Ridgetop
Herd Master
The kids at our local Fair rarely made big bucks on anything. Often they barely broke even. Some years the add-ons were the only money they netted. They did not pay big bucks for anything either because they did not have the money. Many of them were inner city kids, living in apartments, and the FFA livestock program was very good for them. It turned around some that were heading for trouble in gangs. As far as buying a lot of animals, if the leader did not buy the market animals for the kids in the program and bring them back to the school the kids did not have any animals. These were city kids so the leader found the market animals for them and the kids bought them from the FFA program. The FFA Booster Club raised the money for the kids to borrow to buy their animals and feed, and they repaid it to the Boosters after the Fair.
I used to bid on the FFA kids' animals because most of those kids did not have buyers. One year I paid less for a finished lamb than the girl had paid at the college feeder lamb sale! I bought 3 lambs that year from FFA kids because they didn't have buyers. Even though DH had a barn full of show meat rabbits, we used to buy up all the unsold rabbit pens as well and butcher them out just so the kids did not have to take them home. (They would not butcher them and put them in their freezers.)
The animals that were bad tempered were the ones bought privately. There were only a few kids who bought expensive show animals. Their parents owned their own businesses and wrote off the difference between the price they paid and what the sales price would have been at the slaughterhouse. They would arrange to bid on and buy each other's kids' animals for a big price that way. Those families did not bid on any other animals.
Our own kids made a little money, but not the thousands some fairs bring. Mostly they raised the animals because they liked doing it and it was a good lesson in economics. It certainly taught them to appreciate the hard work done by farmers and ranchers, and the importance of agriculture.
I used to bid on the FFA kids' animals because most of those kids did not have buyers. One year I paid less for a finished lamb than the girl had paid at the college feeder lamb sale! I bought 3 lambs that year from FFA kids because they didn't have buyers. Even though DH had a barn full of show meat rabbits, we used to buy up all the unsold rabbit pens as well and butcher them out just so the kids did not have to take them home. (They would not butcher them and put them in their freezers.)
The animals that were bad tempered were the ones bought privately. There were only a few kids who bought expensive show animals. Their parents owned their own businesses and wrote off the difference between the price they paid and what the sales price would have been at the slaughterhouse. They would arrange to bid on and buy each other's kids' animals for a big price that way. Those families did not bid on any other animals.
Our own kids made a little money, but not the thousands some fairs bring. Mostly they raised the animals because they liked doing it and it was a good lesson in economics. It certainly taught them to appreciate the hard work done by farmers and ranchers, and the importance of agriculture.
Maybe we will get a picture of the mystery creature before the end of the year!
