How Much Goats Cost In India
Goats are increasing in popularity as good farm animals to keep in India. Their hardy nature and ability to withstand a wide range of weather conditions, as well as eat the coarse vegetation that is more readily available but less palatable to other species, are desirable qualities. This is especially true for the very warm environment in India.
So, how much do goats cost in India? In India, a goat may cost around ₹12,000 ($162). But if you are a new goat keeper, there will be the startup costs of building a shelter and a pen. As time passes, there will be maintenance costs, including hay and grain and eventual vet bills. Additionally, goats are social creatures who must be in a herd to be happy and healthy, so you’ll have to purchase at least two goats to start out.
Read on for more details on the costs of goat ownership in India.
Buying a Goat In India Cost
How do the costs of goat acquisition and ownership in India relate to those in the US? It appears that goats actually tend to be more expensive in India than in the United States.
Initial Purchase Cost
In some Indian markets, even live goats are sold by kilogram rather than the age of the animals. The Kota goat is one of the less expensive breeds. It can be had for as little as ₹300 ($4.00)/kg. Females are less expensive than males of this breed. An adult female Kota weighs in at about 40 kg, which would bring her cost up to ₹12,000 ($162).
Osmanbadi goats are on the more expensive end, coming in at as much as ₹17,000 ($230)/kg. Males weigh in on average at 34 kg, for an average cost of ₹578,000 ($7,800) per animal.
How Goat Breed Affects Cost 
In India, where pork and beef consumption is limited due to religious beliefs, goat meat is eaten about as commonly as chicken in the US. Goat is considerably more expensive than chicken in India, though, because goats grow more slowly and require more space.
In 2015 when there was an outbreak of the dengue virus among humans, it was believed that goat milk helped patients survive the disease. This drove the value of goat milk to drastic heights.
At the time, the normal price of goat milk was ₹35 ($0.47) to ₹40 ($0.54) per liter initially, and it quickly rose to as much as ₹2,000 ($27) per liter. The value of milk goats increased exponentially as well. By now, prices have significantly reduced but are still higher than they used to be at around ₹300 ($4) per liter.
It appears that currently, however, milk and meat goats are of fairly comparable value.
India Legal Requirements that Affect Goat Cost
While India does have animal welfare laws, it appears that most, if not all, areas of India do not require the registration of goats in order to keep them. This is helpful to the pocketbook initially but could be damaging later on in the goat-keeping journey.
There’s a reason that the US and UK care about registering animals and watching who crosses state lines. Without any such information, if an outbreak of disease takes place among goats, it could spread much more quickly and cost much more in vet bills and lost animals since no officials would have the needed data to find out where it came from and recommend ways to avoid spreading it.
Cost Of Grain For Goats In India 
Due to India being so dry and the popularity of goats having risen so much, there is concern that soon, there won’t be enough pastures to support them all. With the chances for browsing for food reduced, goats will depend increasingly on hay and grain rather than the “free” greenery of a pasture.
Goat feed is generally about ₹1,500 ($20) per 39 kg (86 lb) bag. The average goat will consume about 1.5 kg (3 lb) of food per day. So one of these bags will feed one goat for approximately 26 days. So it costs roughly ₹57 ($0.77 ) per day to feed one goat.
Cost Of Goat Vet Care in India
Vet care in many parts of India is much more scarce than in the US. In some areas, vaccines against common goat diseases, such as PPR, pneumonia, diarrhea, and tetanus, are also difficult to come by. And they can often become less effective if they’ve been exposed to extreme heat, which can denature the proteins in the vaccine.
It is difficult to find any price listing for goat vaccines in India, but if we assume that they are comparable to the price in the US, the cost of one vaccine for one goat would be approximately ₹150 ($2). This is due to an average cost of $10/bottle which contains enough vaccine to vaccinate and boost five goats equalling $2/goat/vaccine. The most strongly recommended vaccines are one for enterotoxemia and one for tetanus.
So for each goat, the cost of vaccinations per year would come to roughly ₹297 ($4).
The cost of a veterinary exam in India for one goat is difficult to discover. If it were comparable to a goat veterinary exam in the US, the cost would be between ₹2,224 ($30) to ₹5,932 ($80).
So the total cost to acquire one new, less expensive goat in India, including its first vaccines and the first month of food, comes to roughly ₹13,865 ($187). This does not include the costs of building a pen or shelter.
Goat farming is an excellent source of income in India, especially if you are able to start out with a larger number of goats in the 50-100 range. Between the milk, meat, and fiber production, it can quickly become a lucrative business that nourishes the family as well as bringing in money.
