One man's junk is another man's treasure, Jim Ryan said as he arrived at last weekend's smallholders auction in Dannevirke.
And he wasn't wrong. Although there were fewer people at the auction, more than $28,000 was raised from the sale of all that "junk" - poultry, dogs, rabbit hutches, sheep and horses.
Dannevirke's Pete Longstaff was happy to get $87 a head for his five ewe lambs and went to spend it at the chattels auction and Julie Rush of Feilding sold her three-year-old huntaway Bart for $400 to Lina Castles.
"He's a great heading dog and also good with the kids," Julie said.
Cole McGuinness of Norsewood was hoping to do a deal after the auction for one of her three horses, a 14-month-old gelding Charlie. Originally from Taranaki, Cole had been breeding horses, but her move to Norsewood means she's had to let them go.
"Fifty years after my parents left a farm on Garfield Rd in Norsewood when I was two, it's exciting being back there working," she said.
There were bargains galore with an exercycle going for just $2, but the Professionals auctioneers sometimes had to work hard to get items sold.