Faithful buyers support the Carroll County Fair

CARROLLTON, Ohio – Carroll County added a work of art to its fairgrounds this year, a mural by Scott Hagan.
The Daffodil Dairy Committee sponsored Hagan, who painted all of the Ohio Bicentennial barn murals in 2003, to draw a mural on the dairy barn
The mural is on the south end of the barn and pictures five dairy breeds. Hagan started drawing on Tuesday night of the fair and was done by dusk on Thursday.
It was an added attraction as people rolled into the livestock sale Friday night.
Lambs. The sale started with Leann Johnson continuing her tradition of winning.
The past three years, Johnson showed the reserve champion market lamb and in 2002 she walked away with grand and reserve market lamb.
This year, she took home a trophy for her 132-pound grand champion market lamb.
She breeds and raises all her lambs, she said. She believes that is the trick to her winning.
Johnson’s lamb sold for $6.75 a pound to Huebner Chevrolet.
Austin Trbovich raised the 126-pound reserve champion market lamb. It sold for $6 a pound to Waste Management American Landfill.
Tina Cundiff stepped up this year from winning reserve lamb carcass honors last year, to win grand champion this year.
Her 70-pound lamb carcass sold to Myers Tin Shop for $4 a pound, down a dollar from last year.
Carrollton Farmers Exchange ended up with the highest bid for Gary Pontoes’ reserve champion carcass lamb at $4.50 a pound, topping the grand champion carcass by 50 cents.
Exhibitors sold the same number of lambs as last year but this year’s total was $1,382.45 less than last year.
The sale brought in $5,147.35, averaging $2.94 a pound with champions and $2.15, without.
Cheese. Next into the sale ring was Joshua Jordan with his 8.11-pound grand champion cheese yield and almost a pound of butter. The high bidder was Ramsey Hoof Trimming at $500.
This is the second year in a row Kelsie Tullis has won reserve champion cheese. This year, her 7.91 pounds of cheese and .84 pounds of butter went to Hamilton Insurance for $600.
Auditor Leroy VanHorne raised the cheese price again this year so every youth received at least $425 for their basket. Gerber and Sons and DHI followed his lead, each adding an additional $20 to each basket.
The 14 lots of cheese sold brought $7,225, averaging $516.07 a lot with champions and $510.42 without.
Steers. Steer champions were keeping it in the family, with cousins Victoria Trbovich and Jeffrey Chivari taking home grand and reserve.
Trbovich is involved in Ohio’s Best Program and attributes most of her success to the practice she got by going to 15 shows this summer and to the older youth in the program who have given her advice.
Elvis, Trbovich’s 1,295-pound grand champion steer, sold to Paris-Washington Insurance for $2.70a pound, 45 cents less than last year’s champion.
Faithful supporter of the fair and longtime buyer Pat Wynn bought Chivari’s 1,354-pound reserve champion steer for $1.70 a pound.
This year marks his 46th consecutive year of buying at the Carroll County livestock sale, Wynn said.
Kurt Davis’ grand champion carcass steer went for 20 cents more than last year, selling for $2.60a pound. D & D TV and Appliance had the high bid.
Leann Johnson came into the ring with another champion, the reserve carcass steer. Minerva Veterinary Clinic had the winning bid at $2.50 a pound for the 752-pound carcass.
The 33 steers totaled $52,949.95, and averaged $1.38 a pound with champions and $1.25 without.
Hogs. More hogs were sold this year but the sales total dropped by more than $2,000, totaling $48,459.50.
Two new faces entered the ring with the grand and reserve market hogs.
Matt Bryan, in his eighth year of showing, says having a calm hog he could really work with paid off. His 273-pound hog sold for $4.80 a pound to Kishman’s IGA, which made many purchases before the evening was through.
Dr. Mandel Haas bought Austin Kirk’s 267-pound reserve champion hog for $4.80 a pound, matching the grand champion’s price.
Carrollton Farmers Exchange paid $5.60 a pound for Matthew Borland’s 165-pound grand champion hog carcass, and 10-year-old Liza Kirk sold her 162-pound reserve champion carcass to Sean A. Speedy Drilling for $5.75 a pound.
The 87 hogs averaged $2.33 a pound with champions and $2.19 without.
Dairy beef. Dairy beef sales jumped again this year with more animals and bringing $17,527.05 in total sales.
Rebecca Lutz, 14, showed the 640-pound grand champion dairy beef, bought by Carrollton Livestock Exchange for $1.60 a pound.
Scott Brothers Grocery was the high bidder for Brittany Rohr’s 570-pound reserve champion dairy beef.
The 26 animals averaged $1.20 a pound with champions and $1.19 without.
Chickens. Leann Johnson stepped into the sale ring with a third champion this year, grand champion chickens.
The pen of three sold to Crow’s Seed Corn for $600, $90 more than last year’s grand pen.
Carrollton Farmers Exchange bought Emily Cairns’ reserve champion chickens for $315.
Six fewer chicken pens were sold this year, bringing almost $3,000 less than last year at $4,840.
The chicken pens averaged $210.43 with champions and $186.90 without.
Turkeys. Along with his reserve champion market hog, Austin Kirk showed the grand champion turkey, bringing $400 from his grandpa and high bidder, Hawkins Insurance. Don’s Custom Meats bought Mia DeNardi’s reserve champion bird for $285.
Turkey sales were down this year with three fewer turkeys. They averaged $199.09 with champions and $1.67.22 without. Last year, turkeys averaged $355.63 with champions and $240.83 without.
Goats. The grand champion market goat sold for a dollar less than last year’s winner, at $4 a pound.
Randall Moore, winning reserve champion market goat last year, sold his grand champion this year to T & A’s Refuse and Hassig Hauling.
Carrollton Farmers Exchanged showed their support again, buying Amanda Barnhart’s reserve champion market goat for $2 a pound.
Total goat sales were $3,429.70. The 18 goats averaged $2.32 a pound with champions and $2.23 without.
Market rabbits. Again, more animals brought less money in the market rabbit sale. The two more pens added this year totaled $2,415, averaging $219.55 with champions and $168.33 without.
Last year’s rabbit pens averaged $283.33 with champions and $214.29 without.
The grand champion market rabbit pen belonged to Allison Larson and sold for $450 to Carrollton Farmers Exchange.
Michael Moore, who swept the market rabbit competition last year, continued to be a competitor this year with the reserve champion market rabbit pen. His rabbits sold to his uncle Tom Moore for $450.
Carroll County livestock sales totaled $144,183.55, down $4,000 since last year.
The still project sale had 70 items this year, bringing in $16,320.