Live Stock Auctions

[WIChookchick]

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Theres a difference between a swap and an auction...

Not at our equity livestock building, the swap was worse than the auction

 

[TigerLilly]

I have never been to an animal auction, so I won't be bad-mouthing your decision to do so. What I will say is that if you are dead set on buying from an auction, DO MORE RESEARCH! Go to the auction. See what they have. Watch how the animals are handled & get the feel of it. But don't buy anything your first (or even 2nd) time out. If it's nasty-gross, don't go back! Start talking to people, make connections. Did I mention DO MORE RESEARCH? You need to know what to look for in a healthy animal first.
I spent months doing research before getting my animals. Asked a LOT of questions (still do). Doing your research will save you money AND heartache in the long run--no matter where you buy your animals!
Do you already have friends that know about farm animals of the type you're looking to get? If so, why not ask them to go with you, teach you or hook you up with some of their contacts?

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Theres a difference between a swap and an auction...

Not at our equity livestock building, the swap was worse than the auction

When i think of a swap..i think of folks getting together (kinda like a BYC swap...or the TSC swaps..) and selling their animals to each other...etc... And yes.. folks sell sick animals in them too...

The auctions i am talking about were an actual business.... an auction, where you bid on an animal that you want(they had pigs, cows, goats, rabbits, birds..etc..)....held on certain days of the week.
And all i know is..if you dont know what you are doing,,you WILL come home with a sick animal...

 

[chickened]

Hi, I would go to the auction with an open mind, observe the animals familiarise yourself with what a healthy animal of the sort you are after should act/look like and hope for the best. One thing I have not seen in this thread is the real fact that you can get a sick animal from a private sale just as easy especially from a backyard breeder only auctions sales are final.. Some thread I read earlier about a sick peafowl is one example. Anyone that says dont go to an auction period, usually has no real experience at them because if they did they would know there are more healthy animals sold at auctions or nobody would go as buyers especially repeat buyers which would be a good person to socialize with at the auction for information. Good luck and enjoy the auction it is a grewat social event also by the way.
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[mississippifarmboy]

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Well, thank you for giving me a break anyway.

Nothing I say here is pointed in any way at you either, so don't be giving me a hard time.

I'm just trying to give a view from both sides of the auction block.

I try to be fair and honest in all my dealings, at the auctions and otherwise. I've told more than one dealer to get the **** outta my sale barn and not come back. My reputation is worth more to me than the money I might make dealing with those few losers. This is just my view from the prospective of an auctioneer.

I never said that all auctions are ran well, just that the ones that aren't won't be around long. I've been to a few that made me sick seeing the condition of the animals, the way the employees treated the animals, and to be honest, the quality of buyers and sellers would make you wanna puke. But if they are being run like that they need to be shut down and will be sooner or later. Animals sales are regulated more than any other type of sales I know of. And the fines for not complying with the rules and regulations are unbelieveably high!

However those are the exception rather than the rule.

Do sick animals get sold at auction? Of course they do sometimes, just like at swap meets, on ebay, and sad to say I'm sure it's happened right here on my beloved BYC at some point. It's a fact of life that some dealers are not good people, good breeders, good caretakers of their animals and just all around bad folks to deal with. And I also agree that you can't trust many sellers... in ANY selling sitiuation. However I stand by my opinion that "Most" livestock auctions are ran better than the ones you've seen and some of the others I've heard mentioned. At least there are regulations, health checks, veteranarians on staff, and other security things to give you some protection. And MOST dealers are at least doing the best they can, although there will always be some who do a better job with their animals than others. At the really big livestock auctions better than 90% of the people you will see selling and buying are doing it for a living.

It's all a matter of knowledge, trust and common sense. And I personally think this goes for both buying at auction and buying from private breeders.

First; Knowledge. Know your animals you're buying. Study them, know what you want and know what to look for when looking for signs of problems with that animal. For example a cattle person could glance at a calf in a stall while walking by, never even stop, and tell you more than I could about that calf if I rubbed all over it's body, looked up it's nose and checked all four hooves and asked it it's name. I'm not a cattle person, I don't really know what to look for, while the cattle person might buy and sell hundreds of head every month and has done so for 50 years! If I was going to buy a cow at an auction, I'd have one of those cattle people who I knew and trusted go with me and I'd listen to their advise and either buy what they told me to, or go home without one.

Second; Trust. Find a dealer you trust. Ask this person every question you can think of, then when you're done, ask them to tell you about the things you should have asked about but didn't know to. Find a REPUTABLE auction. Talk to the auctoneer and ring help. Talk to some of the old geezers that hang around every auction in the country just hoping and praying they can share some of their tobaccoo stained wisdom. If anything doesn't feel or look right... walk away. Don't look back. Better safe than sorry.

Third; Use common sense. (I don't know why it's called common, because it doesn't seem to be) If an animal is selling too cheap - 99 times out of 100 there is a reason for it. Maybe those other buyers know something you don't? Goats are bringing from $60.00 to $75.00 today and then there's one that's only up to $22.50? Hummm, I wonder why? I might not know why myself, but I do know I don't want that goat or one of the packers would have already ran the price up to at least just below the going rate. Again, common sense.

There is a monthly swap meet / animal sale type thing near here that has been there for over 100 years, never been a month it wasn't going on since it started in the late 1800's. I know of 1 dealer there that is NPIP and she's a young lady from Tenessee who sells waterfowl. There are around 200 people selling every kind of animal you can think of there. Lots of them packed into cages so tight they can't even turn around, most with no feed or water in the cages. You want to get sick critters, go and buy there not knowing any better!

