An underrated verse, and one of the few places Proverbs argues for accepting mess.
Quick answer
An empty barn is tidy. It is also empty, and the verse prefers the mess that comes with actual productivity.
Read both lines
The NKJV footnotes "trough" as manger or feed trough, and the picture is a clean one because nothing is using it. Anyone who has kept animals knows what an ox costs in labor and filth; the verse concedes all of it and then names the return. What makes this proverb unusual is its target. Most of the book warns against carelessness, and here the warning runs the other way, at the person whose standards keep them from starting anything. A spotless operation may simply be an operation with no oxen in it.
Related: Proverbs 14:23 · Proverbs 27:23–27 · Ecclesiastes 11:4
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.