It’s an all-too-familiar scene at county fairs: parents consoling their children over having to relinquish their 4-H animals after they are sold at auction. For over 100 years, the youth program has given members the opportunity to market their own livestock and develop real-world skills. However, a case recently filed in federal court could set a precedent for future junior market auctions across the country.
Last year, a 9-year-old girl and her mother in Shasta County, CA, undertook a rescue mission to liberate a goat sold at a county fair. The story has made national headlines, causing backlash on social media and outcries from people who claimed county officials were overreaching their authority.
The case began in April 2022 when Jessica Long and her daughter purchased a Boer goat to raise as a Shasta County 4-H chapter market goat project for the county fair held June 24-25, 2022.
According to amended court documents filed by the Long family in March of 2023, the family asked to terminate their participation in the livestock auction prior to the auction’s start, but Shasta County officials cited governing rules prevented it.
However, a source who spoke to WLJ on condition of anonymity said Long did not approach anybody in the barn or the fair management to terminate the sale of the goat. They said there was ample opportunity to terminate the sale and the Longs knew it was a terminal sale and the animal would be sent for slaughter.
The Shasta County Junior Livestock Auction handbook states, “All goats, hogs, lambs and steers sold at the Shasta District Fair must be loaded onto the trucks hired by Shasta District fair and sent to their proper destination. This is a terminal sale—No exceptions!”
To enter the market class requires the minor, parent and the 4-H adviser’s signatures on an Intent to Sell form, a source told WLJ.
Goat removed from fairgrounds
“After the auction, (the exhibitor) would not leave the goat’s side,” the suit stated. She “loved the goat and the thought of him going to slaughter was something she could not bear. While sobbing in his pen beside him, (the exhibitor) communicated to her mother she didn’t want the goat to go to slaughter.”
The suit contends the exhibitor “exercised her statutory rights as a minor under California law” to reject any contract that occurred between her and the Shasta County Fair. The suit cited a California statutory law that reads “a contract of a minor may be disaffirmed by the minor before majority or within a reasonable time afterwards…”
On June 26, following the auction, Long removed the goat from the fairgrounds and sent him approximately 200 miles away to a farm in Sonoma County, noting the action would “be a point of controversy” and she “feared that deviating from a 4-H program through resisting the slaughter of livestock would upset other 4-H members and community members.”
Buyer left in dark
A buyer representative for Sen. Brian Dahle (R-CA-01) and another unnamed party were the highest bidder for the goat at the junior auction, bidding $902. Of that amount, the Shasta Fair Association would receive $63.14 for the selling fee, and the Long family would get the remaining $838.86.
The buyer representative told WLJ they bid on and purchased the goat because it didn’t seem to have a lot of buyer interest, and they generally try to get the prices higher for the kids selling their animals. The buyer said Dahle and the other party wanted to donate the goat to a community barbecue that has occurred for 21 years to raise money for 4-H and FFA groups. Last year, the barbecue raised over $23,000.
The buyer said on the sale form you could check the box for either resell, custom harvest or donate to any charitable organization. The buyer said they were not approached by anybody after the auction regarding the goat’s purchase.
The buyer, also an organizer for the community barbecue, went the following day after the auction to see how many animals were donated to the barbecue, and was informed a goat was taken from the fairgrounds. The buyer later received a message on Facebook about a post from the Bleating Hearts Farm and Sanctuary in Napa, CA, which claimed they had the goat. The buyer filed a complaint with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office regarding the theft.
Goat search begins
According to the suit, B.J. Macfarlane, livestock manager for the Shasta Fair Association, spoke with Long and said if the animal was not returned, she would be charged with grand theft under California Penal Code Section 487A. The penal code states that theft of agricultural products or livestock valued over $250 is considered a felony or misdemeanor.
Long offered to resolve the matter with Macfarlane by saying she would pay any losses and the Shasta Fair Association could keep the proceeds from the sale. Long sent a letter to the association and explained her daughter had lost three grandparents in the last year, and “I couldn’t bear the thought of the following weeks of sadness after the slaughter.”
The lawsuit said members of the Shasta Fair Association were unmoved by Long’s pleas and the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department obtained a search warrant for the animal rescue in Napa County. On July 8, 2022, two sheriff deputies drove to Napa County to take back the goat for slaughter.
WLJ’s sources said the goat was actually found with someone in Sonoma County who rents goats for brush control, and they wanted nothing to do with the animal after discovering it had eartags from the Shasta County Fair.
The lawsuit contends the search warrant was for the animal sanctuary in Napa County and not for the farm in Sonoma County, and therefore the deputies took the goat “without judicial authorization and without providing plaintiffs any notice and opportunity hearing by a neutral magistrate or judicial officer.”
Setting a precedent
Ryan Gordon, a lawyer for Advancing Law for Animals, told the Sacramento Bee the dispute is not an isolated one. His firm regularly receives calls from families trying to save their animals from going to auction.
“The case is more important than (the goat),” Gordon said. “Every year, the firm I work at gets calls from kids that want help, that are in these 4-H programs, and they want out and are told they can’t.”
However, this case could change the future of junior auction sales for exhibitors and buyers. One source said this would set a precedent for all county fairs across the state and country, and that every child who has an attachment to an animal would be able to take it home.
The buyer representative said their children have shown animals at the auction, and through their years of experience as a buyer representative, they have seen a lot of kids get attached to their animals.
“Most of the kids that I know get very attached to the animals,” they said. “Eight out of the 10 kids that I have been around in the 20 years I’ve been doing this are sad, but then they realize how much money they have made from their project and their hard work.”
The buyer representative has received letters from the kids not only thanking them for purchasing the animal, but also saying that they have learned responsibility for raising the animal and how to promote themselves.
The buyer representative said Dahle has been harassed by the incident, even though he was unaware of it until he was later contacted. Another source involved told WLJ they had to change their phone number and shut down their social media accounts due to harassment.
Each of WLJ’s sources said the Shasta County district attorney does not intend to prosecute Jessica Long.
The suit claims the defendants violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution relating to unreasonable search and seizures, and the Fourteenth Amendment of due process of law by confiscating the goat and then disposing of the goat without notice or hearing.
Fact discovery is due by Sept. 25, and a pretrial conference has been set for Aug. 6, 2024, with a jury trial on Oct. 7, 2024. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
