Mount Hope Auction Site

On Wednesday, Keith and Ruth Ann took us to the Mount Hope Auction. (http://www.mthopeauction.com/)
I think that this auction site is owned and managed by the Amish community. They have a number of different auctions -- on the Wednesday when we were there, they had cattle and some goats, and produce / home made baked goods.

They were also preparing for other upcoming auctions, and there were several vendors selling in a flea market.

I was looking at their website at the upcoming auctions and one that sounded interesting was "Alternative animal and bird" (http://www.mthopeauction.com/sale/mid-ohio-alternative-animal-and-bird-sale/2018/11/02)

The Mid Ohio Alternative Animal and Bird Sale is held 3 times a year. Animals range anywhere from domestic to exotic with over 200 different species being offered for sale.

Doesn't that sound interesting?

While we waited for Keith and Dwayne to come back after parking the pickup truck, Ruth Ann and I walked through one of the buildings where there are normally vendors in the flea market (they were outside instead) as the building was being set up for a woodworking equipment auction!

We met the guys outside and went into the livestock auction...

... they were selling day-old calves - most went for $5, $10, or $15. The one in the picture above was 75 pounds and went for $10.

This one went for $15 (he was 80 pounds).

Next door they were selling small quantities of seemingly random things - eggs (from 1 dozen to 7- or 8-dozen eggs might be sold to one buyer), decorated cut-out cookies, pepperoni rolls (like sandwiches I guess) -- we came in when he was allowing the pepperoni rolls to be purchased individually at $0.60 each (they were like a foot long!) - someone had bid to that price for them and once they took what they wanted, he made the rest available at that price - then he auctioned the remaining ones off - they brought $0.35 for the final 5, I think.

 I knew Dwayne would like to see the woodworking equipment, so we headed back into there...

Many of the items had their paperwork attached.

Some of the paperwork had notes from the current owner... "Works Great, we Replaced with a Bigger Machine, 1-Year old"

The label above was on this piece of equipment.

"Works Good - Reason for Selling: Needed bigger one"

The note with the "Reason for Selling" was on this, that I think is a dust collector. It looks pretty big to me!

I saw this item from a couple of rows away and was wondering what it was...

So I got closer...

Until I could read the hand-written information: "Chair Seat Boring Machine. Drill are for the Top & Bottom of the seats - works Good. It is in working Condition"

 Once I read what it was, I could see how the seat would be placed into the machine and drilled.

The auction company that would be conducting the auction.

I didn't know what "10% Buyers Premium" meant - looked it up - the buyer pays the amount they bid plus 10% that goes to the auctioneer. Presumably the seller also pays part of his proceeds to the auctioneer - I don't know whether the seller gets a better return when there is a buyer's premium or not.

A trailer coming in from "RNR Swiss Farm" in Lakeville, Ohio - I guess they raise Brown Swiss cattle. (https://www.farmanddairy.com/news/ohio-hosts-national-brown-swiss-convention/430246.html/attachment/brown-swiss-tour2-2)

We walked a block or so away from the auction area into town - some of the horses waiting patiently...

We went into a fabric/clothing store...

There were all types of Amish and Mennonite clothing...

That "Mennonite Coverings" sign was on this display case - I would guess that the ones at the bottom were Mennonite.

At the bottom of the case with white coverings were Bonnets...

The "New Order Style" was sold out!

There were still plenty of the "Old Order Style".

There was a sign indicating that "Amanda Mullet's veils are in the other cupboard"

Around the corner were Amanda Mullet's veils

I wonder if she is a local lace maker?

And I wonder when lace is used for a head covering versus the caps?

I just found this sign to be amusing... "Suspender Center - We Carry a Full Line of Suspenders in Black & Charcoal. If you have difficulty finding your size, we will be happy to assist you."

Then we joined a lot of other folks who were making their way to Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen for lunch (https://mrsyoderskitchen.com/).

I saw this sign in the gift shop at Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen while we were waiting for a table!

After lunch, we headed back toward the auction area...

