# Is it hard for you to sell kids?



## OutdoorDreamer (Mar 29, 2012)

How many of you are having trouble selling kids? I'm a beginner to goat raising and I have some kids to find homes for, from my first year of kidding. They are ADGA registerable and the Nubians are from well-bred parents out of milk and show lines, and I am getting zero interest with the ads I posted on craigslist and here. The advice I got from the breeder that I bought the dam from is don't "give" them away for cheap, you have time and money into them. They aren't weaned yet and I still have a couple months, so time will tell.


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## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

It's slow this year. I'm just now starting to get some interest.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Its weird out here for me too. My bottle kids, and non show kids are selling like hot cakes, and my kids out of my supreme grand CH does and bucks aren't going anywhere fast or in a hurry. Slow out here for the ones worth a buck.
I did have some reserved for does, but my girls all had bucks, so those reservations went out the window this year.


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

I managed to sell an AGS and ADGA blue eyed buckling incredibly fast. But it was probably beginners luck. 

Maybe you aren't reaching the right people?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Well I think its the fact that a lot of people don't have the money to be buying top of the line goats. Out here everyone is poor right now. Hay is $20 a bale, grain is $19 a bag, replacer is $80 a bag, calf manna is almost $40 a bag now. Put the price of a $500- $1200 kid out of my SGCH buck and does and you need to take out a loan.


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

Where the heck are you? 

Hay is $5-6 a small bale. 
Grain between $10-25.
Manna $30.
Calf replacer is $80. I don't look at goat replacer...lol just when I walked thru I noticed that.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

mjs500doo said:


> Where the heck are you?
> 
> Hay is $5-6 a small bale.
> Grain between $10-25.
> ...


Sent me hay??? pleaaaaaaase?
But I live in california, and everything is so expensive out here. None of the hay we get out here is local, all hauled in. Everything costs an arm and a leg.
Regular milk, non organic, is $5 a gallon. If you want whole, oraganic milk, thats gonna cost you about $8-9 a gallon

Gasoline is $4.93 a gallon today

Pig feed is $16.95

A flipping pritchard teat that you bottle feed kids with is 5 bucks!
like I said, an arm and a leg!


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## HarleyBear (Aug 31, 2012)

I'm in California too and a bale of Alfalfa hay costs me around 16-17 each. I don't have any kids to sell yet... next year (hopefully) but am getting myself mentally prepared.


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

That is insane!! Both of you! So happy I live in the upper Midwest.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

What size bale? I think their bales are larger then ours here in middle America. Still, your talking CA, everything is higher out there. I paid $5.25 for a pretty good alfalfa hay, small bales though. Sometimes I wonder how you folks can afford those prices...I figure the salaries are higher too. Imagine living in Alaska or Hawaii? Goats can be considered a luxury in some places.

My sales are slow this year too. We probably sold too many "breeder" goats, so we are making ourselves competition. AND, we are still in a recession...they say home sales are up...not sure I believe that. And, because of Obamacare, lots of folks are being cut back in hours. My son is looking for another job, they cut his hours to 29, he works for the Unemployment Compensation Office. That's right folks even the GOVERNMENT is cutting hours to escape Obamacare provisions! Hang in there, the next 3 years are going to, be a real pain.


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## mmiller (Apr 3, 2012)

Wow thats alot of money for hay. Thank goodness I have my own hay fields. But to buy it youd pay around 25 to 40 for a 1500ld bale of grass hay. My feed runs me about 26 dollars a hundred. Cali is VERY expensive it would seem. 

I had better luck selling my kids after they were weaned. My does of course sell out faster an sometimes depending on the year I almost have to give the bucks away. Keep trying an if all else fails theres always the sale barn, I know not ideal but it beats putting more money into them that you will never get back. Good luck!!


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## elchivito (Apr 18, 2010)

I only breed every other year and this is an off year for me. I'm seeing lots of goats for sale, and prices are lower than usual even for purebreds. Our prices are always on the low side compared to other more goat friendly states. Hay is always high as it's not local. Alfalfa three string bales at about 100lbs are 16 dollars. I am buying 125 pound three string bales of Colorado Timothy grass at 25 each. It hurts at the feed store but I can feed a lot less and there's NO waste compared to Alfalfa. My goats adore Timothy.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

My goats will not eat timothy! They waste so much it's crazy. So, I stopped buying it...the mini horses eat it...some...but our farmers wait sooo long to cut. Some of it is almost like straw. I have a guy who says he will cut it at an earlier date for me...we will see. 

Actually $16. for a $100lb bale of alfalfa isn't too bad...a tad more then I pay...I think my bales are about 45lbs. I like the smaller bales because I can handle them myself. But, it's costs more to do it that way. I'm thinking about buying some large 1200lb bales and just putting a fence around them...much cheaper to buy it that way...but...I'll need a bobcat to unload. It's great that I have a "rent-all" place just across the road from us.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Yeah, we have the 3 twine bales out here, they are about 100lbs.
the BIG bales out here are over $100 and nobody has them hardly.

