Difference between salebarn & stockyards

[bcnewe2]

What is the difference between a sale barn and a stockyard? I've never had to sell my lambs this way but might have to here in AR. I checked out the local sale barn today. No lambs or sheep and goats went for between $25-$60. What I thought would be worth more was worth less. I thought goats were going for more than lamb right now. There is a stockyard a bit farther from home but I onlyl have around 9 sheep to sell. Can I do that there?

Those of you who sell off the farm, where do you advertise? Back in MO word just got around and I didn't have to advertise.

TIA

Kristen

[Bill Fosher]

Best to contact the stockyard directly and see what they have to say.

[kelpiegirl]

I know a girl who goes up to New Holland to sell their stock. They fetched good prices this year for their sheep. I would call around like Bill says.

 

What is the difference between a sale barn and a stockyard? I've never had to sell my lambs this way but might have to here in AR. I checked out the local sale barn today. No lambs or sheep and goats went for between $25-$60. What I thought would be worth more was worth less. I thought goats were going for more than lamb right now. There is a stockyard a bit farther from home but I onlyl have around 9 sheep to sell. Can I do that there?

Those of you who sell off the farm, where do you advertise? Back in MO word just got around and I didn't have to advertise.

TIA

Kristen

[juliepoudrier]

I agree with Bill that calling around is the smart thing to do. I would have thought that sale barn and stock yard are just different names for the same sort of operation, but what do I know? The first time I took something to the local stockyard here I called ahead to ask about sale times and days, etc. In smaller areas, they don't auction every day, so you'll need to know what day to bring your stock for the sale. Generally these folks are very helpful.

 

My neighbor and I had planned to take sheep to a stockyard further away that was having a special (monthly I think) sheep and goat sale day, but we figured out that we could do as well or better by staying more local. It helps to develop a relationship with the stockyard you use because they will work with you. For example, when we contacted the man at the local market he said if we let him know when we were bringing a bunch of sheep, he'd contact his sheep buyers and try to make sure he had plenty there. That sort of thing can be a real help.

 

Also, with a bit of searching on the Internet you can usually find prices from most stockyards. Around here they tend to lump sheep and goats together, so the prices you read will say "goats" but every time I called and asked I was told those prices included sheep as well. Obviously markets change from day to day and week to week, but you can look at these sales lists and get a decent idea of what sheep are selling for at individual markets (that's how we figured out that taking the sheep locally would garner us at least the same as hauling them to the special sale more than an hour away, and in fact, I got more for the adult ewes and wether I sold than any of the sales listings would have suggested, a pleasant surprise). Here in the east, New Holland consistently has the best prices, but then you have to figure out if your sale volume is enough to justify hauling up there for the better price (given gas cost, overnighting, etc.). Often it is, but if you have just a few sheep, it's not.

 

By the way, the first sheep I ever took to the market was a single ram (and my trailer was unusable at the time so I transported him in the back of the van--let me tell you, that got me some looks at the stockyard! ). Someone had told me they wanted to use him for breeding and so I was hanging on to him. When it came time to separate out my breeding groups, the person decided not to take him after all and so I had a single ram with no ewes for him (plus he had no compunctions about hitting people, so he had to go, but suddenly he needed to go *right now* so he wouldn't tear down fences trying to get to the various ewe flocks). I took him off to market the next day (fortunately Monday was a sale day). No one there cared that it was just a single sheep.

 

Another avenue to check is local butchers. We have a halal butcher in this area, and I was able to sell my karakul ram lambs directly to him. I'm sure he'll sell them to his muslim clients at a good markup (he's probably hanging on to them for Eidh), but as I haven't had time since moving her to pursue developing that market myself, it was a convenient way for me to sell the lambs without running them through the sale. I got more money per pound from the butcher than I would have at the market. So if you have specialty butchers in your area, it's worth talking to them about whether they'd be interested in buying your lambs.

 

Those are my experiences--I hope they help!

 

J.