http://www.journaltimes.com/articles...a216949408.txt
RAYMOND — For $4,050, you could buy four big screen TVs or two top of the line laptops — or a chicken?
Chicken at the grocery store sells for about $2 a pound, but a live chicken sold for $4,050 at the Racine County Fair Sunday livestock auction. Butch, the 10-pound rooster sold Sunday, cost $405 per pound.
"You could buy enough chickens for a lifetime with $4,000," said Ron Bretl, 65, of Raymond, who bought the Cornish Cross rooster at auction from his 12-year-old grandson, Ryan Goessl. "I think my wife was in shock. She was pulling on my leg and hollering at me."
Butch was the largest sale in the small animal category. Chickens normally sell for between $150 and $350 at the fair, said Scott Gunderson, president of the Racine County Agricultural Society. Ryan, from Raymond, sold a chicken at auction last year for $350.
Ryan Goessl, 12, sits with Butch, a Cornish Cross rooster, Monday afternoon, July 28, 2008, the chicken was purchased at the Racine County Fair for $4,050 by his grandfather, Ron Bretl. / Gregory Shaver, The Journal Times
This year, "I was kinda nervous because I was the first chicken and I didn’t know if it would go for much," Ryan said. But he didn’t need to worry.
"Afterwards I didn’t really know what to think," said Ryan. "I had to put my chicken away and I couldn’t find my grandpa. When I found him, I just gave him a hug."
Sunday’s chicken sale wasn’t Bretl’s first time bidding on Ryan’s projects or animals at auction. At a Raymond auction last fall, Bretl paid $850 for a bench built and decorated by Ryan’s fourth grade class, he said.
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"I got a little carried away with that too," Bretl said. "But I’m a very family-oriented individual. My grandkids are the best thing that happened to me. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Ryan asked why, and I said, ‘Because I love ya and that’s the end of it.’ "
Bidding on this year’s chicken started with Ryan’s father.
"My husband started the bidding to get it going," said Ryan’s mother, Kris Goessl, 42. "Up to the first $1,500, it went pretty quickly between family members and others. It just kept going. In my mind, I kept going, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’"
Toward the end, bidding was between Bretl and Ryan’s great-uncle, Alvin Wilks, 68 of Union Grove. Wilks said he wasn’t trying to raise the chicken’s sale price.
"I really wanted that chicken," he said. "I’m disappointed I didn’t get it, but I reached my limit at $4,000."
The Goessl family, which has been raising chickens for about two years, will send Butch and the rest of their nearly 30 chickens to be processed Thursday. After processing, the meat from the $4,000 chicken will go to Bretl, Kris Goessl said.
The chicken was paid for Sunday and Ryan should receive the money from the fair in about two weeks, Gunderson said.
"It goes into the education fund for his future," Bretl said. "That’s a mandate from Grandpa."
Ten percent of the sale price goes toward the fair fund. Other animals sold for big bucks include a $1,025 rabbit, a $1,000 turkey, a $2,000 chicken, a $7,302.50 steer and a $2,535.50 swine, Gunderson said.
Chicken at the grocery store sells for about $2 a pound, but a live chicken sold for $4,050 at the Racine County Fair Sunday livestock auction. Butch, the 10-pound rooster sold Sunday, cost $405 per pound.
"You could buy enough chickens for a lifetime with $4,000," said Ron Bretl, 65, of Raymond, who bought the Cornish Cross rooster at auction from his 12-year-old grandson, Ryan Goessl. "I think my wife was in shock. She was pulling on my leg and hollering at me."
Butch was the largest sale in the small animal category. Chickens normally sell for between $150 and $350 at the fair, said Scott Gunderson, president of the Racine County Agricultural Society. Ryan, from Raymond, sold a chicken at auction last year for $350.
Ryan Goessl, 12, sits with Butch, a Cornish Cross rooster, Monday afternoon, July 28, 2008, the chicken was purchased at the Racine County Fair for $4,050 by his grandfather, Ron Bretl. / Gregory Shaver, The Journal Times
This year, "I was kinda nervous because I was the first chicken and I didn’t know if it would go for much," Ryan said. But he didn’t need to worry.
"Afterwards I didn’t really know what to think," said Ryan. "I had to put my chicken away and I couldn’t find my grandpa. When I found him, I just gave him a hug."
Sunday’s chicken sale wasn’t Bretl’s first time bidding on Ryan’s projects or animals at auction. At a Raymond auction last fall, Bretl paid $850 for a bench built and decorated by Ryan’s fourth grade class, he said.
*
"I got a little carried away with that too," Bretl said. "But I’m a very family-oriented individual. My grandkids are the best thing that happened to me. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Ryan asked why, and I said, ‘Because I love ya and that’s the end of it.’ "
Bidding on this year’s chicken started with Ryan’s father.
"My husband started the bidding to get it going," said Ryan’s mother, Kris Goessl, 42. "Up to the first $1,500, it went pretty quickly between family members and others. It just kept going. In my mind, I kept going, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’"
Toward the end, bidding was between Bretl and Ryan’s great-uncle, Alvin Wilks, 68 of Union Grove. Wilks said he wasn’t trying to raise the chicken’s sale price.
"I really wanted that chicken," he said. "I’m disappointed I didn’t get it, but I reached my limit at $4,000."
The Goessl family, which has been raising chickens for about two years, will send Butch and the rest of their nearly 30 chickens to be processed Thursday. After processing, the meat from the $4,000 chicken will go to Bretl, Kris Goessl said.
The chicken was paid for Sunday and Ryan should receive the money from the fair in about two weeks, Gunderson said.
"It goes into the education fund for his future," Bretl said. "That’s a mandate from Grandpa."
Ten percent of the sale price goes toward the fair fund. Other animals sold for big bucks include a $1,025 rabbit, a $1,000 turkey, a $2,000 chicken, a $7,302.50 steer and a $2,535.50 swine, Gunderson said.