Meeting called to order by President Ryan Kish. Minutes of last meeting and treasurer’s report read and approved. We have $2651.80 in checking. Checking account is now at Key Bank as there is no checking fees. A check was written to Gary Custer for catalog expenses in the amount of $300.00. A check was written to Becky Gates for the balance of the expense of the website and for raffle supplies in the amount of $212.62.
Old Business:
Gary Custer reported on the catalog. The catalog is on line at the ABGA website (www.abga.com), the Boer Goat website (www.boergoats.com) and the association website (www.srmga.com). There is an ad in the Capital Press for the next 4 weeks. An ad has been placed in the Hagerman Valley newspaper and in the Goat Rancher. The catalog is exceptional with color photos and ads. Gary was commended for doing a great job.
Wayne Gifford reported on the progress for preparation of the sale. We will use the goat barn and one of the beef barns for the pens. They are the closest sheds to the arena where the sales pen will be set up. The bucks will go into the goat barn and the does into the beef barn. A check-in crew will be available to inspect the animals, verify tattoos and check scrape information. Check-in can begin at noon on Friday the 14th of September.
Consigners will need the following at check-in:
- Original registration papers
- Health papers (if coming from out of state)
- Ear tags and/or tattoos for scrapies numbers verification
Buyer numbers will be assigned on Saturday the 15th anytime after 9 am. There will be a buyer number for no sale animals or the owner can use his/her own number if they are buying back their own animal.
Gary Custer volunteered to be responsible for transferring the ownership of the animals with the transfer fee to be paid by the buyer. A vote was taken to determine if the transfer fee should be the responsibility of the seller or buyer. It was decided that the buyer should pay it, but it is listed as the seller’s responsibility in the catalog, so we may have to go with that if any buyers protest.
Cost of a health certificate for animals going out of state will also be the responsibility of the buyer. Weiser Vet Clinic and Caine Vet Clinic will be contacted to see if they will be available for health inspections if needed. The estimated sales commission will be around 10 to 12%.
Our contact person at the fairgrounds is Dave. The local area members will handle the pen set up. Volunteers for handling the livestock on sale day are Gary Askew, Lynn Fowler, June Lee, Linda Hernandez and Randy Craig. Anyone else who wants to help is more than welcome.
The local 4-H club will have their concession stand open. They will buy supplies for 300 people. If all the food is not sold, it will be available to purchase at cost after the sale.
The raffle table will be set up by the bleachers. The donated doelings will each be in a 4×6 pen by the table. Dan Dixon will supply the pens. The proceeds from the raffle will to toward our Junior Membership Program.
June Lee will bring a flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Evelyn Simon reported on the Marketing Committee. The market is down at the present time. Del Treasure seems to be the only buyer and he’s paying $1.00 per lb. Prices at the sales yard are down.
The 4-H market goats at the fairs did pretty well. There was only one at the Payette County fair, but it brought $11.00 per pound or $880.00. That should get more kids interested in showing goats. The Malheur County fair market goats brought $5 to 6 at the most and went down from there. Washington County was $3 to $4. But the animals sold last at the sales and at one fair, the auctioneer dismissed everyone then said now we’ll sell some goats. So, it looks like we need to educate the sales personnel at the fairs about the animals.
We covered a lot of information about the sale at the meeting and if I forgot anything, I apologize. If anyone has any questions, please contact me at my new email address, foxtailfarms@hotmail.com, or (208) 278-3859, or Wayne Gifford at Wayne_Gifford1@msn.com, (208) 278-5023, or Gary Custer laststand@onewest.net (208) 733-9235. Please let anyone you know who might be interested in the sale. If you need flyers, call anyone of the above and we’ll get them to you or you can download them from the website www.srmga.com.
See you all at the sale.
Clare Askew
Secretary/Treasurer