We return to the monthly horse sale held in Billings. The auction, which is one of the largest horse sales in the country, markets approximately 700 horses each time and attracts hundreds of buyers from the surrounding states. We arrive early, but the pens are already crowded. The loose horses are kept in the larger pens at the back of the…

The Bar S Feedlot in Shelby, Montana, is operated on behalf of the Canadian horse slaughter plant Bouvry in Alberta. The massive feedlot holds approximately 1’600 horses and serves as a collecting station for US horses purchased for Bouvry in various US states. The horses spend sometimes months inside the feedlot to be fattened up before they are…

The horse auction in Billings is one of the largest monthly horse sales in the country. Due to its close proximity to the Canadian border, the sale is very popular among kill buyers. Each month, approximately 400 horses are sold to slaughter.

The “slaughter prospects” are kept in an extensive, shelter-less outdoor pen area. 30 to 40 horses are…

We return to the weekly horse sale in Sugarcreek operated by Ohio’s largest kill buyer, Leroy Baker. He is currently shipping approximately three loads of horses a week to the Viande Richelieu plant in Québec, Canada.

There are approximately 125 horses inside the pen area when we arrive at midday. We note a severely emaciated gelding in a pen by…

We arrive at the New Holland Sales Stables in the early morning. We immediately note that there are several horses with multiple cuts on their faces in the loose horse pens, injuries likely sustained in transport. A Paint horse is especially affected with a bleeding forehead injury as well as another serious cut above his left eye. In another pen,…

The Middleburg horse auction is frequented by a lot of members of the Mennonite and Amish communities who dump their worn-out work or buggy horses at the sale. Today, as usual, the slaughter horse pens are severely overcrowded, with horses packed in like sardines. There are five to seven horses tied next to each other, unable to move. The pens have…

Our team arrives at the weekly horse auction in Shipshewana at 10:30. We have monitored this sale since 2009 and have reported the auction for its abusive handling of animals on many occasions. This visit is to determine if there has been any improvement in the auction’s treatment of the animals in their care.

Today it is a hot, sunny day. There…

Randy Beasley actively buys and sells horses for the horse slaughter industry. He frequents several auctions in surrounding states, among them the Shipshewana horse auction in Indiana.

When we arrive at Beasley’s horse collecting station in Allen, Michigan, we see several holding pens behind the barn as well as extensive pastures. Despite the…

The horse sale starts shortly after 10:00. The auction is extremely busy this day with over 120 horses offered for sale, including many Thoroughbreds, some of which are pregnant mares. About half of the horses are sold to the kill buyers present. Bruce Rotz ends up with 13 horses, one of whom is “Open Zipper”, a pregnant Thoroughbred mare with…