Off to the Auction

The two remaining ram lambs, one from Ewenice, and one from Jamie, were brought to the auction yard yesterday. I only had one other person call last week in response to the ads I had posted at the feed stores, but it turns out he really had been looking for a ewe lamb.

Off to the auction yard.

I'm glad I have that outlet available to me. The yard doesn't charge much (about $7.00 vs $36.00 for a newspaper ad). It's a very simple process where basically all I have to do is bring the lambs to the yard. They do the rest. I don't even have to do any of the unloading. I sign a slip of paper that says what I dropped off and I go home to wait for my check. It's almost like having a birthday and knowing you're going to get something, but you just don't know what yet.

Waiting to off-load behind a trailer of pigs.

I didn't buy these lambs, so the only monetary output from my end is the hay and grain they've been fed. They don't eat much so in my simple mind the check I get from the auction yard is pure profit.

I know that's not a very realistic view of how the business is supposed to work. I do keep track of all my expenses for the IRS. But look at it this way, if you can twist your mind around how mine sort of works... Say you buy your house for $100,000. In ten years you sell it for $250,000. Most people would say you made a profit of $150,000, less taxes and realtor fees, right? But nobody talks about all the money you paid in interest. We sort of don't pay attention to that part of it. That's how I view my "profit" with the animals. I try not to pay too much attention to the "interest", ie: the feed.

So next week I'll get a check in the mail. Hey, it works for me!

Notice anything wrong?