Selling Lambs via Private Sales

As there are no regular sheep auctions near me and as I only have a few lambs (so not worth it to drive to a farther place where there are regular sheep auctions) I sell my lambs privately if I can, taking them to the odd and unusual sales if I cannot.  I prefer the private sale, you get the money yourself (no worries about unknown prices and commissions) and there is less work.

I have had ads for my lambs for sale for a while now and had only a little interest.  However since yesterday I have had at least 4 people call and ask about the ram lambs for sale.  One person has already come for two, others have asked if I would hold them until this Friday, or next.  I generally do not like "holding" sheep for anyone, even if they pay in advance, it is just not worth the hassle.  So many times people insist they are coming and do not show up.

I have had people say they would send me the money in advance, but what if they do, and then something happens to the sheep I have reserved for them (a coyote, or if they suddenly cannot make it to pick the sheep up).  There are also lots of scams in which supposed buyers pay by check, then cancel the check, or make an "overpayment" and ask you to give them cash back due to their "error" then cancel the check too!

Now my rule is cash only, first come, first serve, I will not hold sheep for people, nor take advance payments.  If you want it, get here, pay for it, and take it!

Ram lamb in front, some of my older ewes behind.

Some buyers come prepared, with a couple people to help load. That is always the best, or at least people should ask if they should bring help.

I have had people call and ask if they can butcher the animals on the farm, even though my ads always say they cannot.

I have had people call and ask if they could "fit the sheep in the back of their SUV" to take it home!  When I say "NO, he has horns and will break your windows", they say "but we will tie it up!".   Of course I would not allow an animal to be transported like that.

For sure selling sheep privately, off the farm, is easier in some ways, but there are complications a person needs to be aware of when selling their own animals and not using an auction market.

The Most Money Spent on an Auction Trip Without Buying Anything

What a year!

Normally I would post an ad for sheep for sale and they all would be gone in a matter of weeks.  This year was a funny year.  The hair sheep ewes sold very quick but the rams were just not selling.  I had some people call and claim they were going to come, then cancel for one reason or another.  I had a lot of people call and ask if they could "butcher them on the farm" which I do not allow.  So as such I had 6 ram lambs and 3 ewe lambs left to sell. 

With only ten acres and a small barn it is not possible to keep more over winter and the rams were fighting each other as it was.

The only other option was to go to the auction.  Every Easter and Canadian Thanksgiving (October) there is a large 3 day auction about 1.5 hours away from where I live, Friday is sheep and goat day.  So we made plans to take the sheep down to the auction, but there was a small problem; the truck was not wired for trailer lights.

So.. first thing we had to do was to take the truck fitted with a light plug for the trailer.  We took it on Monday but the mechanic was busy so we did not get it back until Tuesday.  Fine.. great.. ready to go!

Wrong.

On Wednesday we hooked the truck up to the trailer and noted that the lights were not working on one side of the trailer.  It has been at least 2 years since we have used the trailer so we hauled it to the mechanic on Thursday.  He phoned to say the wires were a mess but since it was an old trailer he would do a "cheap" repair rather than putting too much effort into it.  Well the cheap repair was not cheap, $250.. but at least we were ready to go!

But...

As we were driving to the auction something caught my eye, It looked like the tire flap was shredding and falling off, but soon I realized that it was something different; a flat trailer tire!

We pulled over, being in the middle of nowhere.  We had no idea how to lift the trailer to change the tire so called road side assistance.  They came and put the spare tire on.  But it was flat - so they pumped it up and we were on our way.

By the time we arrived at the auction, already late but at least they had not started selling sheep yet, we noted the tire had gone flat again.  We unloaded the sheep and went straight to the nearest tire place.  They got us fixed up, the spare tire was not even repairable, so we had to buy 2 tires as we did not want to drive home without a spare!  That was $300+.

Now we still do not know how much the sheep sold for and just are hoping it was a good price - but what a heck of a time that was.

All told, plus gas and lunch, I think we spent over $700 just to get the sheep to the auction!

Thorsby Critter Auction Buying Pigeons

The Thorsby Auction market is located in the town of Thorsby, Alberta.  It is an auction market that holds cattle sales once a week (Mondays) and horse sales once a month.  They also hold an odd and unusual critter auction in which sellers bring many odd and unusual livestock animals and exotic pets (mostly rabbits, caged birds, and guinea pigs), and interested buyers can bid on them.  These auctions are in the spring and fall.

They auction off the birds first, often chickens, peafowl, ducks, pigeons, and so forth depending on what people have brought.  After which they sell goats, pigs, sheep, llamas, alpacas, miniature horses, donkeys, and some cattle.  Every auction is different,  you really never can be sure on what will be there, and what the prices will be.

The first year we attended laying hens were selling for fifty cents a piece.  There were well over 40 birds, Isa Browns I think.  After that year I never saw laying hens so cheap again, one year there were only 5 laying hens in the whole auction (there were other hens sold as a pair with a rooster, or specialty breeds such as Silkies).  In some cases laying hens sold for over $15.00 a bird.

