Sale Barn

In April the sheep and goat auction I have attended, purchased from and sold at for seven years, closed, without any warning. A post on facebook stated “Closed”. A sign on the entrance gate stated “Out of Business”. I called the young man who owned the sale barn and did not get any answer. I talked to two friends who were at the sale barn every sale, like myself, and they had no answers. Many stories and rumors circulated, but truth was not found.

Then I heard he was selling the operation. In May, another person I knew was purchasing it. This person I do not trust and I had dealt with him when I was raising horses. He and his brother have a bad reputation of “shady deals”. One friend I spoke to, who knows everyone in the area, said they would “be surprised if the sale barn stayed open a month, those brothers are shady and lazy”. Soon on the sale barn facebook page, reports came of not getting what a seller was due from the sale of their sheep and goats, the sales checks not being any good, and people not getting all the sheep and goats they purchased. After a two sales, a month time, the sale barn was once more closed.

I had some sheep I needed to remove from my farm. One was an old registered ewe, a ewe lamb I was retaining for breeding that was culled and some market lambs. I hauled them three hours away to a sale. They brought the high end of the market price, but the additional fuel ate up the profit.

In July, the original young previous owner, was opening up the sale barn again. There was no mention of why he had closed, what had happened.

Today, my husband and I are visiting the sale barn to see how it is going and maybe to find some answers. I like to do business with a business I can trust, and a person I can trust.

Granny