Farming: when is the best (lowest price) time of year to purchase livestock?

Question

Farming: when is the best (lowest price) time of year to purchase livestock?

Answer 1

its a good time to get out of livestock due to the genetic bomb threat called wormwood .This is supposed to result in the destruction of cattle and sheep.

Answer 2

There isn't a hard and fast rule.  So much can depend on what is going on in your local area.

I live in Idaho, high mountain desert, 4700+ feet elivation.  Four days ago it snowed here, 4-5 inches.  We have having a VERY late spring.  The first cutting of alfalfa should be just about ready now.  Instead in the fields that do not have snow, it's bairly and inch out of the ground.

Nobody has anymore hay.  Nobody has pasture yet.  Calves, foals, lambs, and goat kids are being born right and left right now.  

People are selling off their livestock like crazy at the moment, because there's NO FOOD.  

The diary farmer around the corner from me took half his herd to auction.  Beef farmers are selling cattle off like crazy.

Usually in the spring, the price of livestock goes up.  In my area, the price has really DROPPED.  Usually in the winter and fall when farmers are selling off animals they do not want to feed, and when all the youngsters born that spring are hitting the market, the price of livestock drops.

However any time something unusual is happening in your local area, you can often find livestock for less.  Droughts, floods, snows, heatwaves, hurricanes, major earthquakes, ect all cause people to sell livestock.  When a lot of livestock floods the market, the price drops.

Also if a local slaughterhouse closes, the price of livestock may hit rock bottom.  Then buyers are figuring in the extra price of fuel to transport the livestock even farther away, so they will pay less for the animal.

You also have to pay attention to the news, and sometimes what influential people are saying.  When Oprah said she would never eat beef again, people stopped buying beef, and the price of cattle plunged.  When the Attkins Diet books hit the market, people when wild buying meat (it is a meat based diet) and the price of all meats went way up, including the livestock animals.

So fall and winter are generally the best time, but other events can have HUGE influence, and make other times of year really good times to buy.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 3

there isn't really a low price season, but if you go to auctions, the winter is better because people are busy on the farm doing work and would rather stay home. the busy season for bying and selling livestock would be spring and early summer. i know a lot of auctions are held around that time in my area.

Answer 4

http://www.scienceray.com/Biology/Ecolog...

early winter or late fall.. because nobody wants to feed for the winter..

the link is about aucitons..

Answer 5

There is no hard fast rules on picking the price of livestock. but generally they will be cheaper in the fall of the year. People will tend to sell off any culls or excess stock so they won't have to feed them over the winter. By contrast, in the spring, when there is plentiful grass, they will usually tend to be higher priced.

Answer 6

It would depend on what you want the livestock for.  If you are interested in fattening for market or the pantry, usually the spring is the best time to purchase young animals that can be raised for the meat locker.  Younger animals are cheaper because the breeders don't have a large stake in their feed early on.  Male dairy animals are of little use except for the meat trade.

Animals other than bovines might come to market at different times.

Without knowing what you plan for your livestock, it is hard to say when the best time to purchase is.