This entrance was where the livestock trailers pulled in and unloaded their animals.

There were now more mature animals being sold...

It seems that these prices were per "hundred weight", or, move the decimal by 2 places and it was the price per pound - so this one sold for $0.52/pound, and 710 pounds, $369.20.

There were a number of "feisty" ones... some were definitely bulls.

That one went for $0.51/pound or $517.65. I don't know whether they were being sold for meat or maybe for breeding?

A group of 3 Holsteins

Sold for $0.73/pound or $1722.80...

This group of 3 was 3340 pounds, sold at $62.50/pound, or $2087.50

When the "feisty" ones were in the ring, the handlers made cagey use of the small barriers that they could get behind.

This was one that they gave wide berth...

1425 pounds, $0.78/pound, $1111.5

Sitting here at my computer with my phone as a calculator, I can do these calculations, but boy-howdy, I would not have been able to do these figures while the auction was going on. They averaged less than a minute on each lot that they were selling. It definitely is a different language and a special skill to participate in an auction!

Then back to the babies... it was hard to watch them... some of them got no bids, even at $1 or $2... the auctioneer would go to "a penny a pound" (they were in the 55-70 pound range, so $0.55 - $0.70) and sometimes there was a bid at that level, but many got no bid at all.

Dwayne was glad that I didn't have a bid number given my penchant for bidding on things that no one else would bid on when we used to attend charity auctions (landing us with things like Polo Horseback Riding Lessons, a very uncomfortable loveseat with 6 pillows (which we purchased for $10! what a deal!) - it looked nice in the living room as long as no one was ever required to sit on it, various needlework kits that I ultimately donated to a senior home, and many other things through the years!). He had told me at the Farm Science Review on Tuesday that if I wanted to purchase a cow, it would need to be a color that would stand out so as not to be hit as it ran behind Miss Doozie when we were traveling, and that we'd have to travel at a significantly slower pace! These babies would have been small enough for 1 or 2 to fit into our shower stall in Miss Doozie - if I had only thought about it at the time! (ha!)

We assumed at the auction that many of these little ones were purchased by a veal producer. I talked with my brother about how low the prices were and he said that it was impossible to know whether the seller had taken appropriate steps to provide the calf with the colostrum that they require to set up their immune systems, and that the mortality rates are pretty high (25-above 50%).

More on colostrum especially for bovines (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colostrum):

In animal husbandry

Colostrum is crucial for newborn farm animals. They receive no passive transfer of immunity via the placenta before birth, so any antibodies that they need have to be ingested (unless supplied by injection or other artificial means). The ingested antibodies are absorbed from the intestine of the neonate. The newborn animal must receive colostrum within 6 hours of being born for maximal absorption of colostral antibodies to occur. Recent studies indicate that colostrum should be fed to bovines within the first thirty minutes to maximize IgG absorption rates.

Colostrum varies in quality and quantity. In the dairy industry, the quality of colostrum is measured as the amount of IgG (Immunoglobulin G) per liter. It is recommended that newborn calves receive at least 4 quarts (liters) of colostrum with each containing at least 50 grams of IgG/liter. Testing of colostral quality can be done by multitude of devices including colostrometer, optical refractometer or digital refractometer. Mature dairy cattle produce an average of 33 liters of colostrum in the first milking after calving.

Livestock breeders commonly bank colostrum from their animals. Colostrum can be stored frozen but it does lose some of its inherent quality. Colostrum produced on a breeder's own premises is considered to be superior to colostrum from other sources, because it is produced by animals already exposed to (and, thus, making antibodies to) pathogens occurring on the premises. A German study reported that multiparous mares produced on average a liter (quart) of colostrum containing 70 grams of IgG. In most dairy cow herds, the calves are removed from their mothers soon after birth and fed colostrum from a bottle.

As we were leaving, some of the buggies were parked in a stable-type area instead of being out in the open.

This picture was out the window of the pickup as we were driving by an Amish school - the kids were outside playing a ball game.

We visited some other sites too on Wednesday, but those will wait for another post!