I Do A Different Kind Of Calf Raises

I do taxes (mostly) for farmers. As such, I have to be fairly flexible about certain matters around payment. I don’t know exactly why so many of my clients are allergic to paying in cash, but many of my clients have engaged in significant barter transactions.

For example, one farmer I worked with paid a man to fix his irrigation system with a half-dozen chickens.

Another farmer paid someone to mow the lawn of his (personal) house every week with a basket full of fresh fruits and vegetables.

One farmer traded a prize-winning pig for some sort of hand-forged Japanese-style sword.

Probably the funniest is when they try to barter with me. I’m used to accepting a year’s supply of milk, eggs, or whatever in exchange for my services from several of my clients, but one year, a client offered me a whole live calf.

I had to turn it down. I don’t know how to raise a calf, and I know they eat more in feed than I can afford.

I strongly suspect that the farmer in question was planning on exchanging a year’s supply of animal feed for my services going forward.