No kidding around at this goat sale

GOREVILLE, Ill. — Kathy Davis of Goreville showed up at Southern Illinois Equine Sale’s June goat sale to pick up an addition to her small herd.

With six goats on her property already, she keeps dairy goats to keep the poison ivy and other weeds down.

“We also sell of the kids in the summer,” she said.

She was among dozens of other buyers sizing up the goat and sheep offerings from southern Illinois, southeast Missouri and western Kentucky.

On the first Tuesday each month except in July, the Johnson County sale barn features goat and sheep auction.

There also are more frequent regular cattle sales, as well as regular monthly sales for horses. A small animal sale precedes each auction.

Manager Kevin Kirby said the barn has earned a reputation as one of Illinois’ top sellers for goats.

“We run about 500 to 800 a month here,” Kirby said. “We’re especially busy in October, March and April when our bigger runs to go 750 to 800.”

By The Numbers

It’s no wonder that most of the goats here are purchased by meat packers.

National Agricultural Statistics Service numbers indicate that Illinois’ milk goat and kid numbers have increased by 10% between Jan. 1, 2018, at 10,000, and Jan. 1, 2019, at 11,000, but meat goats for the same period dropped 4%, from 25,000 to 23,000.

It takes a staff of around 10 people to make the night run smoothly, including the folks in the office and the auction booth. Owner Chris Ray runs the auction ring.

Kirby also praised the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s recent improvements to the scrapie requirements.

“It’s helped us out immensely down here,” Kirby said.

“It’s cut the paperwork by 80%. They sure streamlined it,” he said.

Go to www.siesale.com for more information.