Keeping Watch

Most of us day dream about being a full time animal caretaker, the author of "Keeping Watch" actually tried it.   On the book cover, she said she had 30 sheep, 24 rabbits, 2 llamas, 1 alpaca.   They live in MN and the book was published in 2010 partially supported by a grant.

After trying to be a full timer shepherdess for a few years, Kathryn found that it's not possible to live off the farm so both she and her husband Terry had to work full time and part time to make ends meet.   At the end of one tough year, they sat down and do the math:

'Terry looked up from his spreadsheets and said, "well, there's good news and bad news.  The good news is we made a profit of $24.16.   But the bad news is that's before counting depreciation on the machinery, which will put us back in the hole"   The angora rabbits were the only part of the entire farm operation that showed a net profit that year.  It was quite a nice profit, too, totaling thousands of dollars.  The rabbits were relative inexpensive to feed, house and care for, and their wool brought in the highest price per ounce.  All other aspects of the farm showed a financial loss. the sheep, llamas, alpaca and Terry's small grain harvest - all appeared under the net loss column.  Even the profit realized from the angora wool barely offset it.'

It's interesting to read the part about the Angora rabbits.  From what was learned that they have French Angora that are for wooler only.