For the longest time my goats, horses, and even COWS would NOT eat the alfalfa. I couldn't get them to eat any of it for almost a year, finally they got some in from a different supplier and they eat it now. I think the last ones had spray or something, for the longest time they were only on oat hay.

Everything is expensive out here in California. Feed is priced through the roof, and animal prices and dirt cheap. 

I didn't have hardly any does, major buck year for me. I had 3 does out of 57 kids. 1 died (got stomped), one was an accident cross breed, and one is purebred alpine that I am keeping.


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## adriHart (Nov 1, 2012)

I sold two unpapered bottle baby wethers within a week of placing an ad on CL and found a good home for my two older Nubian wethers after having some interest again on Craigslist. My goats were all sold as strictly pets with no registration. In my area most people seem to raise ND or boers. I was worried they wouldn't sell but got lucky.I'm in Oregon btw.


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## emilieanne (Oct 15, 2012)

Nothing's selling out here either. 

(Florida) it's all "is dat meat?" Lol all we get. All day long. 
"You know how to cook?" Ummm no thanks. 

House sales are up though. 

All the goats we end up selling are just for pets for old people:/ I think I've sold 4 show animals this year..:/ not so great.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

Well, starting to get some interest. It's so neat to be able to put an ad on CL and send them to your facebook page for more pics and info about the farm. I sold 2 kids yesterday. And, more coming to look next weekend.


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## eqstrnathlete (Mar 16, 2013)

Wow. I pay $3 a bale delivered for 75 lb bales!


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## stagestopboergoats (Dec 29, 2012)

*Hay bale sizes*

Yes feed prices are high everywhere. The bale sizes are very different though. My daughter has a ranch in TX and they bale small square bales probably only 50 lbs and sell them for $5. At the feed store in So Cal I pay about $17 a bale for about 120 lbs. Due to feed costs wwe raised the price on the 4H and FFA show boer goats we sold as weanlings this year by $50 and now we just have to hope that the 4H members will re coup that expense in their auctions!


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

I agree, this is a slow year. Last year I sold so fast I couldn't stay stocked (I handle all the goat sales for my personal herd, the dairy herd, and a couple of other local herds. I'm a goat broker!).

This year I've actually got La Mancha doelings sitting around waiting for buyers. Nigerians still got snatched up in a heartbeat. 

Meat kids sold like hotcakes too.


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## still (Mar 16, 2013)

I'm having trouble selling my buck....,I placed an ad on Craigslist 2 weeks ago and all I got was a scammer!! I've never had this much trouble selling a goat!


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## OutdoorDreamer (Mar 29, 2012)

All I have gotten so far is one price shopper from Craigslist. Probably just looking for a backyard goat to tether up in their yard. I told them my price and they never replied, so they must not be the right buyer. I paid good money for my goats and they get all the best feed and care I can afford. I want to at least sell them to someone who will feel the same towards their animals. Someone who will appreciate the time I put into caring for these kids and keeping them socialized and friendly, someone who will appreciate the good milkers they will be someday.


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

It seems ot be hard some times and easy the others. I had early kids, so they sold out quickly. The ones born later in the year seem to be harder.

The problem with selling for a higher price is farm name. Yes, you have top lines, but unless its you that have the "quality", well known, tried and true herd name, there may be no interest in the kids. People would rather pay the price and get a kid from say...Saada than to buy a kid from an unknown herd even if they have all Saada breeding! Makes no sense sometimes. 

I got a fantastic buckling from a mostly unknown farm. The breeders bought a Saada buck and my buck was his son from one of their own does. I paid a fraction of what they paid for the Saada buck, but wow, those genetics did wonderful things for my herd.:cheers:

Sometimes you have to just bite the the bullet and sell low rather than to hang on to the kids waiting for top dollar and spending the difference in feed costs. I want the ones that will be sold to be spoken for and gone by weaning. If not, I lower the price. Its more economical for me to sell cheaper (or to a dealer in the case of bucklings) and not have to pay for the feed. They can easily eat you right into the poor house!!


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## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

*My Goat Selling Experiences..*

I feel like I've been doing pretty well, selling my Nigerians this year... For me, the wethers are always sold first. I sometimes have more people wanting wethers than I actually have for sale. Wild! Anyway, I am happy to report that I have just sold my first buckling this year (this will be my fourth year of raising goats, so I'm pretty happy that the blessed day has finally arrived!. I still have to sell three more kids this year (two doelings, and one wether), but the oldest kid is two months old, so I feel like I'm selling them in a good time frame. What I have noticed about selling kids this year is- wow, the most wonderful people want my goats! I always make sure that everyone has a good home, but this year the people are amazing! They're just the kind of people I want to sell my goats too. How lucky am I?!


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