Where to buy, what to buy, where to start?

[SheepGirl]

No Black Baldies? Wow. They are like Boers here. Every place that has cows here has Black Baldies in their field. We also have many, many Angus', Herefords, and tons of Angus crosses, such as the Black Baldy. We have many Holsteins and Holstein crosses and a few Galloways here. I know someone that has a dozen Holstein steers for meat right now. Holsteins are an excellent dairy breed but can be used as meat and the crosses are pretty good for meat. They do take longer to grow though.

8 acres should be more than enough for one cow. You are looking for a steer, right?

I would not use CL to find one. The prices will be WAY high esp. for a meat cow. I would talk to ranchers and go to a sale and get to know the ones that bring animals alot. I would never but a goat or sheep from a sale because they are all cull animals but here everybody brings their cows here. Good and bad.If you have an eye you can tell which are good and which are bad. There was this guy that breeds really nice Angus cows and he brought 8 PB Angus bulls that are registered to the sale. So I'm not sure about all stockyards but here we have nice and not so nice that is sold here. Get to know some of the better ones and maybe get one from his/her ranch.

Please remember that I do not own cattle. Everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. Hopefully some of the real cattle people weigh in soon.

Can I ask a question from one of your comments? If people take their cull animals to a sale and you want to get (sheep) to feed out, then would these animals be ok to purchase? Or if they are culling them is there usually a bigger problem? Thx.

If you're buying lambs, you don't really need to worry about anything unless they were sent there because they were constantly sick or have a defect. If you're buying cull ewes/rams then there might be something else going on, unless the producer needed to just sell their stock somewhere because they couldn't find a buyer.

If you want to buy feeder lambs I would see who sells at auction and call them and just buy straight off the farm so you don't have to deal with the disease risks at an auction. Plus you can ask the breeder all the questions you want--about the animal's history, how to care for them when you get them home, etc.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

I have been to sales many times. I have seen well over a thousand goats and sheep run thru the sale and be sold. I am telling you that I would NEVER EVER buy form a livestock sale. Young or old. I see lambs and kid that go thru there and lots have scours (you can see it on them), some are thin, have nasty eyes, messed up feet or legs. I've seen it all in that case. Now will you come across a good few lambs or sheep or kids or goats? Yeah, but you must have a good eye and still end up lucky. You have no way of being able to run your hands over the animal, checking for faults or issues, checking eyes, all that good stuff. IMO if you want to buy an animal you better take a good look at it and make sure you're not going to be screwed with he animal in the end. Now lets say you find a good one and you do buy it. Guess what? That animal has been in with at least 50 other goats or sheep and I can promise you that most of them have issues and are sick. So they are coughing all over your goat or sheep and are pooping in with that animal. They, in some case are trying to breed that animal, ect. So you luck out and somehow do get a good sheep or goat, but then the chances of that animal also not picking or being exposed to so many diseases, sicknesses, ect is slim to none. Point is, if you buy from a sale more than likely it's not going to turn out so well. That animal may end up living and being fine but you will have to put so much into it such as shots, wormers, maybe antibiotics, treatments, ect. So I would never recommend buying from a livestock sale. It's way to risky and to much potential to kill or destroy your animals.

If you are looking for an animal you want to raise and slaughter for food for your family go to farms that you see and stop by. Ask them what kinds of livestock they have, what for, if they sell, if so do they sell for meat, ect. Some people may have an infertile sheep or goat that the would love to sell at a discounted price and you have an animal that you take straight from the farm and you get to see they way the do things and you feel good that it's a rather healthy animal that will not spread disease that could be dangerous to you or your animal. So no, don't buy from a sale, go find a farmer that will sell you something from their farm and go that route. Even if you pay a bit more (which you may not) you have peace of mind and it will be better all around.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

No.

That's what I thought.

We have purchased and processed our beef for a few years, just never raised it ourselves. The cost is about the same as the store but the quality is quite noticeable. I don't think I could ever go back now

We are still working out the plan for this and @promiseacres, I might get in touch when we are closer to buying time.

I probably won't find myself at any sales barn though I do know several people who buy from and sell at them---some have had no problem while others have gotten some poor quality animals that didn't do well/died. I just know if I went, I'd probably end up buying some pathetic creature 'to rescue' and then regret it, because I am soft-hearted when I see stuff like that and logic gets misplaced temporarily.

