Every good thing starts with a plan. For your goat farm this means you will need to have a goat farming business plan.
Why should you have a business plan, you ask?
A business plan will help you visualize the steps you need to take to get you to your successful goat farm while avoiding missteps along the way. And, if you have to get a loan, the majority of banks will require that you show them a thorough business plan before they lend you any money.
This guide will give you examples of goat farm business plans as well as tips for creating your own!
Table of contents
- Goat Farming Business Plan for Beginners
- Meat Goat Farming Business Plan
- Goat Dairy Business Plan
- Small Goat Dairy Business Plan
- Goat Cheese Farming Business Plan
- Goat Grazing Business Plan
- Small Goat Farm Business Plan
- Writing a Goat Business Plan – Tips for Creating a Good Business Plan for Raising Goats
- Presenting Your Business Plan to Lenders – How to Impress Lenders and Get Your Financing
- Wrapping Up
Goat Farming Business Plan for Beginners
So, if a business plan is so important, what does it need to look like?
For starters, you will need to have a spreadsheet that goes through all your potential and essential expenditures along with your income.
You will also need a market analysis along with the products you intend to produce, a description of how your business will be run, and your marketing plan.
The United States Small Business Administration gives a great overview of how to make a successful business plan on their Write Your Business Plan page. Reading this may help you understand what a business plan is supposed to look like so you can start writing your own or edit your business plan to improve it.
Meat Goat Farming Business Plan
A meat goat farm business plan should be simple in theory.
You would think that all you need to have is a bunch of does and one buck, then a couple months later you have a bunch of kids and in comes the money. While this is partially true, it is only a small glimpse of what your meat goat farming business plan needs to entail.
Oklahoma State University has a good chapter from their Oklahoma Basic Meat Goat Manual that you can read that details the many considerations you need to look at when creating your own meat goat farm business plan in their Chapter 1: So You Want to be a Goat Rancher. Reading this chapter will help you understand the market demand for goat meat, the different types of meat goat operations, along with a sample budget of a meat goat operation.
Goat Dairy Business Plan
All you need for a goat dairy farm is does in milk. Right?
If only that were true!
Your goat dairy business plan will reflect many other things that you need to take into consideration. People will not just buy your goat milk because they are your friends – marketing, sanitary measures, and more will need to be put into place before you sell your first bottle of goat milk. Goat Milk may need to be fortified with Vitamin D by a processor. Check local regulations. Since it is likely that you and your family will be consuming more goat milk, you probably also need to be sure that neither you nor anyone in your immediate family has a goat milk allergy.
Starting a Dairy Goat Business: A Guide for Farmers by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Trade and Consumer Protection, is an exceptional piece of literature that you can read before or while you are beginning your goat dairy farm. Pages 50-59 outline how to write your own goat dairy business plan. This outline gives you a template to follow as well as how to effectively write your business plan.
Using this plan will make sure that you are being very thorough and writing your plan with the utmost thought and knowledge going into it.
Small Goat Dairy Business Plan
If you don’t want your goat dairy to be massive, you can keep it small. All you have to do is downscale a large goat dairy business plan or create one of your own by using others as inspiration.
You can also use the Starting a Dairy Goat Business: A Guide for Farmers manual on pages 50-59 to create your small goat dairy business plan. When using this plan, you can adjust the size of your dairy to fit your wants and needs, making it extremely versatile.
Goat Cheese Farming Business Plan
Cheese is a very versatile ingredient, as well as a popular snack. By producing goat cheese, you can branch out on the products you provide to your consumers.
Making cheese takes more equipment, but also gives more chances for profit. You can follow the Starting a Dairy Goat Business: A Guide for Farmers manual on pages 50-59 to make your goat cheese farm business plan. This guide is very versatile for any type of goat dairy since it offers many places in it to individualize the plan for your specific needs.
Prairie Farm Report has a Goat Cheese Farm video that you can watch for inspiration and knowledge while you make your plan.
Goat Grazing Business Plan
Goat grazing is becoming increasingly popular. Not only is it eco-friendly, it also gets rid of noxious weeds for your customers. People like using goats to clear land because of the benefits they bring to the table along with being able to see live animals.
You can read the Ecological Grazing Enterprise Business Plan Guidance by the Hiawatha Valley Resource Conservation and Development to help you write your goat grazing business plan. This article will help walk you through the many things you need to consider before writing your business plan along with a template to use while writing your business plan.
Small Goat Farm Business Plan
If you want to keep your goat farm small, there is a business plan for you. Since you will not need as much capital to start a small farm you may not need to talk with a lender. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make a business plan though. You will still want to know what your goals are as well as your financial plan.
Hobby Farms has a good Goat Farming Business Plan that you can follow to make a business plan for your small goat farm. This plan will accommodate your individual goals as well as keeping your focused.
Writing a Goat Business Plan – Tips for Creating a Good Business Plan for Raising Goats
When you’re writing your goat business plan you will need to use a few simple tips and tricks to write a successful business plan:
- The first is to be very specific in your financial plan
- Next, have a clear goal and route you will take to get you to your goal
- You will also need to document all the parts of your business
- Also, have a clear marketing plan set in place
Young Entrepreneurs Forum also has a good How to Write Your Business Plan to Start Your Own Business video with many other rules to help you succeed.
By following these tips and tricks, you will be able to accomplish the goals of your business plan, which are to convince others that your business is viable and keep you focused.
Presenting Your Business Plan to Lenders – How to Impress Lenders and Get Your Financing
A huge part of getting a loan is your presentation. Once you have written a quality business plan, you will need to get ready to present it to lenders.
- The first thing you will need to do is know your business plan and any of the weak points it may have
- The next thing you will need to do is prepare the presentation part of it. Lauren Berger made a great How To Create Your 30 Second Elevator Pitch video that shows different things you should do and other things that you should avoid doing during your presentation to potential lenders
- The biggest thing for your presentation is to stay calm and confident. By preparing yourself in this way you will have a better chance of securing a loan for your budding goat farm business.
Wrapping Up
There are many things to consider when making your goat farm business plan. Some people may be tempted to skip over the business plan and go straight to making the business or going to the bank for a loan. Doing this does not do you or anybody else any favors.
By having a quality business plan for your goat farm, you can help keep yourself on track as well as being able to show potential lenders the viability of your business and why they should invest in your goat farm.
References:
- Frost, J. (2015, December 21). Goat Farming Business Plan. Retrieved July 23, 2020,
- Hiawatha Valley Resource Conservation and Development. (2018, March 1). Ecological Grazing Enterprise Business Plan Guidance. Retrieved July 23, 2020
- Jones, J. J. (n.d.). Chapter 1: So You Want to be a Goat Rancher. In Oklahoma State University (Ed.), Oklahoma Basic Meat Goat Manual (pp. 1-4).
- Macdonald, M. (n.d.). Boer Goat Profits Guide: How to Run and Operate a Profitable Boer Goat Business. Retrieved July 23, 2020
- U.S. Small Business Administration. (2020). Writing Your Business Plan. Retrieved July 23, 2020
- Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Trade and Consumer Protection. (2008). Starting a Dairy Goat Business: A Guide for Farmers. Madison, WI. Retrieved July 23, 2020
