Two weeks ago, I bought a 50/50 Boer/Saanen and a 7/8 Boer/Saanen off the farm in Northern Alabama for $50 each. Both were 6 months old.
seanm and chris, you are marketing your goats at the wrong time of year. Plus, Chris, you are in drought conditions, and too many people who run WAY too many goats on small acres are dumping them for lack of pasture.
This is why I keep saying, "Raise them cheap, raise them cheap, raise them cheap!" Raise your goats for profit and not bragging rights, if you are in it as a business. If you must shed goats now, sell all you can off the farm for $50 for a 5-month-old animal. You have no transport costs, and no commissions. Set up a Web site and maybe you can lure in some newbie fish with more to spend per goat. But if you are in the commercial meat biz, you are selling a commodity. Raise them cheap and sell them when demand is highest and numbers are down (that would be Oct.- Jan.). Now maybe my "crazy" philosophy makes more sense. It is a LOW return on investment business. If you are running them on grass and browse and not feeding grain, you can let them be basically for free til the market gets better in fall. If you are shoveling grain and alfalfa in them, or you have 100 head on 5 acres, you can't keep them that long, it'll cost you too much. THEN you are a slave to the market, and will be FORCED to sell low.
As far as promoting goats, we only supply in this country HALF of the demand for goat meat at present. Half is imported. It is not a DEMAND problem. It is a goat breeding cycle problem. July-August are the worst months to sell, just like fall is the worst time to sell calves (which is why I fall calved when in that biz, to sell in spring). Summer goat demand is low and numbers are high.
chris, you mention a yearling that probably weighed over 150. You need to weigh him to know for sure. And if you market a goat that is older than 8-9 months, it will bring less. Why? Cuz the end consumer demands goats no older than 8-9 months.
This is why I encourage people to go to the auctions and see what is being bought. Sit yourself down for the whole session several times a year, and take note of what brings the high dollar. Then figure out how to satisfy that customer. You know, these buyers do it week in and week out. They know what they want, and what fits the bill.
Here is one line from John's auction price post, which I'll bet is Thompson Station, a heckuva good goat auction to learn at cuz a lot of those goats get right on a truck to be slaughtered in PA:
36-50 lbs 95.00-104.50, 21 head boer nannies 110.00
Let's say for the example that all goats in the group were 50 pounds, which would have brought the $95 low to the $110 high. The guy with the low goats missed $15 a head. If he had brought 20 boer nannies rather than 20 "whatever," he'd have an additional $300 gross out of that load. If he had brought in goats in the middle of that group, he'd have grossed $150 more.
Very important for the commercial, commodity producer to raise them cheap and to learn who the customer is, what they buy, and how to get your herd in the target.