# opinions on buying from auction



## marlowmanor (Jan 30, 2012)

Since we are not finding much selection right now for bred does in our price range and breed choices we are considering looking at a local livestock auction for a bred doe. I know there are dangers in doing it. I have been to actions before when I was younger with my father. I have an idea what to look for but I want your opinions. I look on CL daily and there have been a couple ads for does that I have been interested in and showed to DH. I think we are going to get some more fencing up before we buy more goats though. My inlaws are looking into fencing some of their wooded hillside area in too so we can run the goats there on occassion too!

So back to the original question, what should I look out for if we decide to look at the livestock auction for a bred doe?


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## jodief100 (Jan 30, 2012)

#1 rule in raising goats:  If you are thinking about raising goats, put a cold compress on your head and go lie down in a dark room for awhile.  Maybe this crazy idea will go away.

#2 rule in raising goats:   Sale barns are for SELLING, not buying


What people bring to auctions is their culls, thier problems and what isn't good enough to keep.  On a very rare occasion you may find something decent either due to someone's ignorance or desperation.  Those cases are rare.  

If I have a doe that gets sick or needs to be wormed too often, I send her to auction.  I have sent fullblood, papered boers to auction.  Ones I could get several hundred dollars for on CL.  Why?  Because they most likely will go to the slaughterhouse and if someone does buy them for breeding stock, they don't know they came from my farm. I will not intentionaly sell my problems to someone else.  

It is hard enough figuring out what is good stock to buy. Unlike me, some people will sell thier culls on CL.   Why make it even more difficult on yourself buying what is already deemed "too bad to sell on CL"  

A cheap animal will be more expensive in the long run.


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## crazyland (Jan 30, 2012)

Did you look on nc agri review?
Just north of Charlotte is a nigerian breeder and her stock is gorgeous. I was there two years ago. Don't remember her address. I found her in the classifieds for the review. She also has mini donkeys. I think her first name is Jan.


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## 20kidsonhill (Jan 30, 2012)

Have an isolation area for your goats you bring home and isolate them for at least 2 or 3 months. Worm them heavy, atleast two different wormers and run a round of oxytetracyclene through them before you expose them to your herd. 

visit your auction and become familiar with it before you start buying.   

But I do agree with Jodie, I have never taken a good animal into the auction, all my culls go there. Like Lorily, who still looks young and has lots of years left in her. She will probably look very good by the time I take her to auction. But you would be in for quite along kidding season with her and a vet bill to fix the prolapse. 

I should say I have never taken an older good animal to the auctions, I have taken 4 and 5 month olds to auction, to sell for meat, and they would have made pretty good commercial does. Of course they had some growing to do still. 

I don't even offer for sale any of my breeding does, I take them all to the auction when I am done with them. I just don't want to deal with someone coming back and saying they had a problem with her. I only sell my kids as breeding stock. 

If I were to buy does at auction, I would go for the younger ones(under 6 months), Isolate them and worm and medicate them, and grow them out to be breeding does.


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## fmizula (Jan 30, 2012)

bought three chickens from live stock auction: all three dies with merecks and also contaminated my flock killing several more. now my yard is contaminated for all future birds.

secondly, bought a goat for a friend and he is also dead now. less than one year later. 

i wont do it EVER again!!!  

the animals that show signs of sickness or are no good for some reason go to auction. just dont do it!!


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## carolinagirl (Jan 30, 2012)

yep....avoid the sale barn.  Back in my younger days DH and I got on a goat-buying kick.  We were young and didn't know about all those nasty permanent diseases, much less the curable ones.  So we'd buy anything that looked decent.  We got up to over 100 goats when we brought home pink-eye.  Ever try to put drops in 100 goats eyes for a week or so?  NOT fun!! I have no clue what other nasty diseases we contaminated our land with.  I know we had lots of kidding problems, horrible udder attachments, bad dispositions, old old critters, etc.  So yep.....do NOT buy from the sale barn.


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## marlowmanor (Jan 30, 2012)

crazyland said:
			
		

> Did you look on nc agri review?
> Just north of Charlotte is a nigerian breeder and her stock is gorgeous. I was there two years ago. Don't remember her address. I found her in the classifieds for the review. She also has mini donkeys. I think her first name is Jan.


Thank you for mentioning that option. I looked it up. I didn't know about it. This may be another option to look at. I will have to save the link to it so I can keep up to date on what is available.