Now I don't mean to or want to start any fights or arguments. I'd like this thread to be kept open because I think it can be very educational to those who are new to auctions and might be thinking of buying from one. I only posted because I haven't seen anyone else that had posted from the view of a person who is a professional auctioneer, animal breeder and a buyer. I just thought some few might be interested in information from a different perspective.

So everyone please play nice!

I get in enough trouble as it is without getting into trouble trying to help.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
See the thing is that there are different kinds OF LIVESTOCK AUCTIONS and yes I'm talking about actual auctions not swap meets. (The poultry and exotic-miscellaneous-pet-animal swap meets I've seen are far worse than auctions in terms of animal health)

Yours (and I believe you live in significant-numbers-of-cattle-growin' country?) is apparently large and well run. That's great.

Not all of them are.

The ones I'm talking about are smaller (certainly not "thousands of head of cattle per day", not even *close* by any stretch of the imagination) and a very mixed bag of critters, a couple crippled-up horses here, some snotty-nosed goats there, this that and the other thing, mostly in small lots. Or mostly horses destined for slaughter and also whatever other miscellaneous animals people were wantin' to unload.

Obviously this is not the only kind of auction there is. But it is a fairly common kind IME and is the kind you'd go to if you wanted 3 pigs, 1 baby goat and maybe a couple bottle lambs, as the o.p. is saying. I mean, Katy, at your auction, CAN you buy "a" baby goat?


Pat

 

[pride&joy]

Quote:
2X

I have found it to be sound advice to when concerning live stock, start with the best possible genetic base. These individuals by definition will not be at the auction.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
See the thing is that there are different kinds OF LIVESTOCK AUCTIONS and yes I'm talking about actual auctions not swap meets. (The poultry and exotic-miscellaneous-pet-animal swap meets I've seen are far worse than auctions in terms of animal health)

Yours (and I believe you live in significant-numbers-of-cattle-growin' country?) is apparently large and well run. That's great.

Not all of them are.

The ones I'm talking about are smaller (certainly not "thousands of head of cattle per day", not even *close* by any stretch of the imagination) and a very mixed bag of critters, a couple crippled-up horses here, some snotty-nosed goats there, this that and the other thing, mostly in small lots. Or mostly horses destined for slaughter and also whatever other miscellaneous animals people were wantin' to unload.

Obviously this is not the only kind of auction there is. But it is a fairly common kind IME and is the kind you'd go to if you wanted 3 pigs, 1 baby goat and maybe a couple bottle lambs, as the o.p. is saying. I mean, Katy, at your auction, CAN you buy "a" baby goat?


Pat

Yes, it's possible to buy a single baby goat. Around here they have the sheep and goat auctions on seperate days than the cattle at the sale barn that we generally sell thru.....probably because there are not as many sheep or goats raised here. They also have special sales for horses. Another auction has everything on the same day. Those are the two sale barns closest to us that we use.......but I know it's basicallly the same at other auctions in our area. Most of the larger are even broadcast live on the internet and it's possible to buy cattle online.

ETA: Here's a link to the portion of the statute that is displayed and pertains to the sale of sick or injured livestock at livestock auctions in Kansas
http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_47/Article_10/47-1008.html

This link is to the whole statute that pertains to livestock auctions
http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_47/

 

[arabianequine]

I have seen cattle auctions and yes the cows seem healthier and usually older cows.

However our normal advertised weekly livestock auction is not very ideal and has worse condition livestock going through.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

I'll put in my auction experience from southeastern PA.
I'm 5 miles from a 75 yr old auction that my family has sold at and bought from over the the entire 75 years. It is where cattle farmers sell market-ready beefers and dairy farmers sell their culls of all ages. Most go to butcher at commercial concerns- everything from prime cuts to dog food. We have sold dairy culls, bull calves, feeder steers and full grown bulls. It's an education in itself on how the marketplace is run. Everyone should spend an afternoon or two with an experienced buyer watching and learning the food chain process.
I don't know much about the pig business, although my father used to ask the auction manage to buy some butcher pigs for him when the right type came through the ring. These days most pigs are contracted for by the large companies and not many farmers have piglets to sell or feeder pigs, either.
These days they sell a lot of sheep and goats. Goats of all breeds and sizes are especially popular in certain seasons. DD bought 2 minis last year and this year found them a boyfriend. She tells me minis are bringing $75 each during the Easter season.
I would say the big thing to bring when attending the auction is experience. Know your animal breed. Know what they SHOULD look like at every stage of growth. DD got a bargain calf there a month ago because it was 70 lbs. The commercial growers only want calves in the 95- 120 lb range. Those larger or smaller go for a lot less. Some they cannot give away.
Expect that anything going through a sale ring will be exposed to more germs that you thought exist. Watch a new purchase like a hawk and be ready for the first sign of illness.
Ideally, watch the crowd or ask for breeders who are selling their excess livestock through the ring and approach them to sell privately. Many will and it will be worth you paying a premium to buy livestock that is not exposed to the germs of a sales ring.
And yes, there will be sick animals being sold. Just like on BYC and everyday life, there are less than perfect sellers who send animals who should not be sent. The vets can't catch everything although they do try. It's buyer beware. KNOW YOUR ANIMALS.
And finally, in our area, we can send to a different auction almost every weekday. Learn where the animal type you are interested in is being sold. The closest auction sells an occasional box of birds, but the one 20 miles north has loads of birds every Saturday. The one 30 miles to the West has registered- with papers- dairy milk cows every Monday.
If you live in an agricultural region, auction barns must exist, but no one is going to give you a book on how to go to an auction. Watch, listen and learn before you leap no matter how cute the fuzzbutts are!