 

[Royd Wood]

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

No.

No is right in fact its NO NO NO NEVER - whatever makes you think you can compete dollar wise with mr big (I slaughter 5000 corn / soya feedlot e coli laced head a day )

So I ask you to think about the proud moment you and family sink yer teeth into some good home raised beef prepared by a local(ish) butcher
Just look at the beef recall in Canada and realise how lucky you are at eating a home raised healthy beef animal.

 

[Bossroo]

I have been to sales many times. I have seen well over a thousand goats and sheep run thru the sale and be sold. I am telling you that I would NEVER EVER buy form a livestock sale. Young or old. I see lambs and kid that go thru there and lots have scours (you can see it on them), some are thin, have nasty eyes, messed up feet or legs. I've seen it all in that case. Now will you come across a good few lambs or sheep or kids or goats? Yeah, but you must have a good eye and still end up lucky. You have no way of being able to run your hands over the animal, checking for faults or issues, checking eyes, all that good stuff. IMO if you want to buy an animal you better take a good look at it and make sure you're not going to be screwed with he animal in the end. Now lets say you find a good one and you do buy it. Guess what? That animal has been in with at least 50 other goats or sheep and I can promise you that most of them have issues and are sick. So they are coughing all over your goat or sheep and are pooping in with that animal. They, in some case are trying to breed that animal, ect. So you luck out and somehow do get a good sheep or goat, but then the chances of that animal also not picking or being exposed to so many diseases, sicknesses, ect is slim to none. Point is, if you buy from a sale more than likely it's not going to turn out so well. That animal may end up living and being fine but you will have to put so much into it such as shots, wormers, maybe antibiotics, treatments, ect. So I would never recommend buying from a livestock sale. It's way to risky and to much potential to kill or destroy your animals.

If you are looking for an animal you want to raise and slaughter for food for your family go to farms that you see and stop by. Ask them what kinds of livestock they have, what for, if they sell, if so do they sell for meat, ect. Some people may have an infertile sheep or goat that the would love to sell at a discounted price and you have an animal that you take straight from the farm and you get to see they way the do things and you feel good that it's a rather healthy animal that will not spread disease that could be dangerous to you or your animal. So no, don't buy from a sale, go find a farmer that will sell you something from their farm and go that route. Even if you pay a bit more (which you may not) you have peace of mind and it will be better all around.

I have raised hundreds of sheep as well as a few dozen cattle so I attended quite a few sheep and cattle auctions both to buy and sell. The vast majority were in very good health. While quite a few needed to be fattened in a feed lot due to the fact that they have just came off poor pastures or hilly dry range conditions. I saw a few that had a limp ( handling accidents do happen from time to time in a pasture, range,corral, falls on a slippery/ wet floor, or being handled ) and some with a runny nose, and/or runny stools caused by stress which is understandable due to being sorted in a chute, being loaded onto a truck at the farm, then riding in a back of a truck then unloaded and run into small holding pens, then run through the auction ring. Very few showed some signs of more serious illness, which whent as NO SALE or sold at a major discount ( buyer be ware). While it is true that any animal will be exposed to pathogens as they are in every environment, it doesn't always mean that they will contract same due to their immune systems. Proper quaranteen of all sale animals from any outside source ( auction or another farm) at one's farm , as well as promt treatment if needed, should always be practiced. I have also worked at a Veterinary teaching hopital... I whent to many slaughterhouses where I collected tissue samples from carcasses 8 hours per day twice a month - lungs, livers, kidneys, brains and lymph nodes . We used these samples as teaching aids for Senior Veterinary students in the Pathology Lab taught by Phd. Pathologists as well as Phd candidates. Then bacteriolocial tests were performed by Phd. Bacteriologists and Phd candidates as well as stained tissues for histological studies that were examined with microscopes by Phd.Pathologists as well as Phd candidates. The vast majority were healthy. The very few that showed pathological changes, such as pneumonia, urinary calculi, csytic kidneys and/or livers, or enlarged lymph nodes. I would use those to preserve as musium specimens and take photomicroscopy photos of the histology slides as teaching material for Sophomore Vet students. Many of which were being used by other Vet. teaching hospitals.