To the guy who sold the $100,000 ram lamb...

Full disclosure: I am getting ready for my own online sale and hoping to use this completely unrelated success to convince someone to spend similar money on our Tunis ram lambs.

I don't know you, although now I wish I had met you before my husband. Kidding (well sort of)!

I am Facebook friends with many people who know you.   They apparently know you well enough to publicly judge your morals, integrity and breeding program on their Facebook walls.  They know you well enough to "know" if the money was "real" or "fake". 

But like I said above, I don't know you so I'm not sure about any of that.  I am sure of this though.

You deserve a huge “Congratulations”!

I cannot imagine the excitement you and your family felt that night.  I cannot imagine the pure exhilaration at having your work rewarded in such an unbelievably awesome way!  You deserve a party and I hope you throw one! 

You deserve a huge “Thanks”!

Thank you for putting your ram lamb out there.  It takes guts to publicly sell an animal, and even more guts to publicly sell a good one.  People who don’t sell animals in such highly watched (and criticized) forums under estimate that fact.  Some days it seems there are more people out there who would rather see their fellow breeders fail than have such an awesome success.

Your buyer (and bidders) deserves a huge “Thanks”!


Thanks for believing in the business (not just one program, but the entire industry) enough to put that kind of investment in.  And thank you for being willing to do it in a public forum where more of us can share in the excitement and energy it brings!

People have said it’s crazy.  If you analyze the numbers, it's really not insane.  A top breeder utilizing current breeding technology and marketing, using new sale methods with lower costs and higher returns can cash flow the purchase well.  Most of us wouldn't be able to, but the elite breeders in the profitable sectors of the industry can. 

And finally, you deserve an apology. 

As long as we all run in this competitive business with winners and losers there will be jealously.  But I am always a little crushed by the way that jealousy manifests itself into personal attacks and rumors, at a time when the industry should be rallied around a breeder in support of a huge milestone and accomplishment. 

I hope through all the negativity you can hear the shouts of excitement from those of us who don’t even know you but were celebrating with you!

I hope above all else you can enjoy the moment and celebrate the success with your friends, family and customers!  Because it was one awesome success!  A success that I cannot imagine, but can at least dream about now… 

P.S. In case you do ever see this,  I wouldn't be good at my job as show manager  if I didn't mention the Midwest Junior Preview Show is seeking support for the commercial breeding division of the show and we pay back 100% of any donations received to the kids!  More information on the show can be found at www.midwestjuniorpreviewshow.com.