NEW HOLLAND
Reoccurring Nightmare On A Weekly Basis

New Holland Sales Stables, Inc.
101 W. Fulton Street
New Holland, PA 17557
Tel.: 717.354.4341

Mondays, starting at 10AM
Terms of sale:
Cash, Credit Card (Visa or Master), Checks accepted from PA residents

The horse auction in New Holland, Pennsylvania, known as the "New Holland Killer Sale" is the biggest public horse auction east of the Mississippi and a privately owned facility. Every Monday, an average of 250 horses goes through the sale. 25-40% of them are bought by so-called "Killer Buyers" and will face a horrifying trip to the slaughterhouses in Canada, Texas, Nebraska, and Illinois at the end of each Monday.

The conditions at this sale are outrageous and inhumane. Until recently there was no separation of aggressive stallions, mares, geldings, and foals of all breeds and sizes ... They were all packed together in small pens. In recent months, New Holland operators made an effort to improve the conditions at New Holland, and responded to the "pressure" they got from rescue organizations and hundreds of individuals. The horses in the auction house have water and hay. Not all of them though, and the hay is of poor quality. The horses that are tied outside have neither hay nor water and have to stand in the hot sun for hours during summer. The pens are not as packed as they used to be but there is still a lot of fighting among the animals on busy days because the horses are tied up too close to each other, or are not tied up at all. The way some people (including or especially the staff) treat these horses is at least equally disturbing. Whips are used a lot and some of the riders show neither ability nor mercy when they ride the horses into the ring. Some grown up men seem to think they are cute when they ride tiny ponies into the ring. On busy and "bad" days you can turn wherever you want and you will witness people cursing at and kicking the animals, and horses fighting.

Once in the trucks of the Killer Buyers, the horses have no opportunity to lie down to rest ... they would get trampled by other horses. Some horses are hardly in the condition to survive these God-knows-how-many-hours-rides and often they don't. But considering the torture these horses have to suffer until they get to their final destination only to be killed in a brutal and inhumane manner, death is redemption. There are still some killer buyers out there who use double deck trucks. Don't you think that the use of double deck trucks, while still legal in the state of PA, violates the animal cruelty laws? We certainly think so.

But let's face it: Horse abuse starts long before New Holland. Previous owners are responsible for the horses conditions ... not New Holland.
Our goal is to convince the auction not to admit horses in bad shape (see animal cruelty laws) to the sale (which is illegal anyway) and to deny irresponsible owners/dealers the convenience of "dumping" their neglected, abused, emaciated horses at New Holland. What about water for all animals and good quality hay? And what about a general request of a negative coggins test for EVERY horse (not only out-of-state horses, and even though it's the law the auction was observed admitting them without), to reduce the risk of spreading the terrible EIA virus and to make it more attractive for private people to buy their horses at the auction?! The auction could definitely do a LOT to improve its reputation.

A HUGE step in the right direction is certainly the new "lab". New Holland is now offering coggins blood work within a couple of hours. If you buy horses at this auction you should DEFINITELY make use of this service.

Another goal is it to convince the authorities to make sure that the killer trucks are not overloaded, double-deckers not used for horses, and that the regulations for animal transport are met.

Please click here for a small selection of pictures:

New Holland Pictures

Unfortunately, the limited space on our website does not allow us to show you all the pictures we have of New Holland, and we do have many more. Some of these pictures are very graphic and disturbing. Please e-mail us if you are interested to see more. We are in the process of creating an additional website that is only "dealing" with photographic display of this auction.

Please DO call the authorities if you witness the auction or its staff violating a cruelty law. If you see obviously sick horses and/or horses in obvious pain, please approach the on-site veterinarian, Dr. J. Holt.

It is AGAINST the law when the auction accepts a horse to the sale that cannot bear its weight on all four legs, and/or a horse that can neither be ridden/driven/or worked without causing the animal pain!!
It is also a violation of the law to sell or to buy a horse in above described condition.

Please use your right as a caring citizen and call the New Holland Police and report the violation of the law.

We do, however, ask you to use this right wisely. We are trying very hard to work with the authorities, and to call them because of a little lumb, or because a horse is not sound, will definitely not help us or the horse but rather annoy the authorities and make them "insensitive" to our phone calls.

If you are at the auction and you think you are witnessing a cruelty violation but you are not completely sure what to do, please contact the on-site humane agent.

It is always a good idea to make yourself familiar with the local cruelty laws before visiting an auction like New Holland. We will provide a script of the laws here on this website in the near future for detailed information.