I Can Buy It Cheaper At The Stockyard

As we head into kidding season, I wanted to address the topic of purchasing a dairy goat. 

'I can buy it cheaper at the Stockyard'

I get so many requests asking for pricing info on our kids or milkers. A few times a year, after hearing our prices, somone will send a sparky reply about 'They will just go buy one at the stockyard for $25.'  🙄 I wish them the best of luck and go about my day. Sometimes, if they continue to push me for an obscenely low price, I will gladly inform them that 'I'd rather eat them first!)

Wanting to research the actual market of goats in our area at the stockyard, we do attend and take notes a few times throughout the year. First of all, I have yet to see a $25 goat. I did see 2 sell for $45 each, 1 was an elderly 3 legged doe and 1 was a bottle baby that was close to death. (I expect it had a bad case of coccidia). I have taken our fair share of our goats to the sale, and sold unregistered. Usually an older milker or a milker that lacked proper udder attachment. I've taken extra buck kids in the 70-110 lb range. Nearly every goat we've taken has gone for a premium price, often competing or outselling Boers or other meat breeds. One issue I have is not knowing where our goats at the sale end up. I had hoped they went to the ethnic markets or slaughter houses. I dread the thought of them wasting away in a negligent situation, deprived of quality care.  I've seen it happen and it is heartbreaking. 

We've decided to change things up a bit and will be processing our terminal culls here on the farm instead of taking them to a sale. I can rest easy knowing that they had the best of care for their whole time here, and go out with a quick humane death. They will provide our family with a quality source of protein, and we will know what is in our food! I will be able to see what changes our breeding program is making as I study and measure the carcass and yield. Livers will be sent out for mineral panels, and assist in improving our feed and mineral rations. 

Assuming we process an 110lb Jr Buck, we expect a hanging weight of around 75 lbs. Once the meat is further processed into roasts and ground meat, I would expect to end up with approximately 45lbs of deboned meat. If I were to purchase 45 lbs of good quality, low fat ground beef locally I would spend approximately $337.50. Ground goat online would be double that price for us to buy. Organs and bones will be processed to feed our dogs, further adding to the value of home processing.

Taking all this into account, our answer will continue to be 'No, we will not sell you a goat for $25. Yes, I would much rather eat them first!'