On Mar 25, 10:28*am, Dave Smith > wrote:
> My neighbour called yesterday morning to see if I wanted to go to a
> local livestock auction with him. *He has been thinking of getting some
> critters to raise and wanted to see what was available and what kind of
> prices he will have to pay. *It sounded interesting so I went, and what
> an experience it was.
>
> The auction had started at 10 am and we didn't get there until 11, in
> time to see them selling off things like odd lots of dog food and cat
> food. Then they started selling the rabbits, chickens, ducks and geese.
> They took an hour break before the sheep, goats and calves.
>
> I could not believe how cheap they were. There was one sheep that was
> sold by the pound and everything else was sold per piece. The auctioneer
> started off asking for $2 per pound for the 170 lb. sheep, then dropped
> it to $1, the 50 cents. *It ended up going for 47 cents. The (70lb) lamb
> sold for $45. Hell. I have paid almost $50 for a good sized leg of lamb.
> You would get two of those on this lamb, plus the shoulders, racks and
> everything else. *They sold 8 calves for $40-50 *each.
>
> I almost came home with some kid goats. They were so cute. They were so
> young they still had umbilical cords hanging down and they were jumping
> and cavorting about. Some of them sold for $1. Hell, I was going to
> start bidding on how much they could pay me to take one. At $1 a piece
> it would probably not even pay for the cost of gas to bring them to the
> auction.
>
> The only thing that stopped me from getting one is that I thought I had
> nowhere to put them. I had forgotten all about my dog kennel. It is 16'
> square and could easily hold 2-3 until I could put up a fence for a
> larger enclosure. *That is probably a good thing because I later
> realized that, as cute as they are, they turn into goats and can be a
> real pain in the neck.

That sounds like a cool day. How many calves did your friend buy?
We've threatened to get a couple and name them rump roast and
sirloin!!!
There are so many people here in DE that have 10 - 15 goats and I
wonder why? Milk? sell for meat? Cheese? We have 2 acres that could
use clearing by goats, hmmmmmmmm, wonder how the Jack Russell
terrorista and the Greyhound would do with them?? Could be quite a
zoo!!
Nan In DE