Our challenge is we don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on one goat. We actually would prefer to spend under $100 for one. We are looking for pygmy, ND, or a mix of the two breeds. Althouhg I love the boers and the look of the nubians I don't think we have the space for the larger breeds and I really do not think we will be milking since that is not something I have any experience with and I don't know that it would get used here.


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## redtailgal (Jan 30, 2012)

Oh goodness.

I would avoid a sale barn at ALL costs, esp right now.  

They are well known for selling sick diseased animals, so even healthy animals that come in are exposed to all sorts of junk............and they will bring it home to the animals you already have.

And now, with this extremely MILD winter we are having, the disease is the sale barns is RAMPANT.  A fellow not far from me bought 16 calves two weeks ago.  13 of them are dead, two more are dying, ONE may live.  He spend $$$ on these calves, spend a bloody FORTUNE on vet bills to try to save them......it's cost him a fortune.  Now, some of his regular herd is showing symptoms as well. (extreme coccidia).  I have forbade him to set foot on my property.  I told him he could drive by, but he had to drive fast.

Seriously, I know that you want to get you some goats, but be patient.  Sale barn= heart ache.  Take your time and buy good stock.  You want an enjoyable experience with an animal that you can enjoy.  You more than likely will not find that animal at a sale barn.


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## KinderKorner (Jan 30, 2012)

jodief100 said:
			
		

> #1 rule in raising goats:  If you are thinking about raising goats, put a cold compress on your head and go lie down in a dark room for awhile.  Maybe this crazy idea will go away.
> 
> #2 rule in raising goats:   Sale barns are for SELLING, not buying
> 
> ...


I second this. Good goats do not go to auction!

My goats usually get sold before birth or as soon as I get the word out as selling them. Especially doelings or does. No one would sell a good goat to the auction. You may find some good looking goats there. But like the poster above those goats probably have problems that the breeder didn't want to pass on or have their name on. An auction animal is a great way to pick up diease. 

Take your time. Keep looking. They are out there. I waited almost 2 years on a list to get my first Kinder goat and a buck no less. Now I have connections so I usually get my name higher on the waiting list, but I still might have to wait months for a good doeling to come along. 

Expensive goats, and cheap goats eat the same amount, and cost the same to care for. (Usually) So in my opinion why buy a cheap goat that you can sell babies for $50 when you can raise expensive goats and sell babies for $200+. There is a lot of difference in profit, for the same amount of care.

I'd buy the best you can afford, and keeping looking. Even if you can't find breeders near you, think about expanding your scope. Many breeders will would out ways to get a goat to you. I live on the MO/IL border and my goats have went all the way to MI, PA, TN, NC and other states. Many sellers will meet you somewhere, you could use the driving as a little vacation, or you can go in with another buyer and arrange a "wagon train" trade off along the route to get the goats to you. 

Good luck on finding goats! 

And honestly finding a bred doe is quite hard, in any breed, at least in my area. I'm buying my first bred does this year and I've been raising goats for close to 6 years. People don't like turning loose of bred does. Maybe you could find a nice doeling or doe, and ask the breeder to breed her before you pick her up for a little extra payment. Thats probably your best bet.


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## KinderKorner (Jan 30, 2012)

I wanted to add that if you set on finding a cheaper goat, I'd still look for quailty breeders.

Even if their goats are expensive, many breeders will keep a few cheaper goats on the side just for buyers like you. Or maybe they have a baby that didn't meet their expectations and isn't going to be good enough for showing. You can find deals. 

I have a herd of registered goats, but I also have a few unregistered breedings every year, because there is a market cheaper goats as well. 

All things aside the best thing to look for is a responsible breeder, that puts the health of their herd first. After you have found that, you can begin sorting through prices. 

I wouldn't buy the prettiest goat in the world if she came from a breeder with a sickly looking herd. Just too much heart ache and trouble waiting to happen. Been there, done that.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jan 30, 2012)

My advice would be to save up and buy goats when you can afford decent ones.  You're going to be shooting yourself in the foot if you buy from a sale barn.  I know you want goats now, but wait a few months and save up some more money and buy a decent one.


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## marlowmanor (Jan 30, 2012)

I've found a few options on the NC Ag Review site and I plan to keep an eye on that site and CL. We just filed taxes and will be doing more fencing once that comes in, then we will likely be ready for more goats. I swear if it was up to me I would have already had a doe around here from what I've seen on CL, but I always have to approve things through DH too. He is saying we should wait till we get some more fence up so I am listening.  Though I'm not happy about it! 

