horse trader fiction?

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  • December 3, 2010 at 3:05 am #42166
    blue80
    Participant

    So this local horse trader purchases teams mostly in Wisconsin and brings them out west to resell. (all teams are resold to owners who want to pull wagons)
    He states that “all” the yearlings the upper midwest are being purchased for up to $1000.00, shipped to the evil empire of Canada where they are feedlotted, butchered, and the meat sent to Japan.
    He says that as a result there is a lack of young stock available, along with the fact that “nobody is breeding their mares because the horse market is low” And as a result draft prices will be going way up in price today and in the future.

    So is some/all of this fact or just horse trader fiction?

    December 3, 2010 at 2:05 pm #63649
    Jonathan Shively
    Participant

    I haven’t been to an actual horse auction in years. The most recent horse auctions I have attended were the Topeka (Indiana) draft horse sale. There of course is no kill buyers as it is a specific horse auction for specific breeds and is generally a better caliber of horses. Thus the prices are generally higher but you still can find a buy on a grade farm team. The great thing is, they have wagons and forecarts, if you don’t drive them outside before the sale, it is all on you.
    Breeding, I think with the past horse glut market we have gone through (may still be going through) people have become a little more selective in their breeding programs. The occassional backyard breeder has sold their horse so they are out of the picture and this really accounts for many of the young horses at local auctions. Would guess there is some truth to his predictions.

    December 3, 2010 at 10:34 pm #63648
    Charlie B
    Participant

    I noticed this fall at the Draft horse auctions I attended (Kalona and Waverly), the decent young teams would bring $12-1500 each and that weanling colts would bring $400-800. There was not near the number of colts at the auctions and the quality of colts did not seem as good. People were bemoaning the low prices of horses but 3-4 years from now there will not be many teams unless things turn around. I heard and I’m sure someone can find out for sure, that there was only like 1200 Percheron colts registered in the US this last year. Good horses have value. But what surprised me was what people were willing to spend for a colt and they could of bought a 4 year old team for less than $1000 per head more—-feed, training, and knowing what you had surely ought to account for something.

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