\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 To be honest, for the first 15 years of raising goats, I really didn’t care about sale barn prices.\u00a0 If I was hauling something to the sale barn, I wanted it GONE!\u00a0 I really did not care what it brought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Now, as a result of having commercial hair sheep, sale barn market reports have became a deal that I check weekly.\u00a0 Market prices for sheep and goats are higher than usual.\u00a0 These prices also look to sustain for awhile.\u00a0 So, when people are looking for show goats below say $400–no way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And in the show world, good goats are selling way high.\u00a0 And the common goats are not selling at all.\u00a0 There is no in-between market.\u00a0 A dang good wether or doe kid will easily bring $5K.\u00a0 And if it has the right genetics and the right name selling it, that animal may be worth $20K+.\u00a0 Should the good ones be worth this much?\u00a0 Let’s discuss that topic.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In all reality, the genetic pool for high quality show goats is very shallow.\u00a0 This show goat industry is only 20 some years old.\u00a0 The other 3 species are a 100+ years old.\u00a0 I mean, for pete’s sake, people still advertise goats as “900” genetics.\u00a0 I would like to think we have moved past a 2005 model goat.\u00a0 One can find a good goat that is raised on either coast or in between.\u00a0 But there are only a handful of truly progressive breeders in each state and that includes Texas.\u00a0 Yes, even Texas.\u00a0 A high percentage of the banner winning goats at majors are going to come from BTW, Hutto, Stork, Schrank, Mock’s groups and the Martin Mafia (and a few others).\u00a0 For the rest of the states, the # of top shelf breeders is smaller.\u00a0 Therefore, those elite goats from the name brands are in even more demand.\u00a0 The pursuit for new genetics is a large factor in several major herds selling out.\u00a0 Legendary names like Kelly, Gallagher, Helms, etc. all had a hard time finding that “next” piece.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 AI and ET in goats is still less successful than other species.\u00a0 Sure, it’s better than it used to be but still not where it needs to be.\u00a0 About any vet can AI and perform Bovine ET work.\u00a0 Sheep AI & ET numbers are routinely better than 75% conception.\u00a0 A monkey can successfully AI a pig.\u00a0 As a whole, goat AI and flush numbers are still low.\u00a0 It’s like going to Vegas–the payoff can be huge but you have to push all in and then pray.\u00a0 Plus the semen costs on the elite bucks are willy high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Now add in the proven FACT that show goats are a hard damn animal to raise.\u00a0 In an effort to make goats look like “show animals” we have bred out the productivity of them.\u00a0 Things like fertility, maternal instincts and growth are lacking and those items cause losses in animal lives, time, labor and other related expenses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Simply put the elite genetics cost a lot.\u00a0 The low success rate of AI\/ET costs a lot.\u00a0 The problems that arise from raising goats cost a lot.\u00a0 Plus a high demand for good ones all drives the show goat market to be Snoop Dogg high.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There is also the simple truth that their is some publicity and political positives of purchasing a high end prospect.\u00a0 If you are trying to win a big one, one better consider this aspect because it is real.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0So, you can either bite the bullet and spend some $s.\u00a0 Or spend a pile of $s and time to raise your own.\u00a0 Or, you can just become a low rent rock flipper like the Shattuck ag teacher.\u00a0 But even still, a lot of time is spent studying genetics and traveling to hunting grounds where rocks can be flipped.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 On a side note, I don’t listen to many podcasts.\u00a0 I listened to the Bob May uncensored.\u00a0 \u00a0A friend told me that I ought to listen to the Norman Kohls episode.\u00a0 I did.\u00a0 People, every livestock person should listen to that episode.\u00a0 It’s been a long time since I’ve been to NK’s place.\u00a0 That dude is a true stockman.\u00a0 He ain’t wrong.\u00a0 And he knows it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0On another side note–these hair sheep are legit.\u00a0 So much less labor than the goats.\u00a0 Several weeks ago, we sold the weaned kids, I mean lambs.\u00a0 Didn’t vaccinate or worm them.\u00a0 Didn’t band tails or band nuts.\u00a0 The only time we touched them is when we sorted them to sell.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No, I’m not going to own a bunch of them.\u00a0 But I can see their value in the livestock industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Have a good one and a better tomorrow.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 To be honest, for the first 15 years of raising goats, I really didn’t care about sale barn prices.\u00a0 If I was hauling something to the sale barn, I wanted it GONE!\u00a0 I really did not care what it brought.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Now, as a result of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4792"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4793,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4792\/revisions\/4793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}