US couple who bid for pig at auction to rescue it find they were buying its meat

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) A Florida couple who won a pig at a state fair auction, intending to save it from the slaughterhouse, discovered the animal would be killed anyway and they had spent $4,700 on its meat.

Meg and Eric Weinberger, who run the Rescue Life sanctuary in Palm Beach Gardens, insist officials from the South Florida Fair gave no notification that they were bidding in a “terminal” auction of livestock raised solely for processing.

They believe but have not been able to confirm that the pig they fell in love with, named Bella B Swine by the teen who raised it, has now been killed. They say fair managers told them they were only entitled to the 186lbs of meat.

“It did not say it was a slaughter–only auction, otherwise we’d have turned around and walked away,” Meg Weinberger said.

“They said it was state law that the animal had to be slaughtered, but other fairs in Florida allow auction winners to take the animals with them. You can keep the meat, donate the meat or take the animal home.” ................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/20/south-florida-fair-pig-auction-slaughter

[Sympthsical]

1. Chris Traeger's worst nightmare

[róisín_dubh]

2. God almighty...

I hate this story. Poor piggy.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

3. If this had happened to me,

I would've donated all the meat to a homeless shelter, at least some good would come of this.

[Sneederbunk]

4. Need to read the fine print.

[Bantamfancier]

5. It really depends on the rules of the sale.

State and county fairs run under the auspices of the state agricultural department. Here in Ohio, you can have a full terminal sale or a partial terminal sale. Under full all animals go to the processors, no exceptions. A partial sale means only the grand and reserve must be processed.

In addition to this this you have the option of a premium sale vs a regular auction. In a regular auction ownership of the animal passes to the buyer at the conclusion of the sale. If it’s a full terminal sale that means the animal is loaded unto the processors’ trucks and the buyer receives the “buy back” price/monies.

Here’s where it can get sticky, in a partial sale it’s up to the sale committee if they offer the choice of sell to processor, return to seller, deliver to buyer or in the case of poultry and rabbits they can have the option of seller pays processing and then delivers to the buyer.

Now a lot of those headaches go away if you decide on a premium sale. In this case ownership of the animal stays with the seller. The kid gets to keep the buy back if they want it to go on the truck. They have the option of taking it home to be processed later for their own use or to sell. They can also sell it to a buyer that will then own the animal and can do whatever with it.

Remember that these are market projects. These animals have been fed to be at their peak in the show ring. They really have no value as breeding stock. Most of the kids in 4H and FFA understand this. The animal has reached its full potential for the project.

I said all that to just say in TL/DR form that in my experience, no matter how many times or what format you tell people the rules, sometimes someone just doesn’t understand what is going on.

Also I would say there is more to this couple than just wanting to help the kids. They had 5k to spend? Spread it around a little, don’t just give it all to one kid. Do what’s called an add on and give 50 kids 100 bucks each. Get 3 or 4 of your buddies to do the same and everyone is smiling come auction close.

[Bev54]

6. That was pretty customary for many agriculture shows and auctions of the show

animals. I know in Canada, many stopped the practice in the late 90's or early 2000's. There may still be some small fairs that continue the practice.

[harumph]

7. Pretty common with state fairs - should've done their due diligence.