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Highlands Today

Animals Up For Bid At Auction In Venus

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Ringman Bo Cochran of Lorida shows a goat at the Aug. 23 auction in Venus.

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By BILL ROGERS

Highlands Today

Published: August 31, 2008

VENUS - Kathy Gaudino knew at a young age what she wanted to do in life, noting in the 1981 West Haven, Conn., High School yearbook that her career ambition was to work with animals.

That's what Gaudino and her husband, Ralph, and their oldest daughter, Dina Monaco, are doing. They operate Venus Animal Auction, holding weekly auctions on Saturday at 7 p.m. Ralph is the auctioneer.

They lease 50 acres of land off Detjens Dairy Road in southern Highlands County. Their location is one mile north of the Glades County line.

"It's lot of fun; we just all love it," said Kathy Gaudino, noting that her other two daughters and some others help out. "The biggest thing is I get my animal fix. I get to see a lot of animals in a given week. I have my pets and I can give them so much love, but I love so many different things about animals, I can't possibly have all the animals that I crave, so I get my cravings satisfied one week at a time."

Farm animals, including chickens, horses, goats, sheep and cows, are the mainstay of Saturday auctions. The animals are brought in Saturday morning, and perspective buyers have an opportunity to check them out.

The Gaudinos charge 15 percent. If someone sells over $1,000 the percentage drops to 10 percent.

"Basically, it's a big swap," she said. "Sellers buy other people's animals and the buyers buy the sellers animals. Somebody else is going home with somebody else's animals."

The auction attracts people from around the state, according to Gaudino.

"Eventually we hope when we have an exotic (animals) sale, that actually can draw a national crowd," she said.

Chickens and goats are the most popular animals. Gaudino noted they do well on horse sales.

A state inspector from the Department of Agriculture attends every auction. The inspector checks each horse's Coggins (blood test) "to make sure they are current and right and they go with that animal," according to Gaudino.

The auction is held in a large open-air barn. There are some bleachers and chairs as well as a concession stand.

"The barn is lovely, we have great food at the concession stand," she said. "We play music over the loudspeakers, and people just kind of hang around and talk. It's almost like a social gathering."

There are some vendors who have set up booths. One sells plants and somebody else sells herbs. One of Gaudino's daughters sells country items.

"My husband used to take me out; we used to go to the auction and that used to be our date night," she said. "You'd be surprised how many people that is their social outing of the week."

The Gaudinos owned a pet store in Connecticut for several years, selling everything from "guppies to puppies," Kathy said.

Ralph and Kathy moved to Venus 10 years ago. They went to auctions up north and when they came to Florida. She said they have always wanted to get involved in auctions and live in the country.

They owned three acres of land, which she said was considered a lot in Connecticut, but wasn't enough for them.

They had visited Florida in the past. Kathy's stepmother lives in Lake Placid, and she has other relatives in South Florida.

"We would look around; we would drive around and we just fell in love with Venus," she said. "All of the open space, all the cows and everything."

They bought 20 acres of land in Venus. At their home, Kathy said there are three dogs, "about 14 cats, about 14 mini pigs" and rabbits. She added that she used to have "all sorts of birds" and African pygmy mice.

In addition to the regular Saturday auction, Gaudino said they hope to hold auctions for exotic animals, horse and tack and miscellaneous items (antiques and home goods) by the end of the year.

A charity auction will be held there at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 to benefit the Venus United Methodist Church. Members of the church and the community are donating their unwanted items. Proceeds will go to the church's youth group.

"And we are going to auction off the opportunity for somebody to be the auctioneer for about a five-minute span," she said." Because there is a lot of people that just think they would love to get up there and do that."

Reporter Bill Rogers may be reached at 386-5825.

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