© 2001 Russ Edgar
Each year Edgar Ranch receives many phone calls requesting information about the marketing of sheep and goats. The questions may sound like "What do you get for your meat goats or lambs?" Or "Where do you sell your goats or lambs?" I will try to address these questions and more in this article.
Long ago Lynne and I lived just outside of Mount Vernon, Ohio. When we wanted to sell or market our lambs, we just took those that were ready to Producers Auction on Wednesday. Unknown to us then Mount Vernon was and still is one of the very best sheep auctions in the United States. Then, we moved to Missouri. Missouri is the middle of nowhere. The closest market was three hours drive and poor. We had a supreme dilemma. How do we profitably sell our livestock?
TRANSPORTATION
Lynne and I tried to take groups of twenty to forty or so lambs to market. The transportation cost ate us up. The decision was then made to have a large enough unit of meat animals to make marketing profitable. You need to have a load of animals to sell at one time unless you are very lucky and live near one of the top markets. Marketing onesey, twosey style will not work. Your animals are gone but so is your profit. A load, to us, means a double-decked trailer of some size full of livestock. The more livestock you can haul in the load the cheaper per head to haul and the farther you can go to get "fair market value". This is extremely important. Lynne and I want our transport cost low and our sale price high. Our actual trailer deck is six feet ten inches wide and thirty-one feet long. Each level has three compartments. Our trailer can carry about 200 animals depending on their size. The trailer is suitable for hauling in the hottest or coldest weather.
FAIR MARKET VALUE
The first question often asked is, how much are you getting for your goats or lambs? "Fair market value" is always our goal for our meat livestock. "What is the fair market value of each class of livestock you have to sell? There are two aspects of this question.
First, what does Edgar Ranch sell? Most ewe lambs and doelings are sold in the fall of their birth for breeding. We carry some over the winter and sell them as bred females the following spring. All buck kids are sold in the first fall and winter of their birth at somewhere around 80 pounds. The very top end of our ram lambs are selected to sell for breeding and retained until they are sold which is usually by the following fall. All the rest of the ram lambs are marketed in the fall and early winter of their birth. As you can see Edgar Ranch has a large number of meat animals to sell each fall and winter.
MARKETS
Second, how do you determine "fair market value"? Keeping abreast of actual livestock sales, movement, and buyer demand all through the year helps us know fair market value. This is accomplished in several ways. Each week Livestock Weekly, a newspaper out of Texas, provides a clear picture of the sheep and goat market and its trend. I also track the
New Holland, Pennsylvania and
San Angelo,
Texas markets via the Internet to give us an idea of "fair market value". Fair Market Value to us is the highest price we can actually receive for our meat livestock at a legitimate auction or safe buyer within 1000 miles of our location.
Do you want fair market value for your animals? The answer is yes for us. Lynne and I know that we can haul a load of animals on our trailer up to 1000 miles for a five cent per pound premium. Anything received over five cents per pound difference is extra profit for us.
QUALITY
Can you influence the fair market value of your livestock? Yes! Yes! Yes! You need the meatiest livestock, in excellent flesh, bright eyes, sleek and healthy. You are attracting a buyer not just getting rid of your animals. Lynne and I keep our animals on feed and water until they are loaded. The animals are loaded on our trailer quietly. They go down the chute and up into the trailer with little stress. The trailer is bedded, compartmentalized, and roomy assuring little stress in the actual trip. As soon as the animals are loaded I go. When the trailer arrives at our market location the animals are unloaded, fed, watered and allowed to rest undisturbed over night. The following morning they are ready for the sale ring with no trace of being hauled. One other important item is making sure Meds withdrawal times are met. At an auction we like to identify our animals to the buyers. Edgar Ranch likes the auctioneers to say these animals are out of Missouri or from Edgar Ranch. We believe reputation is everything.
PLANNING
Selling a load of livestock is a big deal and must be well planned. First, if things go well we are going to come home with around $15,000 gross per load for market animals. By careful planing Edgar Ranch tries to influence this as much possible. We attempt to market on Moslem or ethnic holidays when the demand is high. Lynne and I attempt to have the size and kind of livestock the market wants. For example, New Holland wants a high quality, well muscled, intact 80-pound buck kid. Meaty high quality Dorset ram lambs in the 70-90 pound range sell very well. Lynne and I have these animals because we planned to have them available at this time. Their birth date was carefully planned to result in a certain market date. We also call the market and check with the market sheep and goat manager personally. Market or weather conditions that could influence our trip need to be known and planned for.
BREEDING LIVESTOCK
Edgar Ranch markets breeding livestock somewhat differently. Delivery is a very important aspect of most sales. Many buyers would like our stock, however, few buyers want to come to Missouri to pick up their purchase. We use the same trailer to deliver these purchases. A loaded mile rate is charged for most deliveries. On breeding livestock we hold purchases with a non-refundable 50% down payment. All breeding livestock are guaranteed to be foot rot free and breeders. Production information is provided on the registered sheep such as dam's lambing record, sire's dam's lambing record, and aseasonal breeding ability. Information, such as birth type and percentage of Boer, is provided on doelings.
