Don't Sell Your Problems

From the Barn of Tarma Shena

Do not sell your problems.

I do not care what industry you are in, quality control is a big part of ethical business practices. It will not only affect your bottom line over time, it will hurt your reputation, and that is something you just cannot put a price tag on.

This activity runs rampant in the livestock world. Some of it is a known quantity. If you are buying stock at the small town auction you can pretty much bet everything going through is something no one else wanted.

“It didn’t sell off the farm page and it’s too scrawny to eat so let’s take it to auction” is pretty much how that goes. But that’s ok because we all know you just want it for a pet and that goat you bid on can eat grass for the next four or five months in your yard. You’ll get fed up with it jumping on the hood of your car by October at the latest and be back online trying to find it a good home before winter sets in and you have to worry about “actually” taking care of a goat.

Some farmer, possibly the original one, will take it back and promise you it will be well taken care of. And it will! Right up until it goes in the freezer because all those treats you gave it and no competition, fattened it up quite nicely.

It’s a whole different ball game when you are buying breeding stock, especially registered breeding stock. There is an expectation of quality and truthfulness when you are dealing “farmer to farmer” that you won’t get anywhere else.

Until there isn’t.

Breed the best and eat the rest.

I had someone contact me about purchasing from our composite program. They were interested in fiber and possibly breeding. Those are two different conversations because I am not sure I’m ready to sell breeding stock yet. I’m still working on that program and I’d like to get some better consistency. I was honest and up front. We decided to look at next year’s lamb crop and make a decision from there.

I am keeping two ewe lambs and eating a few. Unfortunately I will also have an adult ewe on that list come butcher day.

She’s on there because you sold me your problem and I have given her ample time to adjust to our environment without success. As a farmer, it was your responsibility to have an honest conversation about differences in temperament and animal husbandry techniques.

I’ve lost time, money, and lambs because you wanted to “make a sale” whether it was an honest one or not.

I rant a lot about breeding practices when it comes to dogs but it’s culturally unacceptable to mention eating the ones who don’t work out. However, I know a couple of restaurants that might be on that list when you decide “FiFi needs more room to run” but don’t want to mention she bites.

But when it comes to farm animals, deal in honesty not livestock.