Posted by GoatWorld on October 05, 2002 at 18:38:29:
In Reply to: Selling goats for market?????????????? posted by Gloria on October 03, 2002 at 16:48:08:
Hi Gloria,
In reading some of the others comments, I have to agree pretty much with what they are saying. Basically what I'll add is based upon my experiences here in this area (Springfield, MO).
The demand we have at the local sale barn is greatest for wethers and replacements. You'll see alot of different goat breeds - from Pygmies to Saanens, but the majority of the goats are Boers and Percentage Boers or Spanish crosses. If I remember right, the highest I've seen them go for (wethers that is) is something like $1.30 per lb. The trend seems to be that the winter months bring higher prices, the summer prices are much lower.
It's a hard call to take your goats to a sale barn because these are primarily slaughter channels, but as I mentioned, you'll see a relatively small number of "pet" goats such as the Pygmies go through as well. Kind of funny in a way because you'll see a cute little Pygmy go for about $15.00 one night and then a week later at the animal swap meet, you'll see the person who bought him trying to sell the same Pygmy for $50.00 or more.
The average age for the wethers that sell are around 6 to 8 months with an average weight of 60 to 80 pounds. And from what I've seen, the more wethers you send through in a "package deal", the higher the price. If you send one or two goats out, expect to not get very much. I once saw as many as 70 goats go on the scale at the same time. I did some quick math and figured that the total was somewhere around $6,500 paid on that lot. Ever since, I've based all my calculations on that.
So now, moving away from the "sale barn" aspect - you can always try to sell your goats to individuals who want them for pets, herd starters, meat, etc. On the opening page of GoatWorld there is a USDA market report that should list the latest prices for goats at the markets. I would suggest going by that if you plan to sell your goats unregistered. Registered goats are a completely different ballgame.
Then of course there is the something my dad taught me and was reinforced in my college economics class:
The selling price is best determined by supply and demand but mostly by what the buyer is willing to pay! If it is a "pet" goat and I fear the buyer is not going to be a good goat owner, the price goes up 10x - a $50.00 goat suddenly will cost them $500.00.
Best regards,
Gary Pfalzbot