Despite Animal Magnetism, All Friendships Have Their Price

Waiting outside the auction corral with his friend Rowdy, who sported dark sunglasses, Daniel Chandler was facing up to the fact that his time with Rowdy would soon come to an end.

He was quite philosophical about the whole thing.

Yes, it hurt, the 15-year-old Canoga Park High School student said.

But after all, that was part of the equation, the lesson Daniel knew was coming from the start. “I knew when I first started raising him that this was where we were going,” Daniel said.

Rowdy was a 71-pound market goat and he and Chandler were at the Junior Livestock Auction at the San Fernando Valley Fair, where young urban farmers brought the animals they had raised over the past months to be sold to the highest bidders.

The money would go for such things as college funds and car insurance.

Most of the animals would go for dinner. A market goat like Rowdy provides the same cuts of meat as a lamb, and some people prefer the slightly smokier taste of goat.

The auction in the Equidome of the Los Angeles Equestrian Center seemed both ritualistic and festive.

The singsong patter of the auctioneer’s voice was backed by the clapping of the crowd as bids were raised, and raised again. The animals were trotted one at a time into the corral and displayed by the teen-agers.

Some of the animals weren’t happy about this and did their best to break free.

Others were docile, never straying far from the hands that raised them. After each auction, photos were taken and sometimes buyer met seller. There were moments of high energy, such as when the grand champion lamb went for a record $32 a pound. A lot for lamb chops.

And there were lows too, barely noticeable amid the cheer.

But from the teen-agers waiting to show their animals came some wistful thoughts. Most of them raise only a few animals each year and therefore get to know each one almost as, well, an individual.

These aren’t the products of huge ranches where animals are simply numbers. These animals have names like Rowdy and Chuck and Grover. They are used to gentle hands.

Sometimes, the young farmers said, it gets personal.

“I’m attached to him because I raised him and love him,” Daniel said as he petted Rowdy’s smooth back.

The goat stood by the boy as they waited a turn in the corral. Not once did the animal try to knock off the sunglasses Daniel had hooked over his ears, or to run away.

“I wish he could stay alive, but that’s not how it is. . . . My philosophy is that if he has to go for meat, he should at least have the best life possible until he goes. That’s what I’ve given him.

“I take excellent care of all my animals. Rowdy’s had a good life.”

Daniel, a member of Future Farmers of America, raises at least one of almost every kind of farm animal--horse, cow, goat, sheep, even rabbits.

Some are raised on his family’s two-acre property in Sunland--a place he calls Off-Ramp Acres--and the rest at the high school.

“I used to go to the fair when I was growing up and I’d see the animals and I said, ‘That’s nice, where are the rides?’ But when I started raising animals it became my whole life,” he said. “Livestock is all I do.”

Daniel was one of several Canoga High agricultural students who brought their animals to auction. And he wasn’t the only one who spoke of the difficulty in saying goodby to his or her animals.

“You have to get used to it,” said 16-year-old Melanie Sullada, returning to the auction for a second time with a pig named Grover. “It is sad to see these animals you spent a lot of time with go, but you get used to it.”

She added: “Sometimes that’s hard to do.”

Some, like Karina Perez, were old hands at this.

It was Karina’s third year. This time she brought a 259-pound pig named Chuck, among other animals.

Chuck was only 35 pounds when Karina got him four months earlier and began caring for him in the high school pens. After Chuck sold for $1.50 a pound, Karina, 18, said she was happy that prices had improved over the previous year.

She gave the winning bidder a collar bell that said “Thank You” on it, though it was unlikely that Chuck would get much of a chance to wear it.

Karina had a senior’s perspective. “My first year at this I got really attached to my animals and sad when they were sold.

“But after a while you realize that this is what farming is all about. There are people out there that have to be fed. That’s what we are doing. That’s what we are learning. So you can’t get too attached, you kind of have to look beyond that part.”

Karina said her years in the high school agriculture program have made her want to stay involved with animals. She starts Pierce College in September, aiming to become an animal health technician.

Chuck’s fate brings home the bacon, tuition-wise.

Back at the corral, the auctioneer called out Daniel’s name and he led Rowdy into the ring. First thing, Daniel was told to take the sunglasses off. this was an auction, not Stupid Pet Tricks.

Daniel steadied Rowdy by talking to him and stroking his back. It took only a minute or two for Rowdy to go for $4.25 a pound.

Walking Rowdy out of the Equidome to his pen, Daniel put on the goat’s dark glasses. It seemed to better fit the melancholy mood.

“He brought a good price,” Daniel said.

“I love him and don’t want to see him hurt. But not enough not to let him go.”