Saturday, February 6, 2016
What It Cost to Care for 20 Alpacas in 2015
Babies!
Since we are doing our taxes, we need real figures on hay, meds, straw, vitamins, shearing, etc.
What does it cost to take care of the alpacas per year? I am not including gas to run the truck and the lawn tractor to mow the fields. Just the basics on our herd of 20 animals.
Hay, alfalfa, help to load the hay and alfalfa, straw, and minerals cost $1555 for the year.
Divide that out by 20 and you get $77.72/animal/year.
That is the equivalent of 22 CENTS per DAY!
(This does not include special chow for the older animals that may be necessary.)
When I add in the shearing, insurance, and vet costs (we had some unusual troubles this year, so our vet bill was higher than usual) the total was $4571.
Divided by 20 animals the cost is $228.55 per alpaca per year.
In other words, 63 CENTS per day per animal.
I think it is less expensive to care for an alpaca than it is our family dog.
Thank heavens, I don't have 20 dogs!
Always interested in chow
Shearing
Peaceful summer evening
Visitors welcome!