Trust me if we ever get to move and have some real acreage I will get into a more serious breeding program. Right now we are just a backyard operation (literally)! There is only so much you can do with 1/2 an acre!


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## redtailgal (Jan 30, 2012)

You could have lots of fun with only half an acre.

I'd get two small does (cuz one goat is NOT cool), and just play.  I've seen some videos on you tube about some of the fun things that folks will train a goat to do, lol.  If I had the time Socrates would be my trained trick goat!


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## KinderKorner (Jan 30, 2012)

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> My advice would be to save up and buy goats when you can afford decent ones.  You're going to be shooting yourself in the foot if you buy from a sale barn.  I know you want goats now, but wait a few months and save up some more money and buy a decent one.




And unregistered doesn't mean they aren't decent. Decent for me, is healthy happy goats, that came from a herd that is tested clean for CAE and CL. 

I sell unregistered goats for under $100 that are UTD on everything, and diease free. I'm not the only one out there either. We can be found. Just keep your chin up and keep looking. 



ETA: My Goatie (thats her name) was bought for $45 years ago. She does all kinds of tricks. It's amazing. Goats are so intelligent. She produces beautiful babies too. She will forever be first in my heart, even though she had the lowest price tag.


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## carolinagirl (Jan 30, 2012)

I wanted to add too that if your budget is only $100, wait until you can save up more because you can't have just one goat.  You need two.  They are flock animals and stress terribly if they are alone.  I realize budget is a concern, but a sick goat from the auction will cost you far more than a healthy one will in the long run.


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## SmallFarmGirl (Jan 30, 2012)

carolinagirl said:
			
		

> I wanted to add too that if your budget is only $100, wait until you can save up more because you can't have just one goat.  You need two.  They are flock animals and stress terribly if they are alone.  I realize budget is a concern, but a sick goat from the auction will cost you far more than a healthy one will in the long run.


That's great advice but, I know she's already got t2 wethers and is looking into a bred doe. (I think??)


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## carolinagirl (Jan 30, 2012)

SmallFarmGirl said:
			
		

> carolinagirl said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


OK, thanks.  I missed that part.


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## ksj0225 (Jan 30, 2012)

I know folks that go to the sale barn here locally in (Ayden, NC) and come home and burn their clothes and shoes.  We only sell our cull does at the auction and we usually get someone else to do it for us.


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## redtailgal (Jan 30, 2012)

I wear disposable shoes and trash them before I get home, lol.


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## crazyland (Jan 30, 2012)

Lol there is a mini 6 acre farm towards Monroe for 150g, already set up for goats...
A friend of mine milks her goats and sells the kids for $60. Most go to Mexicans who eat them. I wanted a pair of alpine doelings last year but even at that price I couldn't afford them then.  She has Nubians and breeds them to boar. This year it will be to my buck.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jan 30, 2012)

I've been looking on the Winston-Salem Craigslist and I'm finding several options of goats for right around $100.


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## marlowmanor (Jan 30, 2012)

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> I've been looking on the Winston-Salem Craigslist and I'm finding several options of goats for right around $100.


CL has tons of bucks right now. Lots of boers around too. We are looking for a pygmy, ND, or mix of the 2 breeds. Some of the places are too far away too. DH is picky about how far he will go for an animal. One of the options you probably saw on Winston Salem CL is the triplets my daddy just had born at his house! 2 boys 1 girl! 

Yes, SFG has it right, we already have our 2 wethers here so any doe we get will have company! 

I've found a couple ads in the NC Ag Review that are in our budget and not too far away. I will be showing them to DH and letting him call the people selling if he wants to.


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## mamato3 (Feb 3, 2012)

Iv gotten 3 goats from the sale barn. I have not gone myself. But my friends have, around here pygmy mixes are a common thing to see at the sale barn. I  think alot of it is a lot of people get them for pets then dont want them and haul them of. Im not telling you to go to the sale barn and buy ive gotten lucky so far. My goats i got have already been isolated for over 1 month before i got them. And have been given all shots. 2 does i got both have been bred and produced pretty babies. 1 doe i sold as she look like she could not keep her color maybe she could not absorb minerals good. She was a brown and white but unless i put extra mineral on her feed her brown would fad to a yellow color. Daisy May is my other doe and so far knock on wood she has not been sick. The other goat is still at my friend house i will be trading my little buck for her. We were supposed to trade from her own stock but all her does were having bucks so she went to a  sale barn and bought a young doe for me. She goes all the time and she is a vet so i trust her.
I dont think i would fill safe buying a bred  pygmy mixed doe at the sale . For all you know she was bred to a boar buck and the people got rid of her in fear of problem with the birth.


