We had lunch at the barn and were now heading in to see our calves sell.  Joining us was a high school buddy of mine and his two daughters.  Lily, 10, was beside me.

“Have you been to a sale barn before?”

“No.  This is my first time.”

“Well, I’m sure your father told you, but try not to look the auctioneer in the eye.”

“Why?”

“If you do and make the slightest movement, he’ll call it a bid.”

“But…I can’t buy anything…I’m just a kid.”

“Happens all the time, Lily.  Some kid sneezes and BAM!  He bought a pen load of cattle.  I’m really surprised your dad didn’t warn you.”

The joke has been around as long as there have been auctions.  I heard it when I was 7 or 8.  I now have friends who are auctioneers.  I still don’t trust them.

Lily sat on her hands for the next hour and a half.

“That guy in the window is buying almost all of them,” observed Abby, 8.

“He’s what they call an order buyer.  He’s buying cattle for several different places, likely in several different states.  This guy over here by that phone is one too.”

“What are they going to do with them?”

“Well, right now they’re about half-grown.  The buyers will raise them the rest of the way.”

“Will they all be beef?”

“No.  The steers will, but some of the heifers will go back to be cows someday.”

“What if we wanted to buy some calves?”

“We would have to bid against people like the man in the window, and get your sister’s hands out from under her.”  They both smiled.

The calves were weaned the first of November.  They were weighing around 600 pounds then.  Here, on New Year’s Day, they were weighing just under 800.  They had been healthy, beat the mud, and looked good.  They sold well.

“Are you happy with what they brought?” their dad asked.

“I think so.  It’s just over $600 a head less than they did last year, though.”

“Did you say $600 less per head?”  I nodded.  “Wow.  That dollars up in a hurry.”

“Yea, but we are lucky.  The market had a little bounce the last ten days.  Some saw well over a $700/head difference.  Last year was exceptional.  This year is fairly similar to where they sold two years ago.”

“Were people expecting last year’s prices to stick around?”

“Almost everyone was predicting they would.  Some took those predictions with a grain of salt, but I don’t think anyone was expecting this swift of a correction.  It is putting a ding in quite a few pocketbooks.”

“What will people do?”

“Same thing they always do.  Try and make it.”

As we made our way out, Lily was beside me again.

“That was neat,” she said grinning ear to ear.

“It looks to me you’ve found out who the happiest person after an auction is.”

“Who is that?”

“The one that still has all their money.”