I would like to share some of the ways we have transported animals and some information that we gained doing each. First off, all of our sales are based upon the transportation being the responsibility of the buyer and not ours. We will help, make suggestions and work with the buyer but the responsibility of getting an animal safely to the buyer's farm has to be with the buyer. Here is a summary of the different ways animals from our farm have been transported across the country when the buyer can't come to our farm.

1. Ron Keener's coast to coast transportation services (there are a few other people that offer similar services but none of our customers have used them)
2. Air transportation
3. Meet part way with the buyer
4. Notify web site visitors of an animal going to a specific state
5. Some production sales offer transportation services
6. Other buyers traveling close to our area

Ron Keener's Coast to Coast Transportation Services

This is by far the most commonly used transportation services that our customers use.  He picked up two does yesterday going to Kentucky and he will pick up 4 animals going to Washington around the first of August. The top picture to the left is Ron's big double deck trailer that is used for the coast to coast trips. The picture below is a new offering for faster and  more direct transportation. It is called his Limousine service. That trailer is insulated, air conditioned and has an external generator. This was the trailer Ron was using for the Kentucky transport.

Our customers have had animals picked up by Ron for the last 8 years and we have never heard of any problems. The more animals you have Ron transport, the cheaper, per animal, it costs.

Ron has a web site that explains the services he provides and an example of how prices are calculated. Ron also has a Yahoo chat group that breeders can track the routes, where his last and next stop will be and how to contact Ron about new/changes to pick-ups.

Travel with Ron Keener

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/TravelWithRonK/

Ron requires the animals have a health certificate for him to transport them. Here is a link to a USDA web site that can tell you the different health requirements for each state.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/
animal_import/animal_imports_states.shtml

This can be a cheaper and faster way to transporting a YOUNG animal at the right time of the year. A young animal can be shipped by air cargo IF the animal and the pet carrier don't weigh more than 70 lbs and the weather won't be 85 degrees or higher at any of the air ports the animal would go through. The 70 lb limit needs to be checked because the last time we shipped an animal, they told us 100 lbs. So it varies according to who you are working with. We have only done this late winter and early spring because the kids are young and the temperature is not a problem. Here are the items that will result in additional cost to the buyer.

• Air fare - whatever the cost is, is what we charge the buyer
• Pet Carrier - This cost is between $70 - $100.  We normally can use the Large pet carrier, model 400, sold at Wal Mart. We also purchase some watering cups from a pet store to put in the carrier. We fill the cups with water and freeze them until we deliver the carrier to the airline. That way the water will slowly thaw without spilling and last longer.
• Health Certificate - This is required by the airline. Check the following link for requirements by the USDA http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/animal_import/animal_imports_states.shtml. It normally cost us around $50 to get a basic health certificate. If additional tests are required such as TB, that cost needs to be added to the cost paid by the buyer.
• Transportation to airport - We charge a $50 fee to carry the animal and pet carrier to the airport, which is  70 miles from our farm.

Booking of a flight can only be done three days prior to the actual flight so you need to get this booked asap. We always get the animal insured for the flight. Insurance is very cheap. Also, we always try to ship from and to major airport hubs so we can get a direct flight. Any switching of planes during the flight only causes major headaches because of the additional time required between the flights in order to move the pet carrier.

We have done this several times. One option we have used is meeting buyers in Arkansas or Memphis to exchange animal(s). This is done for some basic fee to cover gas. We can do this because Anita's family lives in Arkansas and it is a way to get back home and help a buyer save 8 - 10 hours of travel. We have also done this in other directions where the distance is no more than 150 miles. When someone lives 1,500+ miles from us, 150 miles doesn't seem like a big savings however, that can save them around 5-6 hours of travel.

When we have an animal sell to an out of state buyer and is not picked up immediately, we post that on our web site. An example post would be "Sold and going to Colorado". This occurred this spring. After posting that on the web site, another potential buyer contacted us about who the Colorado buyer was. We put him in contact with the buyer and the buyer agreed to bring back an animal to the other person in exchange for a fee to help pay for the gas. So we sold two animals to breeders in Colorado and they shared the cost of the trip to Texas.

Several of the major production sales offer potential transportation services for animals purchased at the sale. Also breeders selling animals in a production sale and the breeder is from out of state, may offer to bring animals back to their farm for free. We have purchased animals at the Showstopper production sale in Louisiana and one of the breeders living in Texas brought back any animal bought at the sale. All we had to do was go to the breeders farm to pick up the animal and there was no charge. 

Another option related to a production sale is to identify a production sale that buyer and seller may be mutually attending and exchange the animals at the production sale. We have offered that with a potential buyer telling them we would be attending the Elite Coalition sale in Texarkana, AR and if they know anyone attending the sale, we would exchange an animal with them.

We have had this used in several different ways. One was a breeder in Canada that was attending a horse show in our region of the country. A friend asked him if he would bring back a buck for him. They agreed and we traveled 100 miles to exchange the buck. The friend then carried the buck back to Canada after the horse show was over.

A second option is where a potential buyer has a trucker in the family that comes to our area several times a month. They purchased a large pet carrier, and when the trucker was on his way back, he picked up an animal, put it in the carrier and it was carried back to the buyer in a very short amount of time at no cost.