Most auction goats are going to slaughter & you just aren't going to get the price you will if you sell them off the farm. Once in awhile you may be lucky, but most young kids just won't bring much over $20-$30.

 

I was lucky and got $65 each for two Boer doelings less then a week old but people wanted to bottle feed the girls. The boy I got $20 for but was glad that I didn't have to bottle feed him until he was older.

 

I just went to a Boer goat auction and the bucks and does of all ages (past weaning) were bringing anywhere from $350. to $3600., average was about $600. Bucks were fullbloods and does were fullblood and percentage.
Wethers brought not less than $150. and $475. was the top price.

 

Most people will not buy breeding stock at a regular livestock auction (as opposed to a specialty auction like the one mentioned by KimM). There's too much risk of bringing home some disease or very undesirable trait, so you only get meat prices for most animals sold at auctions.

 

I've gotta say, I would never buy an animal at auction I meant to keep at my place with my other animals. Any animals I buy at auction go straight to the butcher's. I figure the animals that go to auction weren't able to be sold any other way, so there's something seriously wrong with their temperment, health, or conformation. I may be wrong in that assumption, but there you go.

 

hEre you get a whole $10. for buck kids that age. not worth the gas to get there. Liz

 

I sold four three month old bucks last week at auction. My first time doing that and I didn't know what to expect.

Two were boar/saanen and two were boer/nubie. My assumption is that they went to meat. They brought $72.50 each.

I think the "timing" may have played a part in the prices. Two weeks before Easter..they ran 3,000 head of goats through this little sale barn. I sold the following week .. the Wed. BEFORE Easter.

I think..in order to get the best "meat" prices...a person has to look up the "holidays"..not just ours..but whatever ethnic group is going to be consuming them.

I also think...at six weeks old..for meat..they would like them a wee bit heavier. By the time you get a six week old butchered..there is not a whole lot left.

Mine were pushing the 50-60 lb. range..and again..I would not have wanted mine a whole lot bigger for the buyers here. The range here is 35-65 lbs. No bellies. That's what brings the highest prices here.

I would say again..I think it was the "timing". And..as much as I would have liked the "boys" to have gone home with someone for breeding...it SOMETIMES happens in an auction..but the majority and I mean majority of the males goes for meat. So you having papers available pretty much means zero to the buyers there.

Good luck next time around! Hope this helps a little. It was not your stock.

 

Yeah, I got burned the day before Easter. I sort of knew better. You can betcha that won't happen again!!! the only consolation is that we weren't the only ones. The funny thing is that the website for the auction barn DOESN'T reflect the real prices. I had nice HEALTHY goats with nothing wrong with them but wanderlust. Sometimes people DO sell good animals(not show quality or purebreds, just good healthy animals) at auction. Not everybody needs or wants pedigreed animals. I'll be selling 1/2 papered Nubian next year and I'm sure the prices won't reflect the quality. I need to freshen my milking does and i need to sell the kids...That makes it a "buyers market".

 

Anytime you take goats to the auction, you might as well figure that they will be going for meat. Our auction has an Easter Lamb & Goat sale the 2 weeks before Easter. Several meat buyers are there bidding against each other. Selling a week or two after the Easter holiday isn't going to bring top dollar.

You could have always bought them back if they didn't bring enough. You would have been out the commission and of course the possibility of bringing disease home. Our local auction usually has about 10 goats every week. During Easter season, there might be 100 goats there. If somebody has a goat with CAE or something else, it could very well spread it around all the goats there. (Certainly not the best way to get into raising goats!) I have only bought once from the auction - a buck for breeding purposes. I will NEVER do it again. No, he didn't bring anything with him to infect my herd, but I'm not going to take the chance.

Another thing to ask, is how "good" were these bucklings anyway? Would you have used them to breed your goats? If the answer is no, then you should have banded them before they left your property.

You have to realize that out of all the local does in your area that kidded, 1/2 of them were bucklings. It only takes one buck for breeding a whole herd, so there are alot of bucklings out there, that might have the genes to improve a herd, but you are competing against others for selling "stud" bucks.

