There is a market for more exotic livestock in Humboldt and area.
That is why Sara Pierrard organized the fourth annual Humboldt Garage Sale and Rare Exotic Animal Sale on May 14 at the Humboldt Curling Rink.
“There is a lot of people out here who’d like to expand and grow their stuff, so this is a way to do it.”
The sale does do well, says Pierrard, who is grateful for the city’s support in hosting the sale and giving her a well known location to house the sale.
Pierrard says they had done previous years at her parents farm but the sale was getting too big and the location was a challenge to get people there.
Pierrard herself has been raising her own rare chicken breeds for a while. Her own booth had many different breeds.
Back when she started bringing in rare breeds, there were two breeds. Now Pierrard raises Lavender Orpington, Silkies, Cochins, Ameraucana, jumbo coturnix quail, button quail, Silkcochins, Euskla Oilioa, Guineas, and Old English game Cerole.
When it comes to the different breeds being brought in to the Humboldt area, Pierrard finds that some of these breeds last longer.
Exotic really just means that they are being brought in from out of province, some even coming in from the United States.
Heritage birds, which seem to be the most popular type of bird at the sale, lay longer than most chicken breeds that are raised in the area.
“It’s something different. They’re not really available so that’s why we try to bring them in just to get a different variety around Saskatchewan,” says Pierrard.
Heidi Perry also had her own booth for selling different breeds of chickens, partridges, rabbits, and even a miniature pony.
Having more variety was a definite draw for people, says Perry.
Along with birds with a longer life span, the eggs are also bigger and true to the colour, says Pierrard.
Darrell Lessmeister also had a booth at the sale selling potbellied pigs, goats, and different breeds of rabbits.
Some smaller breeds make better pets, says Lessmeister, while others are docile enough to be pets but also grow big for meat since the bigger rabbits are also calmer.
This interest at the sale was two fold, says Lessmeister, since he was seeing people interested in raising different breeds for eating as well as getting a family pet.
“Some people like the pets and some people want to have a farm and still have some of their own meat and eggs.”
Pierrard is expanding for her next sale on Aug. 27 with more animals and will be trying to get hatchers from Saskatoon and veterinarians to answer questions.
