# Question about selling Boer goats at fair?



## EmmaDipstik (Sep 22, 2011)

I'm in FFA and I'm picking up a 100% bottle baby boer buckling this weekend to sell at Fair in July.

I have a few questions..

1.)Should I whether him or keep him a buck?
2.)How much do you think will he go for if he turns out to be a well muscled buck/whether?

Thanks for the information!


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## polopony (Jun 24, 2011)

It depends on your fair. We can only sell wethers, so you need to check your rules. Price vary immensely from place to place.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Definitely check what the rules are. Around me they have to be wethers.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

they have to be wethers by us as well.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

Not sure about all fairs across the country, but I have been to several county fairs in our area and in order to have buyers for you animal at the auction at the fair, you need to go out and find buyers. often these are people your family does business with. The buyers at the fair don't come to buy your animal they come to support FFA/4H and young farmers and they try to support the people and families that are doign business with htem. Although sometimes you will get someone biddign on an animal even if they don't know the FFA member and their family. 
We send out and vist around 30 businesses before the fair, my children write letters and include a picture of themselves and their animal, dressed up and cleaned up. This is called a Buyer's letter. They then present the letter to potential buyers. Could be grandparents, farmers, feed stores, banks, your dentist, insurance companies, autombile or tractor dealerships, ect.... People you and your family do business with. Then those people come to the fair and bid on your animal as support to you and advertisement for their business. They often don't take the animal home with them. They will then allow the animal to be "floored." This is when they resell the animal back to a person who want to take the meat animals to slaughter. At the beginning of our auction they will set a "floor" price on each species. Packaging/slaughter plants or farmers will bid on a price per lb for that animal. For example, I think Goats are our fair were $1.60 lb last year. That was the floor price. The price that the packing plant would pay. Then my son sold one of his goats for $7.00 per lb and the other one for $8.00 a lb. Neither one of these companies that actually bought the animal wanted to keep the animal so it was floored and sold back to the packing plant for $1.60 So the company actually spent $7.00 - $1.60 = $5.40 per lb for that animal just for advertisement and supporting young farmers such as my son. My son got the total $7.00 per lb. So around 85lbs x $7.00 = $595.00 Ofcourse he had expenses and he has to fill out a project book for his 4H club. 
FFA may be different, for 4H you have to often do some sort of project book. 
You can call your extension office and ask who to talk about the rules of your fair. Animals have to be a certain age and size. And there are often 2 weigh-ins, one 4 to 8 weeks before the fair and one at the fair. I have never heard of a youth program allowing bucks to be shown, I would expect that he will need to be wethered.


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## EmmaDipstik (Sep 22, 2011)

Okay so he is going to be whethered before we pick him up! And the requirements is that he be born after January 1st, and be 25+ pounds before the first weigh in, in May. And 65+ pounds at the final weigh in in July. Oh and we have to own him for 70 days before showing him.

Thank you for all the information it helped me a lot!


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