I’ve been going to a lot of cattle sales lately, at the local auction barn. Inevitably, there are two or three horses there every week, and I’m always curious at what they bring. I wonder why they were brought there, and where they are going after that final winning bid. It always makes me wish I had multiple pastures and unlimited funds so that I could take them home with me.
I think that horses are brought to the cattle auction because people are tired of feeding them, and they don’t want to put any work into selling them properly. One week when we were there, after the sale, I overheard a conversation with two of the sellers, one of which is a trainer/trader type guy. The trainer asked, “What did you get for your colts?” “Ten bucks,” replied the seller. Trainer: “Well, I told ya you should’ve let me cut ’em for you, they would’a brought more.” Translation: These backyard breeders had brought three year old stallions to the sale, not registered, not gelded, thin, wormy, and not even halter broke. Sold for $10. Here’s a photo of one of them:
I don’t know if a kill buyer bought them or not. Even though it’s a small auction, I don’t know the locals well enough to know who is who, and what they do with their purchases. But I would be surprised if there is a kill buyer who regularly attends the sale, because it is predominantly a cattle sale, with just a few odds and ends sold at the beginning, before the cattle begin to sell. So I tend to be of the opinion that local horse people or farmers buy them.
So for $10, you’ve bought yourself a three year old stud horse. You might take it to the vet, get it gelded, get it wormed and vaccinated, and now you’ve got over $100 in him. Send him to a trainer for three months, and you might have a riding horse. The best scenario at this point is that you could re-sell the horse for about $300 as a broke trail horse. That’s as good as it is ever going to get, and improbable at that. Most likely, this horse is in somebody else’s pasture waiting to get passed on to another bidder at another sale.
Here are some of the bargains we’ve seen come through the sale ring lately:
Male llama sold for $6. They said he was a good “guard animal” for any farm. I wondered what that meant. Are llamas mean?
This fuzzy yearling donkey jack sold for $15.
Nine year old registered AQHA gelding, sold for $475.
Ten year old tobiano mare, trail broke, sold for $400.
Five year old palomino gelding, not broke, sold for $100.
Five year old bay paint pony, not broke, sold for $12.
Yearling bay stallion, sold for $10.
Yearling sorrel filly, halter-broke, sold for $50.
12 year old grade sorrel gelding, broke, shown in 4-H, sold for $325.
4 year old spotted female donkey, bred, sold for $65.
This is just to show that you never know what might walk into the sale ring. I always hope the best for these animals, and say a little prayer for them as they trot out of the ring. If I had a million dollars, I would buy some green pastures and stock it with the misfits from the cattle auction….because every animal deserves a chance to live a happy life.
