Thompson

Defendant appeals from a judgment awarding plaintiff the contract price of three shipments of cattle sold by plaintiff and received by defendant.

We view the evidence in a light most favorable to respondent and indulge all inferences in favor of the findings and judgment (Grainger v. Antoyan, 48 Cal.2d 805, 807 [ 313 P.2d 848 ].)

Defendant is a cattle rancher near Santa Maria; plaintiff is a Texas corporation cattle dealer. In 1970 defendant became acquainted with Andrew Cipollo when he rented a truck from Cipollo who was operating a trucking and ranching equipment rental and sales business near defendant’s ranch. Thereafter the two entered into a joint venture pursuant to which defendant leased 425 acres of growing alfalfa land, and Cipollo contributed the labor of cutting and bailing the hay. Cipollo sold the hay for $5,000, but never paid defendant his half-share of the proceeds. About this time defendant purchased a new farm machine from Cipollo which subsequently was claimed by its true owner because Cipollo did not have title to it.

In September 1971 Cipollo traveled to Phoenix seeking to buy cattle which he could sell if he “could make any money off of them.”…