It's still that way, typically bussiness buy the animal's or grandparents supporting some college funds. The kids do a thank you and splash FB with their thanks.
Small communities its a 'who knows who' for the highest $ bids, but really all the kids do very well.
There's a floor price that no animals will drop below, but I've yet to see anything ever go at floor price.
My kid payed 125 for the hog, and 275 for the feed, so it's already a $400 hog, then add infrastructure, wormer, treats, brushes, camping, fair food, shampoo, transport, etc etc etc
Plus we lost 1 hog, got COVID-19 or something, la-200 didn'tsave it, bunch of hogs lost that year. Few didn't make weight so DQ'd they gotta be 250 to 300 wt.
Genetics and birth dates matter a lot to hit that bracket. I like 280-285 best or they start getting dinged for too much cover (fat)
It would be cheaper to hand her a $1000 bill, but that's no fun
It's priceless lol