(a) Except as otherwise specified by the order authorizing sale or as agreed to by the parties after the lien has arisen, a sale of livestock under this chapter may be held in bulk or in parcels, at wholesale or retail, and at any time and place and on any terms, provided the lienholder acts in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner. The livestock may be sold in its existing condition or following any commercially reasonable preparation or processing. The fact that a better price could have been obtained by a sale at a different time or in a different manner from that selected by the lienholder is not of itself sufficient to establish that the sale was not made in a commercially reasonable manner. If the lienholder either sells the livestock in the usual manner in any recognized market therefor or sells at the price current in such market at the time of the sale or, if it has otherwise sold in conformity with reasonable commercial sales practices for the type of livestock sold, it has sold in a commercially reasonable manner.

(b) Except as otherwise specified by order of the court, or as agreed to by all interested parties after the lien has arisen, the proceeds of sale shall be deposited with the clerk of the court in an interest-bearing account to abide the judgment in the action.

(c) Except as otherwise specified in the judgment in the action, the proceeds of sale shall be applied in the following order:

(1) For reasonable expenses incurred by the lienholder in enforcing the lien, including, but not limited to, the charges for livestock services from the date the lien arose to the date of sale; the costs of transporting and preparing the livestock for sale and of conducting the sale; and, the reasonable attorneys’ fees and legal costs and expenses incurred by the lienholder;

(2) For satisfaction of the contractual indebtedness secured by the lien; and

(3) For satisfaction of indebtedness secured by any subordinate lien or security interest in the livestock if written notification or demand therefor is received by the court or the lienholder before the proceeds have been distributed. If requested by the lienholder, the holder of a subordinate lien or security interest must seasonably furnish reasonable proof to the court of its subordinate interest before the lienholder need comply with the demand.

(d) The lienholder must account to the owner of the livestock for any surplus and, unless otherwise provided in the judgment in the action, the owner shall be liable for any deficiency.

(Added by Stats. 1979, Ch. 600.)