We have a hobby farm. It is a labor of love to have a small hobby farm. We do not expect to make money and every year we are closer and closer to breaking even. I have to total all of the receipts up annually so we can do our taxes. Recently, I have been slacking and waiting until the last minute. Annmarie does the taxes and this is frustrating for her. This year I will be totaling up the months as we go so as to not have to spend two days sorting, organizing and totaling a years worth of receipts.
INCOME: $11,254
Sheep sold 59 lambs (a couple of cull ewes) for $5570
Eggs sold $-344
Cows sold cows (2/3 of profit) $5121
Alpaca $0
Hay sold $807
Losses: We lost 22 sheep last year to predators. 15 lambs and 7 ewes for a market value of $3275. This is painful. We had a bunch of different hunters out and the only ones who had any luck were hunting at night with thermal scopes. They still did not kill enough coyotes to slow down the depredation. We penciled out a guard dog (need 2) and as much as they eat with the price of food it is nearly $2200/yr just for dog food. It seems like a no brainer but this was hands down the worst year we have ever had. Normally we lose 3-5 sheep to predators annually. It was just a banner year. It is fairly obvious that we cannot sustain this loss long term. We are currently looking at donkeys. So if you know of two donkeys that we can handle well enough to get their hooves trimmed and allow us to brush them occasionally we are interested.
EXPENSES: $24,725
Truck = $238 for repairs
Chemicals = $581 for herbicide
Conservation = $231
Custom Hire = $0
Depreciation = $0
Feed = $10984= only $6125 of this was for the cows. The rest was for the rest of the animals with most of it going to the sheep. I carried every bag by hand! A rough total of 209 bags of feed.
- Cats 320#
- Dogs 340#
- Chickens 2000#
- Lambs 2350#
- Ewes 5150#
Fertilizer = $0
Freight/trucking = $0
Gasoline/Oil/Fuel = $470. I think this should be more but I could not find the receipt for the second fill. I think doing this monthly will solve some of my tracking issues as I will be able to remember what should be on the list.
Interest on Loan Equip = $0
Insurance = I missed this charge and did not track the expense. It continues to go up every year.
Rent/Lease vehicles machinery/equip = $0
Repairs & Maintenance = $1523
Seeds/plants = $381 we bought some orchard grass seed and planted it this last fall.
Supplies = $7853
Taxes = $1212
Utilities = $558
Vet/Breeding/Medicine = $646
Purchased Animals = $48
Total for 2023 was a loss of $13,471.
On the plus side we had some major improvements. We got all of field #1 fenced so it can be used as a pasture in late summer when the rest of the farm grass has turned brown. We got the bridge concrete footings poured and the bridge in place. The ramps on both ends of the bridge still need to be finished. It is a lot of shoveling dirt! We got the bee equipment storage room installed in the old wood shed. Upstairs bathroom is 100% completed as I installed the last countertop. We leveled, insulated and walled the freezer room and got the freezers moved into it. Got the tractor mower rebuilt. Installed 12V light system in the barn. Horse trailer 100% rewired, new brakes, grease and hitch. Finished Annmarie’s office at the beginning of the year. Honestly, that is a lot of stuff!
Stewart Creek Somethings 