I’ve never been very good at what to charge to sell for other people.  Probably, because for many years, I did not see this goat thing as a business.  That and I have always liked helping people.  I have always known what it cost me to produce them and raise them.  But what is the value of me selling them?  Or reselling them?

For years, I bought lots of wethers and a few does.  This was mostly done for friends, kids I liked and people in a fairly close area to me.  I always just wanted to make sure to cover my fuel and motels.  Several have told me it was because I always had an ag teacher mentality.  They were right.  Looking back….without a doubt….I was a dumb ass.  I never put enough monetary priority for my knowledge or time.  Or the follow up service.  However, I was prepared to put a $ value on this back in 2014.  Then several occurences changed my mentality.  And it is amazing how our industry has changed since then.

I go back to the years of 2008 to 2016.  I was buying wethers that would gather grand and reserve banners at  OYE, Tulsa, KC, OK State Fair, Phoenix and Denver, not to mention div. winners and premium sale goats.  Our list of winners is better than most.  Bragging–sure.  As long as I covered my costs, I was good.  Not a good business model.  But it was fun.  Some doors were opened while others were closed.  But that is a different story for a different time.

A breeder or three made it worth my time.  Most didn’t.  But, most, at least thanked me for the business.  They wanted me to buy their goats at top $ and then it was up to me to charge extra for my time.  All assumed that I was making a pile on those wethers.  Several of those parents wish that they could go back to those days.

Helms liked to deal in volume discounts as long as he knew that they were going to good feeders and showmen.  He even told me that I wasn’t charging enough on the backside for my service.  In 2012, I bought a trailer load from him.  Most were still on their mommas.  Some even had a twin to the one I bought.  We brought the twins home as well.  We cared for them, weaned them and then sold them for him.  I remember one twin that won a class at Tulsa.  Another was bloomy and looked good.  We sheared him and sold him at the Norman sale.  He brought $7,600.  (And he went on to make the OYE sale).  Kenneth and  I were both uncomfortable that he sold that high.  I didn’t make any money off of it.  But I already had a fleet of wicked wethers on feed.  And no, we didn’t get beat by him.

One of my favorite wethers was J Bone.  On July 4, 2013, we were at Helms sorting doe kids and looking through shitty, skinny left over wethers.  I spied J099.  He had a look but not much else.  I found him several times in a mob of a bunch of crappy goats.  He was old to still be there.  I hit Helms up for a price.  I was thinking $250, maybe $500 tops.  He hit me with a price–$500.  I ate another tamale, pulled the trigger and carried him out on my shoulder.  Yes, that is the goat on my Facebook pic.

I took J099 home and took care of him.  It came time for the labor day sale and I asked Duke if he wanted to keep him.  “I’ve got Optimus. That’s all I need.”  So we sold J099 as a Helms wether in the Best of the West sale.    He brought $3,500.  I really liked that goat.

The rest of the story.   Lexi Vanderwork bought J099 and named him J-Bone.  That goat made the sale at OYE and was the grand wether at Woodward District.  Duke was reserve grand behind him with Optimus.  Everybody was a winner with J-Bone.  I liked that goat.

I know what people get to sell calves, goats, etc.  Some get 20% of sale price after expenses.  Some breeders give a discounted sale price in order to make it work to get stock in good hands.  Some want all the money.

Some breeders let people use their sire (buck, bull, etc.), then gather the offspring and keep half of all sale proceeds.

Several years ago, Seelke’s brought me a couple of young goats to look at.  One was a Fade2Black son.  He was chunky and hairy. But I didn’t think that he would make a wether.  I told them to get a picture of him and sell him as a buck.  I remember my statement well.  “Hell, sell him as a buck.  Some Kansan will buy him and he will improve most goats in that state.”

