Ewing and Donna Downen, with their children Emory and Elizabeth, have invested the previous nine years assembling and raising some of the best Boer goats in the industry. Their annual production sale has become a "must attend" event for many breeders. Saturday, November 30, 2002, was the day the Downens chose to disperse most of their herd. I was concerned that the timing of the sale, one week after Thanksgiving, would dampen the willingness of buyers to attend, much less spend money. I haven't been that wrong in a long time!

The Central Texas Livestock Center was stuffed to overflowing with bidders and watchers. "Standing room only" took on a new meaning - the hall was packed so tight no one could have fallen down. There were 253 registered buyers plus an estimated 250 more who were just there to watch. There were bidders from Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, New York, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, Georgia, California, Arkansas and Alabama.

The first lot offered was a beautiful five year old 50% Boer doe bred to Pistolero (more on him later). Reggie Phillips of Odessa, Texas, outlasted several other bidders to claim this great show winner. When Reggie made that $2000 winning bid everyone knew that this could end up being a record breaking Boer goat sale.

Out in the viewing/holding pens some folks were still inspecting the goats that would be offered later in the sale.

Ewing Downen, left, and auctioneer Mark Tillman.

Now, about this Pistolero goat... He is the 2001 ABGA National Reserve Champion Boer Buck. He has passed ABGA Visual Inspection and is close to becoming ennobled. He was presented to the buyers as lot number 44 with the Downens retaining genetic tissue & semen and reserving the right to breed five does per year to him. PISTOLERO PHOTO COURTESY OF AND COPYRIGHT © 2001 ROBERT DRESSLER, DVM. Inset - EWING DOWNEN (RIGHT) AND THE ALBRIGHTS POSE WITH PISTOLERO, THE NEW "HIGH DOLLAR" RECORD HOLDER. When the bidding reached $16,000 Downen Livestock was showing a 200% return on investment on this goat and I was impressed - both with the goat and with the 200% return. At $30,000 the room went quiet except for auctioneer Mark Tillman. At $40,000 the room started to buzz. As the bidding went past EGGSfile's contemporary record of $45,000 the room went quiet again and stayed that way even when Vince Cummings of Missouri bid $55,000. Duane Albright from Bucy Rus, Ohio, immediately raised the bid to $56,000 and Vince shook his head - it was obvious at that point that Pistolero was on his way to Ohio.

The high selling doe was lot 171, M8 Pipeline's Hot Stuff, born 1/8/00, and went to Reggie Phillips of Odessa, TX for $9,000. Hot Stuff's sire is Pipeline *Ennobled*, her dam Downen J79 *Ennobled*. Hot Stuff, like many of Downen Livestock's Boers, has a 3-level pedigree with every ancestor being Ennobled. Reggie also purchased the "high selling" (and only) working dog, lot # 256, for $2,700.

The volume buyer was Dr. M. B. Rad from Amsterdam, NY. who took home 21 head for $30,100. Dr Rad was also the high dollar buyer (except for Pistolero's new owner). There were a total of 5 buyers that paid over $20,000 for their purchases.

Gross sales: $556,000 (includes fullblood & percentage Boers, Llamas, and the dog)

• 52 Fullblood Bucks averaged $3,260.58
  
• 199 Fullblood Does averaged $1,882.91
  
• Overall fullblood average: $2,571.75

Thanks to Sue Kearney of Kearney Computer Services for keeping the "book" and for all the fine work she does every sales and show season. Sue can be contacted at suekearney@hotmail.com.

Donna Downen summed it all up very well, "We are very pleased with the outcome of the sale for us and everyone in the goat industry." Downens may be contacted through their website downen-boergoats.com or by e-mail at downen@web-access.net.

The Boer goat breeding industry is not only alive - it's thriving and growing!