What's going on with the price of horses?

[Ed in S. AL]

The local shopper paper has a bunch of ads for horses again this week, as well as other places I check for local livestock, and I have noticed that the prices have fallen drastically on horses. Used to be the cheapest pricer you saw was $1200. Now you want see a price higher than $350. What gives? Are the upper class folks trying to dump them or what?

[pancho]

Seems like I remember people talking about this when the slaughter houses for horses was closed.

[pcdreams]

drought conditions in the Midwest are making hay hard to find (and expensive when you do). Economy in the crapper probably has a lot to do with it as well.

wish I had a place setup for some.

[firefly81]

Hay Prices Are Too High

[Beef11]

Hay is high and they keep shutting down kill plants. It will get worse before it gets better. Anybody want to feed a few hundred horses for the rest of their lives? People will start shooting them soon.

[DrippingSprings]

we had a serious drought here and i bought some cattle last monday at almost half what i tried to buy them for around eight months ago. No hay. I usually get three to four really good cuts and balings off my fields. I got one good and one sorry one so far. We are about four feet behind in rain last I heard.

Horse were dropping because of the no slaughter ruling and then with the hay situation those without adequate forage are selling them like crazy at low prices. I passed by one place today that had a tobiano last summer and wanted 2200 and it has been marked and remarked to now its down to 800 and will consider trades of equal value

[Alice In TX/MO]

Horses are going for about $100 here in southern Missouri.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by Rose

Horses are going for about $100 here in southern Missouri.

Yeah, and I'm seeing more and more skinny ones.....

[LisaInN.Idaho]

Well trained, athletic, successful eventers, hunter, jumpers and dressage horses of good conformation are still worth a small fortune. And solid, sound "been there, done that" type packers are snapped up pretty quickly at good prices.

I think a lot of what is flooding the market and lowering the prices is the equine "junk" that should never have been bred in the first place. Thanks to the fools who know nothing (or care nothing) about conformation, temperament, and actually breeding only when there is an intended purpose for the resulting foal, a lot of horses out there are headed for hard times without even the relief of a relatively quick death at the slaughter house to end their suffering.

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by pcdreams

Economy in the crapper probably has a lot to do with it as well.

What? The economy is in the crapper???

[Bricker]

Originally Posted by Rose

Horses are going for about $100 here in southern Missouri.

My son sold three nice horses 2 to 3 years old, last year at auction. 90 to 100 dollars is what he got.

[BikerChick]

The horse slaughtering plant in DeKalb, IL, was shut down for good not too long ago. They were the last plant operating in the US and processed 1,000 horses per week. All those horses have nowhere to go now, and that why they're up for sale cheaply. Stories about starving horses will be next.

[moopups]

Should we petition for a horse recipe forum?

[bumpus]

.
Good time to buy horses and slaughter them yourself and fill the freezer,
with cheap meat.

Make good dog food too.

It won't be long and they will not be able to give them away.

Just keep supporting The Nut People at PETA
as they ruin the farming and pet industry.

bumpus
.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

This was orginally posted by sidepasser....


"It's a shame," I said to Walt.
"Her conformation's filled with fault.
Her head is plain. Her neck is ewe.
Her back is long. Her tail askew.
Her shoulder straight, back at the knees;
She toes out in front, you'll notice please.
Offset cannons and splints you see.
This mare, I fear, will never be
A racing prospect, or good for show;
Brittle feet with seedy toe.

Four years old, already lame
In both forelegs; in back the same.
Problems to worsen eventually
Because she's built inadequately.
Her hip is short. Her croup is low.
The right fore tendon's begun to bow.
She cribs, you know, and lolls her tongue -
Too many vices in a mare so young.
And when she's worked to desperation,
She wheezes with each respiration.

Her teeth are bad. She overbites.
With other mares she always fights.
When she trots she'll weave and bobble.
Her hind end has a definite wobble.
Now melanoma in horses gray
Is very commonplace I'd say.
But these masses 'neath her tail are bad.
In a mare so young it makes me sad.
I hate to bear such tragic news:
You might as well just pull her shoes.

And stop her training as of now.
You cannot ride her anyhow."
Walt looked at me and then replied,
"The guy who sold her surely lied.
He told me that she was so great,
And I so eager, could hardly wait,
To load her up and take her home,
To pay for her, make her my own.
Well, no matter," said Walt aloud,
"she'll make a broodmare fine and proud.

We'll breed her soon and get repaid
For the investment that I made.
I know a stallion with a fee so low
He's laid up for a year or so.
He's got navicular disease they say.
But his stud fee I guess I'll pay;
And raise a foal so this young mare
Will pay her way and earn her fare.
Don't you agree, Doc, with my plan?"
I answered him ... I told the man:

"Like begets like. You've heard that said?
This foal you're planning, in your head,
Is good for business-mine, I mean.
Foals like this, I have seen,
Are useful to support a vet.
Because of many defects, yet
Our voice is often heard alone
Warning breeders, "Do not condone
The breeding of inferior sire
To inferior mare if you desire

To produce foals to improve the breed.
Breed best to best, that's all you need."
Now listen you breeders of puppy dogs
And cats and sheep and cows and hogs,
For your own species just change the name.
The principles are still the same.
Like begets like. It's in the genes,
Controlled by DNA it seems.
Breed best to best, it's your only chance
For offspring that will the breed enhance.

-Robert Miller, DVM

[agmantoo]

A good friend of mine lost his means of making his lively hood when the law banning the slaughter of horses went into effect. IMO the quick processing at the slaughter house is less cruel than the slow starvation that many horses now face since the ownership of a horse in many cases is now a liability. The old system was best left alone!

[pcdreams]

Originally Posted by Rose

Horses are going for about $100 here in southern Missouri.

Hey.. If anyone has a team of punches or any other drafts for sale this cheap leme know. I'll find some way to house/feed em.

[pcdreams]

Originally Posted by Wayne02

What? The economy is in the crapper???

Do I detect sarcasm? I hope thats what that smell is

[rkintn]

Originally Posted by pcdreams

drought conditions in the Midwest are making hay hard to find (and expensive when you do). Economy in the crapper probably has a lot to do with it as well.

wish I had a place setup for some.

Drought conditions here in the South/SE as well....not much hay to be found. I have heard people are trying to sell cattle as well and not having much luck cause the markets around here are flooded. There just isn't any affordable hay to keep them fed over the winter.

[brreitsma]

Good time to buy horses and slaughter them yourself and fill the freezer,
with cheap meat.

Yeah, if a person could kill and grind them up at home into hamburger that wouldn't be bad oppurtunity. You couldn't say it was ground beef but you could technically call it hamburger. 1.50 lb if the horse costed almost nothing would be nice profit.