They asked if I wanted to clip and photo him.  “Nope. Take him to Milligan.  He will do it.”  So they did.  And on picture day, some people showed up.  And they bought him.  For $3,500.  WTH?  I screwed up.  There was money to be made there and I missed it.  And the buyers were some of my own people–SCHOVANEC.   Then they sold a pile of semen, leased him, used him, made more goats and then sold him for a pile–to TEXAS not Kansas.  Then that breeder used him and sold 1/2 of him and made money.  That goat was Black Rhino.  He was out of my genetics and I set the whole thing in motion but I was the only one that didn’t make a dollar from that goat.  Who is the dumb ass?

I have had great partners over the years.  I really don’t have a complaint, but from a business side of things, it doesn’t always make sense.  I used to keep 1/2 semen interest in bucks that I sold.  Looking back that wasn’t smart.  Why?  Because it is me that does all of the marketing and taking all of the phone calls and telling people how to breed their special doe and on and on.  And it is a pain in the ass trying to take care of all the percentage.    And normally, it is me paying the storage and collecting.  That is why when Justin Burns bought half interest of Dirty Rain, I said, “You do what you do with your half and I will do what I do with my part.”  And it has been all good.  I will guarantee you that you will be hard pressed to find somebody that can gripe about me as a partner.

I have sold bucks for people that have used my genetics.  I kept feed costs, clipping/photo costs and online sale commission costs.  I am a dumb ass.  I dealt with every phone call, delivery/pick up, etc.  And who will get the call if something goes wrong?  This dumb ass.

I get lots of calls/emails/texts from all states about goats.  Have I seen this or that?  Do you know of?  What about these?  I still answer these.  Those that have actually met me and done some sort of business with me get better answers than others.  Am I wrong?  Heck no.

I’m not going to have time to take a vacation on a beach or an island this summer.  But, I have been heading towards Goat Island for a year or two.  I have told a guy that I was headed to Goat Island for the past two years. And I am now there.  I even have the blow-up pool in the back yard to soak in.  Tammy thinks that this is a better alternative to the stock tanks that I crawl in when I got hot.  I don’t agree but it is closer to the carport.

While on Goat Island, I can look at buck prospects that we are growing for the spring.  I’m really amped about a couple.  I can look at the 20 female goats waiting to be bred.  17 of which are 2 years or younger.  I don’t have to schedule dates to trim hooves/coach/handle goats/clip, etc.  I have only been south of the Red River once this year and I didn’t buy a goat on that trip.  I am officially on Goat Island and it pays exactly the same as before.  Maybe better.

There are no political affiliations on Goat Island.  I don’t have to worry about what judge is crooked, who is doing what or any of that other stuff.  We don’t have to worry about offending anybody (not that I ever worried much about that anyways).  We have minimal rules on Goat Island.  Play hard, work harder and only good livestock allowed.  And maybe most important–Keep gas in the Gator.  And if it ain’t worth my time or effort, I don’t have to help sell, breed or whatever.

All I really know is that I can sell goats.  Why?  Because I keep it honest.  As honest as anybody in the business, regardless of species.  And I don’t have to sell goats for anybody except the people at Kelln Livestock that inhabit Goat Island.  And I am perfectly content to sit on Goat Island.  And how big is Goat Island?  It all currently resides in the 73840 zip code.

I just realized how long this deal has gotten.  I’m not mad at anybody nor pointing at anybody.  But, if you take offense, so be it.  A lot of times, I am just writing this crap for myself.  Because once it is on the internet, it is always there.  Then I get carried away.  And realize–Dang Dude–you are right!   But then again.  If you are reading this crap, you are probably hoping that I get off centered and half-pissed.

And while sitting on the picnic table in the front yard of Goat Island, on occasion, I pull up the youtube video of the Ozzyman talking about the weather lady, Yanet Garcia.   I had to look up the term Bog Roll.

“Makes me approach the apocalypse with a can-do attitude.”

Maxima, minima, noche…..

Hey, hey.  Don’t pull that video up around kids. Nothing but a couple of bad words.  But, it is funny.  Real funny.

In the end, as I study the goat business, people feel better to get over-charged and maybe even screwed.  But, they feel like they got something.  Even if they don’t know what it was they got.  And it may require a shot of penicillin.

Not here on Goat Island.   It stays clean here.  Year round.  We only have controlled campfires on Goat Island.