Not to come down on you, but was the auction the last resort? Did you put a flier up in your local feed store, in your paper trying to sell them BEFORE you took them to auction? You might have been better off banding them, and selling them off in the fall to the meat buyers once they were bigger. Let them fatten up on grass all summer, give a little grain in the fall and sell them.

 

You want to hear something disturbing?

I had to move from NV to PA. I didnt want to move the goats so I sold them, plus noone in this damn family would keep them eventhough they have property, anyway I sold them got an average of $120 a goat. I call some breeders thinking I would get back into them, the pedigrees back here are not half as good as mine but anyway, I do some calling, A buck 4500 dollars, 4-H weathers $200 Does 1000 dollars I could not belive it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will get back into them but will go back to west coast to buy them and have them brought back. That way I can get my Capatain blood back! I think the goats are going better back here in the east!

 

The "local" livestock auction that we frequent (mainly for the hay/straw that's available) is an hour away and they have specialty sales thru-out the year. Goat Days are approximately every 2 months and are well advertised which brings out not only those who have goats to sell, but the buyers as well. You can bring in goats ANY Saturday and sell them, but you won't get the prices you'd be able to on GOAT DAYS. We took our "extras" down on the 8th of April; a couple weeks before Easter and it made ALL the difference! Two bred does (one of which we'd picked up several years prior at that same auction for $37.50 and sold her this time for $140!); the other was hand raised on our farm and brought $150.00. Two week old tripletts from the same mom: Saanan/nubian crosses: 2 doelings and a buckling; another saanan cross doeling about the same age and another Saanan/boer cross doeling about 2 months old. Grand total: $575.00 (minus sales commission of course.) Compare that with the 3 goats taken down to the goat sale just 2 months previously; a brother/sister combo (saanan/nubian cross) belonging to the first aforementioned doe; being 3 weeks old and a yearling doe (saanan/nigerian/saanan cross)......I think we grossed $140.00 on all of them... but we had to make room for those that were coming along. It may not be much, but the sales are more consistent than what we have coming out to "looksie-lous" at the farm and it helps pay for the hay on the remaining goats. Two bales a day for 22 goats. And they LOVE to eat!!!

 

Jessi,
don't fret, just a bad time at the auction, there are better salebarns that give better prices up here where i am, which prices range from 50- 100 for kids and more for adults. i think your best bet is to find someone that buys from an auction and when you have several to go call him up and see what he will give you for your group.!!!
LaNetta

 

Yes, I have gotten burned at the auction, but also done very well. I think you need to know what to look for.

I had to chuckle, though. Last auction I went to, there were 4 feeder sized pigs that went for $100 each. going rate at home is $75-$100 for first rate from a quality breeder. Once there were butcher weight pigs that sold for 35 cents a pound, but feeders (about 40-50 lbs) going for $100 in the same auction!

you just never know - it's buyer beware! and as For the CAE stuff - Doesn't WSU Say that it is only transmittable through milk? So how can goats get it at auction unless they drink another goats milk? I swear, I get more and more mixed messages about this all the time.

kids

 

also, most people dont go to the sale barn to buy any 4-H animals.

 

It's kind of hit or miss, but generally, you don't get the best quality animals at the auction barns. We HAVE on occasion been lucky and run across someone who was moving and taking their entire herd of registered Nubians up for sale, etc. It's where we take all ours that we don't figure will be breeding stock for someone, or 4H prospects. My main gripe is how some of the buyers treat the animals when loading them. I know they are going for meat, but dislike seeing them tossed in the back of a pickup with their legs tied together, etc. Seems like you should respect the animal and treat them well, even if your'e going to eat 'em!

Jan in Co

 

That's true about the mistreatment. I have a brother in law who won't eat meat because of the mistreatment of animals. I feel good knowing my animals had a good life and a quick death before I ate them.

kids

 

If you're selling 100% dairy kids, you're better off these days making sure you a have a dairy buyer, rather than depending on an auction. A big buyer near us says he won't pay much at all for dairy goats. That they need to look like they have Boer in them. BoerXSaanens usually have some dusty red to their head and flying nun ears.