# How do we did feedlots and kill pens here in California



## texasgal

Welcome to the forum....


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## deserthorsewoman

Go to low end auctions and buy the ones nobody bids on.......for starters


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## JustJumpIt007

Thanks...
We already go to the auctions and do that, as do another couple of rescues in our area..that's why we wanted to try an go directly to the kill pens and feedlots...
Thanks for all input!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jaydee

Your local auctions should be able to tell you who they are as they always know who the meat buyers are


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## Saddlebag

You need to understand these people are horse brokers. They bid on the unwanted, take them home, hold them for a while to get weight on or for better market prices. They are more than happy to sell to private individuals as long as they make a profit on their expenses. They don't usually advertise that they are kill buyers nor do they necessarily see themselves as that. Keep in mind, many of those horses are there for good reason, it is time. Some horses just shouldn't be rescued.


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## JustJumpIt007

Hi.
Yes I realize this- but our aim is simply to find those who can be rehomed or rehabilitated who are genuinely waiting on the feedlot- ready to make their Long journey...those who are with brokers are often much better off that those who are genuinely in a kill pen....
Thank you everyone for your input! Much appreciated!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson

you will not find a 'kill' pen in Ca. No one is gonna say that is the kill pen. Look for feed lots in the phone book or on line. Cruise past them, if you see horses in the hold pens, go Politely talk to them. Dont say kill pen, dont say slaughter .
Just ask if they are selling the horses. Dont expect to get them for free or to cheap. Mikes Auction and Tulare Auction have cheap horses, go to the tracks, talk to the stable hands, give out fliers that you will buy the unwanted race horses, i think they are going for about a grand per horse (TB) right off the track. Look for Dispersal sales. Go look on Craiglist, right now there is a bunch for sale in the Inyo Kern area..


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## Left Hand Percherons

I thought the meat sales were outlawed 10 years ago. Did someone in Sacramento grow a brain?


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## Cherie

California should not have any 'kill pens' or 'horse feedlots' because they are banned by CA law. Go look out on the desert where people just abandon them to die or be hit by cars. So, ask the local sheriff's offices and give them your number to call if they find abandoned horses that need a new home. From what I have heard, there are quite a few being abandoned in CA.


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## stevenson

you can go to animal control also . It is against the law in CA, but there are buyers that come from other states, and there are kill buyers here, that trailer horses to other states. How are they going to Prove they are taking the horses to slaughter. One way at an auction to save a slaughter bound horse is to check its tail length. some of the old boys cut the tail short. code for slaughter.


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## Saddlebag

When one city had Red Top dog food, they took horses. We often went to the pens. There weren't many, anywhere from a few to 8 or 9 head. A few friends bo't their horses there. Red Top was willing to sell as long as they made a profit. No one ever felt gouged on the price.


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## stevenson

there are many auctions.. Lancaster auction , next to a slaughterhouse, Mikes auction in LA, Madera auction, I dont if there is still one in Tulare, Turlock , and then there the auctions on the coast. if YOU go to the auctions, make sure you know whom the rescues are so you are not bidding on the same horse. 
Also, if you go in the Auctions acting like you are PETA or the SPCA etc and start a fuss you will be removed, and will ruin it for the other rescues.


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## Reckyroo

Saddlebag said:


> You need to understand these people are horse brokers. They bid on the unwanted, take them home, hold them for a while to get weight on or for better market prices. They are more than happy to sell to private individuals as long as they make a profit on their expenses. They don't usually advertise that they are kill buyers nor do they necessarily see themselves as that. Keep in mind, many of those horses are there for good reason, it is time. Some horses just shouldn't be rescued.


I disagree - Yes, some horses have come to the end of their time, either through old age, illness or just sheer neglect and they are unable to recover, but I think that some ways of ending a horses life are better than others - have a look at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XKsJqhEbLuI
I know it's for horses in Australia, but I'm sure this is common in slaughter houses throughout the world - my girl will be having a dignified death when the day comes - not sent off to slaughter because it's her time.......


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## Saddlebag

Check out the prices on the New Vocations sight which features OTTBs and Standarbreds. Their prices are ridiculously low and they are "adoptable". I don't know if the adoption papers and conditions would stand up in court but the prices certainly encourage the slaughter brokers. A friend with a ton of experience with Standies, could provide an excellent home, good job to cover possible vet bills, (perfect, right?) was turned down supposedly because she had been out of the loop for about 10 years and couldn't provide references from clubs and vets. She never did belong to a horse club, not everyone does. I'm beginning to think NV is a front for the slaughter industry and it gets public funding to boot. Their prices are often between $100 and $300. Yet when she attended several auctions, the Standies were going as high as $2000, nothing under $500.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

Mikes Lifestock Auction

There were always kill buyers at this one, when I lived in So. Cal.


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## stevenson

dreamcatcher.. Still are killer buyers at all of the CA auctions. There are not as many auction houses as in previous years. 
it would be an ideal world to not have the killer buyers, but I have known people that would fatten up the lame, ill horses and send them through the auctions to get back some $$.
I personally wont do this. I have gone into debt on credit cards with Vet bills, and the next horses will not have a lot of money put into them to try to save them, it will be the Euth. option for the old and/or crippled/lame ones regardless of their age . It is just to expensive and the extra 2 - 3 grand spent at a Vet for one horse, will feed all the others.


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