Livestock farming offers a unique business opportunity in Farming Simulator 25, going beyond traditional crop cultivation. Each type of animal requires different care and yields distinct products, making profitability the main focus.
When it comes to crop farming, players must adapt to seasonal changes, making it impossible to depend solely on one type of crop. This is where livestock farming becomes essential for maintaining a steady cash flow. In this guide, we will focus specifically on goat farming.
What Do You Need to Raise Goats?
Goats are relatively simple to manage and require minimal effort. In Farming Simulator 25, there are no predefined areas for herding, unlike farming plots. Here are key points to remember before diving into goat farming:
- Provide water and food for your goats.
- Construct a goat pen and personalize it.
- Maintain the health of your goats.
- Collect and sell goat milk.
- Study market trends to optimize your sales and pricing for goat milk.
Paying attention to these aspects is crucial for building a successful goat farming business.
How to Secure Food and Water for Goats?
Managing the Food Options
Goats can eat either grass or hay. You can grow both on your farm or buy them from stores.
Buying grass and hay can be costly, so it’s more economical to grow them yourself.
You can cultivate grass year-round, but it’s not possible from December to February. Proper maintenance is necessary to achieve good yields.
Feeding your goats grass and hay produces similar results. To save time, consider feeding them grass rather than converting it to hay.
Growing Grass: A Simple Guide
- Purchase seeds from a store and load them into a seeder of your choice. Use the seeder on a prepared field to distribute the seeds evenly.
- Grass typically takes two to three months to mature. For better yield, it’s advisable to wait the full three months.
- Use a Mower to harvest the grass. For larger fields, consider the KDD 941 STH model.
- After mowing, apply a Tedder to convert the cut grass into hay, and use Windrowers to collect it into rows for more efficient baling.
- Lastly, utilize a Baler to create bales from the cut grass or hay. To transport these bales, a Bale Loader from the store will be necessary. Drop them near the food icon in the goat pen to replenish their food supply.
For an added fertilization boost, use grass rollers after mowing, which resets the grass growth process while providing a 50% fertilization bonus.
Ensuring Your Goats Stay Hydrated
You’ll need to manually provide water to your goats. Start by purchasing a water barrel from the Vehicle Shop under the Animal category, and connect it to a tractor.
Take the tractor with the barrel to a nearby water source, such as a river. Position the barrel just above the water to trigger the refill option. Once available, press R or click the Left Stick to fill the barrel. Transport the full barrel back to the goat pen and place it near the water drop symbol to empty it.
Constructing a Shelter for Your Goats
When starting in Farming Simulator 25, you won’t likely have a goat pen. But don’t worry; you can build your own using the in-game build mode. This can be accessed by hitting Shift+P.
Within build mode, select the cow icon to open the Animal Pasture menu. In the fourth tab, you’ll find options for goat and sheep pens. You’ll see the following purchasing options:
| Items | Price | Holding Capacity |
| Sheep Pasture | $14,000 | 16 |
| Sheep Barn 1 | $48,000 | 26 |
| Sheep Barn 2 | $51,000 | 26 |
| Large Sheep Barn | $97,000 | 68 |
If you want to avoid the hassle of manually supplying water, consider purchasing a Barn, which will automatically provide water. A Large Sheep Barn is advisable if you plan to raise multiple goats. If you’re working with a tighter budget, starting with a Sheep Pasture will suffice.
To fill your goat pasture, approach the floating animal paw symbol and interact with it by pressing R or the Left Stick. A menu will pop up for buying or selling goats or sheep.
In the inbound sub-menu, select goats for purchase. If you want to breed quickly, choose 16-month-old goats. They’re costly, though; alternatively, consider three-month-old goats if you have the time to grow and care for them.
A transport fee applies when buying or selling goats directly from your Pasture or Barn. To avoid this fee, visit an animal dealer with your own transport equipment.
Creating Self-Sustaining Goat Pastures
You can establish a custom goat pen within naturally growing grass fields, promoting a self-sustaining environment. Building pens on a farm with grown grass enhances this effect. The grass will replenish itself without ongoing maintenance.
When placing a goat pen on an existing grass farm plot, you’ll receive a prompt asking, “Do you want to plant meadow for Sheep Barn?” Be sure to select NO to preserve the farmland grass.
The number of goats you can hold isn’t limited by capacity if you create your own fences. A larger area can accommodate more goats. To maximize goat capacity and grass yield, consider enclosing the entire grass plot.
Turning Goat Milk into Profit
Once goats reach puberty at 16 months old, they begin producing milk. Ensure you keep them healthy by regularly providing food and care.
Maintain your goats at 100% health to maximize production. Check their food and water supplies frequently.
Milk canisters will be available near the yellow-taped area close to the goat pen or barn.
Refer to the Price Calendar in the financial menu before selling your milk.
Goat milk is packaged in crates for sale at various outlets. Use a pallet lifting device to transport them. If you need one, visit a nearby Vehicle Shop to find a suitable option.
Types of lifting equipment include:
- Forklifts
- Front loaders, skid steer loaders, telehandlers, and wheel loaders (with the pallet attachment)
- Tractors with front loader attachments and a pallet head
Instead of manually transporting each crate, you can use a Trailer attached to a Tractor for bulk transport. Opt for flatbed trailers for easy pallet placement; many designed for bales work well with pallets.
Secure your goat milk crates on the trailer and ensure they are fastened. After loading, you can either deliver them to sellers yourself or assign an AI worker to do it.
Additionally, you can process goat milk into products like goat cheese and bottled milk at production facilities, which can yield higher profits than selling the raw milk itself.
AI workers can be inconsistent; consider handling tasks yourself or collaborating with friends in multiplayer mode.
Effective Strategies for Goat Farming
The ideal time to sell goat milk is in October, when prices peak, averaging around $9,222. Demand remains high from January to March, so plan sales accordingly. Avoid selling between May and August, as prices tend to be lower.
Healthy goats produce around 25 liters of milk monthly, while younger goats (around three months old) can yield about five liters. After reaching 16 months, goats will produce offspring every five months, so consider selling some mature goats to make room for new ones.
To keep profits up, maintain the goat population at about half or slightly above the holding capacity to prevent overcrowding.
Goats aged 36 months or older fetch the highest sales prices, around $1,000, which is double that of a 16-month-old goat.
