Sealed-bid sales for livestock
We connect livestock buyers and sellers through a transparent sealed-bid process that helps sellers discover market value and gives buyers a convenient, comfortable way to purchase livestock.
Current sales
Each sale's page is posted here when it goes live, with a Register to bid page that's open until bidding closes. Your bid link arrives by email within a minute of registering. To hear about upcoming sales, email info@sealedbidlivestock.com.
Why Sealed Bid Livestock
Each buyer bids once, in private, at what an animal is truly worth to them, and the high bidder pays just one increment over the next bid. Sellers get price discovery without an auction. Buyers get a convenient, comfortable way to buy, with no auctioneer and no bidding war.
No one sees another bid while bidding is open, and no bid is ever edited or removed.
Every bidder sees the same bidding rules before bidding, and results are figured by those rules alone.
Sealed Bid Livestock doesn't bid in the sales it runs, and never shares one seller's bids or buyers with another.
Buyers pay the seller directly. We never hold funds or take title to livestock.
How a sale runs
The seller keeps the livestock, the buyers and the money. Sealed Bid Livestock organizes the bids for the seller.
We set the close date, starting bids and rules with you and set up the sale page. Depending on your package, it lists your lots with photos, or gives every lot its own page with photos, video and pedigree/EPDs.
Buyers register on the sale page any time up to the close, and the bid link arrives by email within a minute. The seller can revoke a registration until bidding closes.
Each buyer enters a maximum bid on the lots they want, the most head they'll buy, and an optional spending limit. Every bid is timestamped and hidden from other bidders.
No bids are accepted after the deadline, the published rules are applied, and every bidder is emailed their own results. You get the full results sheet.
Proxy pricing
The high bidder doesn't pay their maximum. They pay one increment over the next-highest eligible bid, so buyers can bid what an animal is truly worth to them without overpaying. Read the full bidding rules.
Buyer A's sealed bid on Lot 7
If you win, you pay $100 over the next-highest bid, never more than your maximum.
All sealed bids on Lot 7 at the close
Buyer A wins at $7,600: $100 over Buyer B's $7,500, and $1,400 less than A was willing to pay. If no one else had bid, A would pay the $6,000 starting bid.
For sellers
For buyers
Packages
Every package covers the full sealed-bid sale, from setup to final results, with Sealed Bid Livestock organizing the bids for you. Your fee is based on the package and number of lots, never on what your livestock bring.
Basic
Not included: photos, videos, pedigrees and EPDs are not posted on this website. You share them with buyers yourself.
For sellers who share their own lot information with buyers.
Standard
For sales that need a clean, visual lot list.
Premium
For seedstock sales where each lot needs a full profile.
Base and per-lot fees for each package, volume discounts, sample sale costs and booking terms, on one two-page sheet.
Questions about which package fits your sale? Call or text 608-799-7724.
Questions
Use Register to bid on the sale page. It asks for your name, farm, address, phone and email, and your agreement to the bidding rules and the seller's terms of sale. Your bid link is emailed to you within a minute, and you can register any time until bidding closes. The seller may decline or revoke a registration before the close.
Yes. Along with the most head you'll buy, you can set an optional spending limit for all lots combined. You'll never be awarded lots whose prices add up to more than your limit, so you can bid strongly on several animals without going over budget.
No. Your first submission is final, and later submissions from the same email address are ignored. You'll get an emailed copy of your bid as your receipt.
The earlier bid wins, at that amount. Every bid carries a timestamp, so ties are settled by the clock.
You pay the seller directly, under the seller's terms of sale. Payment, delivery and any discounts are arranged between you and the seller.
No. It's a sealed-bid sale: there is no auctioneer and no live bidding. Each buyer submits one sealed set of maximum bids, and the published rules decide the results.
Plan your sale
What you're selling, how many head, and when you'd like to sell. We'll walk you through the process and help you pick a package.