• The high selling animal sold for $9,800 and it was from EGGS.
• The low selling animal sold for $300 and it was from RRD.
• There were only seven animals that sold for $4,000 or more.
• Five of the seven came from W/P (Wards Boer Goats and Sunshine Boer Goats) and the other two came from EGGS
• Four of the five top selling goats were listed in the catalog as show animals with show points.
• 66 animals out of the 164 animals in the sale, sold for less than $1,000
• 43 animals out of the 164 animals in the sale, sold for $750 down to $300.
• 24 of the lowest selling animals came from RRD, 12 from W/P and 7 from EGGS

We have no idea why the prices were so low at this sale. Historically, the Showstopper sale has brought the highest prices in the industry. I attended and purchased animals at the first three sales and also purchased animals over the internet at one a few years ago. It was always difficult to find anything under $3,000. Our Xtender buck came from a bred doe at the first sale and our Painted Warrior came from breeding  with Xtender to another doe we purchased at the Showstopper sale. So, the foundation of our total breeding program originated from purchases at the Showstopper sales.

It is especially surprising to see many of the lowest selling animals came from RRD. For many years, they were the premier breeder in the US and everyone was trying to get some of their bloodlines. We had several of our does bred to RRD premier bucks and purchased several animals from them. One thing to consider related to RRD was their old herd was a multi-family project and several years ago, the entire herd had to be sold for some family reason. So, the new RRD has had to start over in building their new herd and bloodlines. We would expect the industry will soon see them back near the top because they do know how to breed animals and get success.

There are also many changes going on in the industry at this time and we don't know how that may have affected the sale this year. The look of the Boer goat has been changing over the last several years and not everyone is in agreement if the new body look is better or worse for the breed. These new looks are coming from different breeders with different bloodlines. There are new bucks that have had success in the show rings that are getting a big reputation and getting premium prices for their bloodlines. This has happened before and sometimes it is just a trend that quickly goes away and then other times it is a permanent change in the direction of the industry.

The last consideration we have is related to the number of animals that were in this sale. 164 animals to be sold. That is a large number of animals. I don't know how many animals they normally have. Several years ago, it was normal to have around 100 animals in most production sales. When there are only four breeders providing all of the animals for the Showstopper sale, that means each breeder has to provide 41 top of the line, high quality, show potential animals that are of higher quality than the average animals in the industry. This was the 10th sale Showstopper has had, so that means many more of these breeders' animals have been sold in the past along with all of the other production sales that have sold similar or completely different genetics. With the number of fullblood Boer goats dramatically increasing in the US, it becomes harder and harder for breeders to produce unique genetics or higher quality than is already in the industry. These breeders can't just do some flushes and come up with 41 animals to put in the sale. Half of their animals will be buck kids and very few of them will be selected as breeding potential. The other half of Does will not all be top quality so the breeders will have to produce enough animals to allow them to select only the top Does for the sale. It becomes harder and harder each year to offer a large number of top quality animals that are still unique enough that other breeders will be willing to pay premium prices for the animals.

The country has been in a recession for a while and that has impacted prices for all animals. However, we attended a sale earlier this year and they averaged around $2,500 per animal. So some breeders are still getting higher prices. We don't attend the major shows or follow who is winning that much so it is impossible for us to see what the reason may have been for the Showstopper sale to have lower prices this year. We do know that this was a lucky break for many breeders that made purchases at the sale. We have seen several posts on the chat groups from breeders that purchased animals at the sale. They are excited about the quality of the animals they purchased and, I am sure, they are thrilled about some of the lower prices they paid.

If someone that was at the sale could let us know some explanation of the low prices, we would appreciate it. We just can't tell from the pictures why there were such a wide differences between the prices. Were the problems structure or bloodlines????