Should I buy livestock from Facebook? Avoiding livestock scams

Technically I don’t think you’re allowed to buy animals from Facebook, but I’ve lost count how many of our animals have been Facebook impulse purchases. My husband jokes that I can’t go on Facebook at night, because that’s when I end up deep in Facebook messages making deals for new animals. I might have bought 3 goats and 3 pigs from Facebook this spring alone.

There are so many places where you can find animals for sale on Facebook. Groups designated to certain animals, swap meet pages (I’ve never actually been to an animal swap meet, but I acquired quite a few animals on one of the pages that promotes one.) For example I’ve found most of our goats through a group called the Wisconsin Sheep and Goat Exchange. Now that there’s a Facebook group for everything websites like Craigslist are very rarely used.

Watch out for Facebook scammers

You definitely have to be aware of scams, if someone selling mini Highlands they’re probably scammers. I don’t know why that’s the animal that scammers choose, probably because they’re adorable and expensive. Some other popular scams are for donkey, goats, horses, and more. The more expensive and cuter the animals are the more likely you could fall victim to a scam. I see people getting scammed on a weekly basis when it comes to livestock on Facebook, since you’re technically not supposed to sell livestock on Facebook there’s a lot of grey area and nothing you can really do about it.

My rule is to never give money to anyone for animals before picking up your animal, not even a deposit. That’s a huge red flag. Sure there are probably some reputable breeders that want a down payment, if you really want t go that route ask if you can see the animal in person first. Personally I think it’s easy enough to find someone that won’t require a deposit.

Make sure you ask a ton of questions, and ask for additional pictures before driving all the way to see or pick up the animals. Sometimes pictures will reveal scams, if they don’t have extra photos or the pictures don’t match the season then you have a problem. We live in an area where farming isn’t common, so we typically have to drive hours to pick up an animal.

There was one time when we almost wasted a day driving to pick up a pig, but the seller started acting off the morning of. She started asking questions about our current livestock situation (questions I had already answered multiple times.) She didn’t seem like she was actually willing to sell her animal and was using the excuse that she didn’t think we had enough animals to socialize the pig, and then she said that she would sell us the pig we agreed on, but we would also have to purchase a barrow (castrated pig, basically a pet) for $150 on top of the agreed upon purchase. So we decided against the whole thing, and bought other pigs (also from Facebook) instead and we’re so happy with them. I told her we were buying elsewhere and that we were no longer interested, and also immediately blocked her from Facebook, because she was being so sketchy.

I normally tell a seller when I plan on picking them up, and I let them know I’ll ask for their address that day. That way we have a line of open communication the morning we’re picking up our animal.

If you’re dealing with a large transaction ask ahead of time if you can use a service like Venmo. I’m not a huge fan of traveling with a ton of cash, and this will make things so much easier. Then pay the seller on site when you go to pick up your animals.

Overall, Facebook is a great source for finding new animals if you’re cautious. Our 5 goats, 3 pigs, about 30 of our chickens, and even our dogs were Facebook finds, and I couldn’t imagine our life without them.