Re: [AlpacaTalk] Hartman Alpaca Sale in Nebraska
Elizabeth,
I am very sorry to hear of the loss of your husband, and now this auction.
Thank you for sharing with all of us what you went thru, and the pittance you got for your alpacas.
Personally, if it were me, I would refuse to give out any of the ARI numbers. Sure, they say they will make sausage out of her, but will they, I doubt it. They will probably fake the papers and sell her any way. It is done in the dog world, why not in the alpaca world.
Take care.
Jim Guerin
Jimmini Farm
Yelm, WA
----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Warynick
To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: [AlpacaTalk] Hartman Alpaca Sale in Nebraska
Thanks Heather.....
I had to pay Hartman $100 per male and $200 per female to be in the auction plus the tranportation costs which ended up being $100 per alpaca. I agonized for a month over who to send. I told him I would send 4 females and 4 males. My husband died last year and I was left to run the ranch with almost 60 animals on it. Our income stopped in January with the tennent of our store in Texas going bankrupt so I really needed to not only reduce my herd size but also sell some so that I could feed the others.
One of my friends who has a big alpaca ranch in Nebraska was going to annouce my alpacas for me to help sell them and he could never find them. After the sale he called and told me and told me how horrible it was.
I was horrified and even more so when Hartman a week later got the figures to me of the sale of my alpacas.
My females sold for $175 each and my males sold for $35 and my breeding male suri sold for $10
In the end Hartman sent me a check for $40
I was so distraught and told him "How could you do such a thing? You knew I was a widow without money!" He didn't care at all and basically told me that's the way it goes. Hartman gave me the names and phone numbers of the people who purchased my alpacas. I started calling them to A) find out where they were and were they being cared for and B) to see if I could buy them back.
Most of the people I was able to get ahold of were mid-western farmers who knew Hartman and come to his sales to pick up the alpacas cheap and then they turn around and re-sell them at livestock auctions all over the mid-west. They didn't know where my alpacas were.
I found one of my females that they had not off-loaded yet and the man told me that to buy her back I'd have to come up with $650. A week or so later he called back to ask for her ARI which I am withholding until this is resolved with Hartman and the BBB. He told me that she was riddled with worms and she was throwing up worms all over the place. I told him that was impossible as I have a deworming program for them every 3 to 4 months and their vet check was perfect when they left here. I have no idea what he has done to my female!
His wife though got on the line and told me that if they didn't get the ARI for her that they'd just turn her out until spring and then make her into sausage.
The wife also mentioned to me that the Hartman sale has never fetched good prices and they can't figure out why the alpaca breeders even send their alpacas there. She said they always pick them up for cheap to re-sell and that Hartman sometimes even calls them with free alpacas to give them!!
I am so horrified by all of this. Not just for the great loss that I suffered but I also contacted everyone at the sale and almost 100% of them said that they also lost tons of money and would never go back. I am concerned for the treatment of the alpacas. The trafficing in Alpacas that they are doing is not helping our industry at all. My alpacas were beautiful and most of them young with great bloodlines. Aparently there are a lot of good alpacas going to this sale as people don't know it's not a regular alpaca auction.
Elizabeth Warynick
Alpacas de Los Olivos
Los Olivos, CA
____________
From: Heather Zeleny <alpacatalk@westwind
To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 2:42:26 PM
Subject: Re: [AlpacaTalk] Hartman Alpaca Sale in Nebraska
I encourage as many people to share, privately if necessary. (CC me
too!) :)
I've never been to one. Never consigned animals nor purchased from an
auction. Back "in the day" there was a very poor reputation amongst
alpaca breeders. I have heard many horror stories. Whether they are
all true is unknown.
Today, I see some large farms consigning some really nice animals,
which sell for heartbreaking prices. Some farms want to retire, some
are simply overstocked.
I do not like that NOTHING is online. You can't see the lots on a
website. There is very little information, if any, on the website. No
way to look up anything or do any research before the auction itself.
This is the 21st century. As much money as they make from this
auction, which is held more than once a year, they can surely afford
to hire someone to handle the website.
Heather
On May 28, 2009, at 1:33 PM, warynicke wrote:
>
>
> Has anyone had any experience with the Hartman Alpaca Sale in
> Nebraska?
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
posted by Chaddo at 4:04 PM
0 comments
