# ** Sad... Local sale... not even weaned foals went for $5



## Serena (Apr 28, 2004)

The girl that sold me the mini foal halter is bottle raising a 3 week old orphan foal thats momma died.... well she went to the local horse sale yesterday and she said somneone unloaded a trailer load of little bitty foals (big horse foals not minis...) younger than her 3 week old. She bought one to try to raise with her orphan for $5..... said they werent going for much more than that... Soooo sad.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Horses, the new kittens........


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

orphan foals are a lot of work....But if I was there I would have taken all of them. How could you not?
I raised one given to me...vet said would die..NOT
feeding every 2 hours for 2 months. Raised in my laundry room. Lil bugger would whinney when he heard the ding of the microwave. He knew milk was coming.
It was the most work I have ever done to save an animal. And it was worth every second.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Why were they selling a whole trailer load of them? Surely they didn't lose that many mares.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

probably foals from the Premarin people, using the urine to make that medication from.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Shygal said:


> probably foals from the Premarin people, using the urine to make that medication from.


Doubtful. Quite a bit (most?) estrogen replacement is synthetic now... This _was_ an issue years ago when the Canadian Premarin farms were active and again when they closed their doors.


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

yep, highly doubtful it's premarin...

perhaps foals off of nurse mares..

Strange they'd haul to an auction though for $5 a piece..and who would buy them? packers cant take them that young, can they?


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

Doesn't do the packers any good to take anything thin or tiny. Not enough meat to make it worthwhile. 
Probably nurse mare babies. Owner probably thought people would feel sorry for the babies and pay big bucks for them.


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## Reed77 (Mar 20, 2011)

I went to a livestock auction once, a registered blue eyed cremello colt went for $10


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## NorCalChicks (Dec 7, 2007)

Oh my gosh - poor things. They must have been terrified.


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## Serena (Apr 28, 2004)

The way the lady was talking she was trying to get the one she picked up to take a bottle... It was younger than her 3 week old orphan. I didnt get more details than that someone ran them through the sale and she picked one up that she like to see if she could bottle raise it. 

I cant imagine.. Poor babies. Here I am fretting over taking my little spoiled brat boy away at 3 months and making arrangments for him to stay until 4 or 5 and teaching him manners... and those little babies are even younger!


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

Sad sad state of affairs the horse world is in right now..


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

At the risk of sounding harsh, people like this are very aware of what they're going to make at general auction and they hope that there's enough softies on hand to start a bit of a bidding war to bring prices up. I'm equally as sure that they know that at that age, there's a good chance that many of them will not survive.


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

wr said:


> At the risk of sounding harsh, people like this are very aware of what they're going to make at general auction and they hope that there's enough softies on hand to start a bit of a bidding war to bring prices up. I'm equally as sure that they know that at that age, there's a good chance that many of them will not survive.


I agree..just trying to imagine how many foals he'd have to sell at $5 each to break even..but I do agree..many a person will play right into the hands of the auction softies..


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## TroutRiver (Nov 26, 2010)

just found this really interesting article 

Where are the PMU Farms?

It does sound like PMU foals, but there do seem to be fewer of them around these days. 6 years ago I got a registered AQHA filly from a PMU farm for $100


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

There are people, like myself, that have no problem with PMU farms- after all, they are regulated/inspected in the US and Canada. At the height of Premarin production the owners were breeding (for the most part) decent stock. Some of the stallions used were outstanding. I see them as little different than dairy farms... 

Horses are livestock no different than cows, sheep, pigs, and goats.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I have friends who operated a pmu and I've been through their barns a million times and it's too bad that most people aren't held to the same standard. With the incorporation of NAERIC the PMU's started using high dollar mares bred to high quality studs to produce very well bred foals. In the case of my friends, it got to a point where the foals they produced were worth far more than the urine and when they started shutting down PMU barns in Alberta, they were one of the first to opt out because prices had dropped to the point where they weren't making enough money to justify the associated expense.


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