King Utility Pigeons

We have seen llamas sell for $20 a piece but at one auction the auctioneers were paying people a dollar to take a llama. 

You see it all at these places, including some signs of neglect, such as donkey's with neglected feet.

Sometimes you get a bit of information on the animals (such as the miniature horses) sometimes you do not even get their name. 

In the past we have bought and sold sheep at the Thorsby Auction Market, I find the prices tend to be rather low, as such fewer people bring sheep to sell than in the past and many opt for private sales, or take them to other auction markets where "meat" prices are high. 

This year we sold a bunch of farm equipment that we were not using and bought 2 pairs of pigeons.  In the past we have purchased laying hens, but this year we want to take a bit of a holiday and to have fewer birds to look after in general.  Although hens are great to have, they are more work than pigeons.

Tumbler Pigeons

One pair we bought were King Utility Pigeons, apparently people eat them; not us, they are pets.

The other pair we bought were Tumblers, these being pigeons that fly and then "tumble", it would be cool to get a video of them in flight, apparently though this also puts them at risk of being taken by hawks.  I am not sure I fully understand the behavior, why they fly this way, but it sounds interesting.

I took pictures of the pairs, I should like to get better pictures in the future, as the colors on the Tumblers did not show up well.

At this particular auction I managed to purchase the birds for less than $10.00 each. 

The Thorsby Auction market is less than an hour south west of Edmonton and has unusual critter auctions every spring and fall.  To find out the dates call the Thorsby Auction market at 780-789-3915.

The Auction that Wasn't

Every spring and fall in our area there are auctions for birds and sheep. We need a ram for the fall and want to get rid of some of the chickens and ducks as we do not have proper places to over winter those animals. I called the local auction market a month ago to find out when the sale was. I was informed it would be September 18. I need to know this because as we live in a tourist area we often work weekends and need to book time off to go to the auction.

The farm truck had not been started in over a year, that was another issue, We needed the truck to pull the trailer so we could bring home a ram. I really should not have waited until three days before the auction to try it out, but sure enough it was dead. After a lot of tinkering (and a jump start from a neighbor) we got it running, but when we turned it off it died. The price of a new battery would be more than a ram so we thought we would just go to the auction and see if anyone there could drive our new ram home.

The morning of the auction was cold, it had rained the night before and dropped below freezing for the first time this month. We got out at 8:30 in the morning to catch the birds and box them up, our hands were numb! But we got them all boxed up and the boxes just fit into our small car and off we went to the auction market.

One interesting thing did happen as we were boxing up the birds. The polish rooster screamed when he was caught and one of our cats came running, she started hissing like crazy. I don't know if she thought she was protecting us or him.



pic taken at an earlier auction



Something seemed a bit odd as we drove up, and as we got closer to the auction market it was clear. The auction had been postponed. There was a sign on the gate saying it would be next week, instead of this week. Apparently a fund raising (Terry Fox) marathon was taking place so they had to change dates. I am sure they published this in the newspaper, but we never saw anything ourselves.

I felt foolish driving home with all our birds.  The car stunk!

So... we will give it another go this Sunday, and will head to the Thorsby Auction market once again to sell our birds and buy a ram.

Innisfail Odd and Unusual Animal and Bird Auction Sheep and Goat Day

Twice a year there is a great three day auction held at the Innisfail Auction Market in Innisfail, Alberta.  This auction market holds regular cattle sales, as well as horse sales, but is also host to the Odd and Unusual Animal and Bird Auction.

Every Easter and Thanksgiving weekend a three day livestock and farm equipment auction is held in Innisfail.

On the first day (Friday) of the sale Goats and Sheep are sold.  Typically the sale opens with the bottle babies being sold - both goat kids, and lambs.  Then goats are auctioned off, followed by sheep.  Very often a few bags of feed are sold and a few other items related to sheep, and/or goats. 

Later in the day antiques, and caged pets are sold, with birds (including house birds as well as poultry) selling Saturday, and larger mammals on Sunday (horses, donkeys, bison, llamas, cattle, and so forth).  Tack and other large animal equipment is usually sold at the start of the Sunday sale. 

The sale is very well run, the animals penned so that people can look prior to the auction and make note of which animals they wish to bid on.  The sheep and goats are generally NOT run into the ring in numerical order but rather by gender. 

The auction sees many breeds of goats and sheep.  Fainting goats tend to be very popular at this auction sale as are hair sheep.

If you plan on attending as a buyer it is good to arrive early to have a look at the penned goats and sheep, as well you will want to get a good seat. 

If you plan on attending as a seller you will need to arrive extra early and get into line up to unload your animals.  Typically the animals well sell in the same order they arrived.  Birds must be in good boxes and you need to write a description on the box, it is best to do this at home prior to arriving.  Sheep require a CSIP tag.

If you are selling bottle baby goats, or bottle baby lambs, it is generally a good idea to bring a bottle and a days worth of formula powder to supply to the buyer of the animal.

For Innisfail Odd and Unusual Sale Dates and Contact Information - click here.