milked)

Total start up costs: $4,862.49

Start-up costs per month (total divided by 24 months): $202.60

And there are the occasional expenses, which we divide out over the year:

• $35 AI services
• $4.93 goldfish for the cow’s water troff, to eat up the baby mosquitos we saw in there
• $41.01 paper towels (we use a lot of these for cleanup)
• $30 viles for testing

Total occasional expenses: $110.94

Occasional expenses per month (total divided by 12 months): $9.24

And the labor…My husband does all of the milking. Every morning he spends around 30 minutes outside milking and 30 minutes sterilizing all of the equipment. He does this again in the evening. So 2 hours per day milking. Plus the labor of contacting customers, sending e-mail reminders to customers about payments, etc. That’s probably 1 hour per week. So, 66 hours per month spent on the dairy business.

Let’s see what our profit was.

We sell our milk for $10 per gallon.

In the month of May, we made $1,502 on milk.

$1,502 profit

-$523.07 monthly expenses

-$202.60 start up costs

-$9.24 occasional expenses

Total profit = $767.09

Divided by 66 hours, that is $11.62 per hour…which isn’t a very amazing wage.

When we get our second cow milking, our profits will increase (ideally they will double), but our expenses will also increase a bit. Here are my projections:

$3004 profit per month

-$886.34 monthly expenses (increased expenses due to second cow eating grain, using teat dip, etc.)

-$202.60 start up costs

-$9.24 occasional expenses

Total profit = $1,905.82

With a second cow, the milking labor will increase by about 30 minutes per day. And the amount of time working with customers will increase by 1 hour per week. So, approximately 85 hours worked per month for 2 dairy cows.

If we sell our milk for $10 per gallon (as estimated above), with 2 milking cows, my husband’s wage per hour will be $12.89. And that, folks, is the cap in Oregon. That’s all we can make on raw milk, unless we increase the cost of our milk per gallon. By law, we can only have 2 milking cows and 1 dried up.

If we wanted to sell our milk for $3 per gallon, like the grocery store, we would be under water by $198 per month!

If we wanted to sell our milk for $5 per gallon, we would be making $4.72 per hour.

And this does not include the cost of liability insurance…which we have not been able to find for our farm, only because we sell raw milk. (We got liability insurance for going to farmer’s market, but it does not cover our farm and raw milk).

We’ve taken raw milk training at Champoeg Creamery, and Charlotte charges $16 per gallon for her milk and has a waiting list. I think that is a more realistic amount to charge. Tim Wightman, raw milk specialist, says that the national average for raw milk should be $30 per gallon.

What do you pay for raw milk? Are you willing to pay more after reading this?

Do you sell raw milk? If so, how much do you charge? How much do you think your expenses are per month?

- See more at: http://www.wellfedhomestead.com/the-cost-of-producing-raw-milk#sthash.bVom9642.dpuf