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## larryj57 (Feb 3, 2012)

the only thing I use the sale barn for is selling meat goats, the young Bucks I'm not keeping for breeding, i do use CL a lot, had a guy call yesterday and offer a insulting low price on a BUCK, then asked why was he worth the amount i was asking mhen he would only bring 200 at the sale, I told the guy I'm not selling him at the sale he is a great breeder, So I don't buy from the sale barns if looking for breeding stock.


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 3, 2012)

Out of curiosity, as I have never been to a sale barn, are they mostly for purchasing/selling goats to be used as meat?  It does seem like it would be a bad move to get a goat at one to be used as a pet or breeding animal, but I was just wondering if there is any other reason besides meat?


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## rascal (Feb 3, 2012)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> Yes, SFG has it right, we already have our 2 wethers here so any doe we get will have company!
> 
> I've found a couple ads in the NC Ag Review that are in our budget and not too far away. I will be showing them to DH and letting him call the people selling if he wants to.


Shame your not closer.. I have a few going for $100 or less with possible AGS papers. 
Sure you don't want to have some shipped in?


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## KDailey (Feb 3, 2012)

Honestly, I think there are good auction barns and there are bad ones. 

i haven't bought anything from a sale barn other than chickens and one horse. I've bought lots of chickens at the sale barn and have never been jipped in my opinion. But I only buy animals that look young and healthy. The horse was a steal and a great deal. only $150 and he's a 3 year old gelding, good size and conformation, and already broke to ride. I also saw horses at that sale that I wouldn't touch with a mile long pole. 

I don't think all sale barns are bad. I think you just need to know what you're doing. Then again, around here, sale barns is exactly how people sell their animals around here. Perfectly good, young animals are sold all the time at these sales. We're way back in the sticks and not many people have a lot of time and money and don't make an effort to actually make a business or a webpage for their animals. They just take them to the sale and they get a reputation for having good animals and they sell well.


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## SassyKat6181 (Feb 3, 2012)

Not sure if your state has an SPCA, but ours here in Massachusetts has a farm, and they have plenty of healthy goats and other farm animals that need to be adopted.  If you just want them as pets and not for breeding or milking, you should check it out.


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## marlowmanor (Feb 3, 2012)

SassyKat6181 said:
			
		

> Not sure if your state has an SPCA, but ours here in Massachusetts has a farm, and they have plenty of healthy goats and other farm animals that need to be adopted.  If you just want them as pets and not for breeding or milking, you should check it out.


Thanks, that is actually a good idea. I think we have one in Raliegh area maybe. I will have to check petfinder to find out. I know you can find farm animals on there too. I had forgotten all about it!


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## boothcreek (Feb 4, 2012)

There are good and bad sale barns, i agree fully on that one. I like to go to one about 3 hrs drive from here, its in hutterite country and way out in the booneys, people don't have internet/email out there, they bring EVERYTHING to the sale barn.  I am mainly a sheep/poultry buyer but I am picky as heck 

There is a pygmy breeder out there with some gorgeous pygmys(I got no clue about goats but I have seen a few pygmies and these are by far the nicest) and she only sells thru the auction and not private(lil old lady with no phone or internet, doesn't want visitors either, I asked her when she dropped off goats).
Also I am very hands on at the auction, if I see something I like be it sheep, goat or emu (should have seen the crowd I gathered entering that sales pen and manhandling them birds, was cool), I go in the pen pick it up, look at teeth, look for external parasites, clean smooth coat vs rough dull coat etc.

Yes breeders bring their culls there, but some are culls just because of conformation/colour and some due to health and picking out that difference can be difficult. But for example last auction I went to there a Boer breeder brought 3 heavily pregnant, very nicely build and marked boer does but they had developed growths in their udders(which were nice udders for boers from what ive read) which would mean the kids would have to be bottle raised that he didn't want to do with over 100 does kidding he ends up with enough bottle babies and these girls looked like they will triple . Those would be does I would buy, let them birth their kids, cull the doe and bottle raise the kids. For the $100 a piece that they went for I could have had 2-3 kids each and dogfood for a while...

