# Taking goats to auction



## animalgirl12 (Dec 12, 2012)

I am planing on getting a few meat goat bottle babies this spring to raise up and take to auction. I was wondering what I need to do before I take them like are there any shots to give them and what age do you take them to auction? Also what sells better females or males? Should I weather the males before I take them? 

Thanks for any answer you can give me :wave:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

To sell at a auction, you will need scrappies tags, call the auction to verify this.

It varies with what is best to get for auctions and price is so scattered, you may make good money one week and the next it might be nothing.

You also want to find out, if they sell by the head or per lb. So if it is by lb, you may want to wait longer to sell until they are bigger by weight.

Goats should not be medicated or vaccinated prior to going to the auction. Someone may want to butcher as soon as they get them home and may be allergic to something given. Make sure it wears off with withdrawal time before taking them.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Tooth is right. The best thing I ever did before really going into meat goats was just sit and watch the sale. A lot of questions will be answered by watching. Things and demand are different from sale to sale. Now here a young male kid about 60 lbs is usually what they want. But on days you will have buyers wanting replacement doelings so then they will be higher. 
As for price per pound I know with the smaller the animal usually it will be higher and as they are bigger it drops a little but of course in the end the larger animal will bring more money so depending on how much it costs for you to raise the animal if its worth it. Again if you go visit the sale you'll get a idea of what size the buyers are after.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Jessica84 said:


> Tooth is right. The best thing I ever did before really going into meat goats was just sit and watch the sale. A lot of questions will be answered by watching. Things and demand are different from sale to sale. Now here a young male kid about 60 lbs is usually what they want. But on days you will have buyers wanting replacement doelings so then they will be higher.
> As for price per pound I know with the smaller the animal usually it will be higher and as they are bigger it drops a little but of course in the end the larger animal will bring more money so depending on how much it costs for you to raise the animal if its worth it. Again if you go visit the sale you'll get a idea of what size the buyers are after.


Tooth, LOL:crazy:

Name is Toth, long OOOO :wink::laugh:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Lol....auto spell check I swear I typed it right.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

It's OK, I get it all the time. :lol:


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## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

Around here wethers always sell better than anything else. Really nice replacement does/doelings will bring good money too. Bucks vary depending on the holidays. The biggest thing you want to do is read up on your ethnic holidays and what type/size of goat is wanted for the different holidays. Some ethnicities prefer younger, smaller goats and some prefer the biggest goat they can get. Some also want does that have never kidded or only bucks. In general the wethers are the most steady as order buyers will buy them to sell to a processor where the meat will be sold at a specialty store or restaurant.

If you do give them any shots in the time that you have them ABSOLUTELY make sure you only give muscle shots IN THE NECK! This is extremely important as giving shots in the muscle in the hindquarters can end up ruining the cut of meat. If the needle has any dirt on it it can cause a pus pocket in the meat that has to be cut out which takes away from the quality and resale price of the meat. When I was in FFA we always had to go through the quality assurance class and they showed videos of meat with these pus pockets in them. It would be a good idea to take a quality assurance class, or go through the meat goat certification program through Langston University: http://www2.luresext.edu/goats/index.htm This is very useful to any goat producer.


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