Livestock auctions sell cows, goats, sheep, etc. but they also sell horses, and the devastating truth is that 95% of animals sold at auctions go to slaughter houses. Slaughter buyers buy the animals depending on how much fat they have (worth more to slaughter houses) and the size of the animal. They normally keep their bid low, but it depends on the animal. They usually will buy many animals, basically like buying in 'bulk' . And, even in places like Colorado, animals are sold to slaughter buyers, knowinly or not. If it's animals that are illegal to slaughter in that particular state or country, they are sold on the black market to other countries or states; in the case of horses, they are usually sold to Canada, Japan, or China.