Its always a buyer beware on auctions, never believe the labels on the pens/animals, before going study up like there is no tomorrow and really inspect you "item" of interest before it goes on the auction block.

And then there are auction markets where you wanna burn your clothes like others have mentioned... I haven't been to one of those yet but I don't doubt their existance at all, I am lucky to be near an area where the old "technological handicapped" farmers sell all their stock at farmgate or auction.


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## redtailgal (Feb 4, 2012)

The problem from buying from sale barns, even good ones, is that vast assortment of germs and parasites that these critters have been exposed too.

Every farm, yard, house, etc has a different micro-habitat scenerios.  On my farm, we have to watch for round worms in the cattle and they are ivermec resistant. The enighbors farm may have cydectin resistant worms.  If I buy cattle from him, and put them in my herd, then I will have cydectin and ivermec resistant worms, and I would be in a terrible fix.

Its the same way with your basic germs, as well.

Those animals at the sale come from alot of different farms, each with their own micro habitat......each one that I bring in from their brings their own cooties as well as the cooties from all the other critters that came from other farms, thus changing my own cootie habitat, leaving me to guess which one it is.

The other problem I have with buying breeding stock from the sale, is that you are buying a cull.  Perhaps she came from a line of females that will not breed, or produce milk.  Perhaps she came from a line that has aggression problems.  

Or perhaps that healthy looking animal is being culled after intensive work to get her at a decent weight, after decided to cull her for being a hard keeper or being a worm magnet.  

Another thing I have seen, first hand, is healthy looking animals brought purchase and brought home, only to find that they were standing because they had been given painkilling meds.


Can you buy a healthy animal at the auction? Sure, but its hard.  You must know what you are looking for and you must know what you are looking at.  You must be tough enough to not go for the sympathy purchase or the cheapest one.  You must make sure that your sale barn is reputable, and then proceed with caution.

And you must must must be prepared to quarantine that animal for a minimum of 30 days........off farm if possible, if not, then not in a pasture that your other animals will have access to in the near future.

WOuld I buy from a sale barn? Not likely.  

I wouldn't even consider a breeding animal from sale barn, I would have to be desparate to buy meat from them.  I *may* consider a pet from a sale barn. maybe. 

My buddy with the calves......He bought 16 calves from the sale barn, wethers to raise out for slaughter.  He's been in cows for a loooonnng time.  He choose what appeared to be healthy calves, from a reputable sale barn.  Those calves started dropping dead the next day.  Within three weeks, they ALL died, after a bloody fortune in vet bills.

Yep, it's possible to get a good healthy animal from the sale barn.  It's also possible to win a million bucks at the lottery, lol.


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## 77Herford (Feb 4, 2012)

Not all sale barns are the bane of existance.  Now that I've said that you still must be careful and have someone knowledgeable with you.  I have bought some quality animals from our local sale barns but I have too bought some duds. 
As a rule you the ideal way is to buy straight from someone farm so you can see their conditions and the whole herd.  Check for any signs of sickness and what not but in these times that isn't always possible.


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## crazyland (Feb 5, 2012)

There are some registered nubians kids on fayetteville  cl.


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## AdoptAPitBull (Feb 5, 2012)

I would only consider buying kids at an auction. During kidding season, even my breeder (highly respected, top breeder) takes her unwanted kids to the sale. Mostly her bucklings and even some doelings if she has too many. Sometimes people want a sure sale. Advertising on CraigsList can be a total pain. You get 100 emails, and most of them are not serious anyway. You end up dealing with many people and sometimes they don't show when you've agreed to meet. At the auction, you take it there and it's going to go. Sure, it might go for $1, but you're not bringing it back, that's for sure.

Buying adults means you really have to wonder why they are there. It could be that the person is just getting rid of their herd for financial reasons, or time reasons, or whatever. But then you have to worry if it's none of those. Does that goat have worms almost constantly? Does it have a crappy udder or awful teats? Is it just a mean, nasty creature?

Kids are more of a blank slate. Sure, they could have diseases passed on from their mom. They could turn out to be great animals, or they could be back at the barn when you find out why they were there in the first place.


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## hcppam (Feb 5, 2012)

Very good advice...scary proposition.


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