Guest guest Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 OK, like I didn't have enough to do, right? I went to the local animal auction Tuesday, in sville, WA. It was really interesting. There were a number of " foreigners " there. I sat next to an African woman, who told me, while the sheep were being auctioned " VERY GOOD EATING! " and could not understand why I was more interested in lamb. Anyway, most of the animals were likely grass fed (from small farms). If you buy one, the butcher will come out to the auction house and you can pick it up in packages. There was a nice little paper with last week's prices on it, so you can figure what livestock are going for. If you call Tues morning, they will tell you what is on the docket that day. Sheep were really cheap. From 30 to 50 dollars each. Goats cost more, maybe because of the Mexican meat market, but a lot of them were pygmies so I'm not sure what people do with them. There wasn't much poultry ... I was looking for geese, but they didn't have any that day. However, for a variety of reasons, the poultry went cheap and I ended up with 10 assorted chickens (don't ask, my daughter liked one and I had to buy the whole batch to get it) for a dollar or so each, and 2 swedish ducks that are so cute and tame that I guess they get a home (my daughter says she REALLY wants to try duck eggs, and they eat dandelions and slugs, so who's arguing?). Next week I'll go early and look at the cattle. At any rate, for those of you who REALLY don't want supermaket animals, this is a good alternative. The sellers hang out there, you can get to know them. The meat isn't factory farmed ... it may be less than ideal, but in general they were healthy animals and well cared for. And cheaper than most alternatives. Now the lady next to me said she had in the past gone thru a broker. For $100 you can hire a guy to place the bids too, and he'll hire the butcher etc. But me, I'd rather see what I'm getting. Though I'm not sure about the goats ... they seemed so nice and intelligent that I'm rethinking my ideas about raising meat goats. -- Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 How cool is that?! How did you ever locate a meat auction? I'd love to find one of those around here somewhere. (And believe me, DH would too for the bugetary reasons.) It all sounds very yummy! Enjoy your duck eggs! > > OK, like I didn't have enough to do, right? I went to > the local animal auction Tuesday, in sville, WA. > > It was really interesting. There were a number of > " foreigners " there. I sat next to an African woman, who > told me, while the sheep were being auctioned " VERY GOOD EATING! " > and could not understand why I was more interested in lamb. > > Anyway, most of the animals were likely grass fed (from small > farms). If you buy one, the butcher will come out to the auction > house and you can pick it up in packages. There was a nice little > paper with last week's prices on it, so you can figure what livestock > are going for. If you call Tues morning, they will tell you what is on > the docket that day. > > Sheep were really cheap. From 30 to 50 dollars each. Goats cost > more, maybe because of the Mexican meat market, but a lot of them > were pygmies so I'm not sure what people do with them. There wasn't > much poultry ... I was looking for geese, but they didn't have any that day. > However, for a variety of reasons, the poultry went cheap and I ended up with > 10 assorted chickens (don't ask, my daughter liked one and I had to buy the > whole batch to get it) for a dollar or so each, and 2 swedish ducks that are > so cute and tame that I guess they get a home (my daughter says she REALLY > wants to try duck eggs, and they eat dandelions and slugs, so who's arguing?). > Next week I'll go early and look at the cattle. > > At any rate, for those of you who REALLY don't want supermaket animals, > this is a good alternative. The sellers hang out there, you can get to know > them. The meat isn't factory farmed ... it may be less than ideal, but in general > they were healthy animals and well cared for. And cheaper than most alternatives. > > Now the lady next to me said she had in the past gone thru a broker. For $100 you > can hire a guy to place the bids too, and he'll hire the butcher etc. But me, I'd > rather see what I'm getting. Though I'm not sure about the goats ... they seemed > so nice and intelligent that I'm rethinking my ideas about raising meat goats. > > -- Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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