Very good advice. I would add be prepared to treat your purchase as most diseases are treatable. The State regulates the worst ones and I figure I can treat the rest, it is just part of country life you treat sick animals, something city folk do not always understand.
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!
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!
