Cool nights, hot bids at Canfield Fair livestock sale

CANFIELD, Ohio – Cool nighttime temperatures helped heat up bidding during the Canfield Fair’s livestock auctions Aug. 30 and 31.
Overall sale receipts from the two-day livestock auction totaled $266,500.20, and the dairy cheese sale kicked in an extra $17,350 for a grand total $283,850.20. That figure is on-spot with fair averages, besting last year’s total by only about $350.
Poultry. For the Thursday night sale, Aug. 30, siblings and repeat winners stole the show.
First up, in the market chicken category, were Allie Smith with the grand champions and her brother, Levi Smith, with the reserve pen of two.
Attorney Lynn Maro, a perennial buyer in the small animal sale, bid $400 for Allie Smith’s top pen, and Cheryl’s Step in Time and Boyd’s Bears bid $350 for Levi’s second-place pen.
The reserve champion pen was donated back for resale to benefit the county’s livestock scholarship funds, and fetched $200 its second time through the ring.
The 38 pens of market chickens averaged $195.26 with champions and $185.28 without.
Jonathan James sold his 32-pound grand champion market turkey for a whopping $900, courtesy of Jeff and Joe Taylor, both fixtures for years in the small animal sales. That bid is an unofficial record, topping the $850 the Taylors paid for last year’s champion.
The Taylors donated the bird back for resale, and on its second sale, it brought $175 for the county’s livestock scholarships.
Clark Excavating paid $350 for Morgan Miletta’s reserve champion turkey, which weighed in at 33 pounds.
The turkey project, which surged in popularity to 35 at the 2006 fair, dropped to 26 this year. Those projects averaged $201 with champions and $165 without.
Hogs. Siblings Amanda and Jacob Smith dominated the market hog competition this year, with Amanda’s 270-pounder coming out on top and Jacob’s 274-pounder finishing just below.
The siblings’ win offered a glimpse into the past: Amanda showed the reserve champion in 2001, then the grand champion in 2003. Each winning project animal was bred and raised on the family’s Salem-area farm.
A bidding war broke out between Cornerstone Electric and grocers Frank Rulli and Henry Nemenz, and when the dust settled, Nemenz took buyers’ bragging rights to both projects.
Nemenz Food Stores and Sav-A-Lot paid $8.75 per pound for the champion and $4.50 per pound for the reserve.
The 163 market hogs averaged $1.81 per pound with champions and $1.75 per pound without.
Showmanship winners included Amanda Smith, senior; Sarah Montgomery, intermediate; Travis Pidgeon, junior; and Lance Thompson, beginners.
Skillathon winners were Erica Wilson, senior; Mary Wirtz, intermediate; Donald Duda III, junior; and Tyler Baird, beginners.
Feeder calves. Jacob Smith took top honors with his 490-pound grand champion beef feeder. Smith Hog Farm paid $2.20 per pound for the calf, which will live another year and become sister Amanda Smith’s FFA project steer for the 2008 Columbiana County Fair, according to the girl.
Brent Reisner’s 565-pound reserve champion beef feeder brought $1.90 per pound from Charlotte Meloni and Sons. Buyer representative Vince Meloni said the calf would be exhibited as his market steer at the 2008 Trumbull County Fair.
Overall, the 36 beef feeders averaged $1.56 per pound with champions and $1.53 without.
Those figures were buoyed by champ-beating bids further down the sale order, including a sale-topping $2.70 per pound for Claudia Criss’ seventh-place feeder. Other youngsters who earned high bids were Tyler Pidgeon, $2.40; Marissa Pay, $2.30; Chad Raber, $2.20; Kayla Schindler, $2; and Travis Pidgeon and Sadie Pay, $1.90.
Feeder calf showmanship winners were Lauren George, senior; Sadie Pay, intermediate; and Marissa Pay, junior. Senior skillathon winner was Andrea Detwiler, followed by Megan Wyss, intermediate; and Claudia Criss, junior.
Taylor Witmer repeated her 2006 fair standing to again bring the grand champion dairy feeder. Witmer’s 565-pound Brown Swiss brought $2.40 per pound from Laura Heater of Mogadore, the same buyer who’s bought Witmer’s project since at least 2005.
Ryan Altomare’s 600-pound Holstein was tapped reserve champion, and earned $1.90 per pound from Salem Propane.
Fifty dairy feeders sold, averaging $1.32 per pound with champions and $1.28 per pound without.
Lambs. The Yeager, Cummings and Miletta names have been synonymous with champion lambs for years, so it was likely no surprise to any lamb club member when those families took four of the top six spots in competition.
Jessica Miletta’s 138-pound champion market lamb commanded a $9.75-per-pound bid from grocer Rulli Bros. Market West.
Sara Cummings’ 126-pound reserve champion brought $8.75 per pound from D&L Energy.
Monica Yeager’s 114-pound grand champion carcass lamb went to Rulli Bros. for $6.25 per pound. Joshua Kramer’s 110-pound reserve champion carcass lamb brought $3.50 per pound from Nemenz.
Thirty-one market lambs averaged $3.45 per pound with champions and $3.05 per pound without. Twelve carcass lambs averaged $3.13 per pound with champions and $2.78 per pound without.
Lamb showmanship winners were Jacob Yeager, senior; Cummings, intermediate; and Nate Kramer, junior.
Skillathon winners were Jacob Yeager, senior; Joshua Kramer, intermediate; and Hanna Bond, junior. Jacob Yeager was overall Outstanding Exhibitor among all lamb exhibitors.
Steers. H.P. Nemenz Food Stores and Sav-A-Lot have taken bidding honors on the grand champion market steer every year since 2004, so it was no surprise when buyer Henry Nemenz took home this year’s champion, too.
Tyler Pidgeon’s 1,145-pound steer topped the county’s lottery-based show, where the county committee secures calves and the members pick their steer by drawing from a hat.
Nemenz paid $4.60 per pound for the steer to total $5,267.
Alex Wharry’s 1,280-pound reserve champion went to Thompson Bros. Mining for $2.50 per pound.
Fifty-nine steers sold for $97,273, averaging $1.34 per pound with champions and $1.26 per pound without.
Beef showmanship winners were Casey Skowron, senior; Tyler Pidgeon, intermediate; and Nick Woloschak, junior.
Rate-of-gain winner was Spencer Snyder, whose steer finished at 1,530 pounds. Taylor Witmer’s 1,565-pounder was the heaviest steer in the barn.
Skillathon winners were Brittany Crowe, senior; Mackenzie Crowe, intermediate; and Gabe Crowe, junior.
Goats. Scorching summer weather and breeding schedules affected the fair’s popular goat milk fudge auction, with only two members producing fudge this summer.
Kerri May’s 8.18-pound grand champion fudge earned $1,150 from attorney Lynn Maro. Elizabeth Wyss’ 8.12-pound reserve champion basket of fudge brought $250 from Terno and Associates.
Two other baskets of fudge sold to benefit the county’s livestock scholarships. The fudge sale totaled $1,925, averaging $443.75 with champions and $187.50 without.
Katlyn Eastep, who showed the reserve champion meat-type market goat at last year’s fair, stepped up one place in that show this year to exhibit the grand champion meat-type goat. She also added market dairy-type goat to her project list this year, and came out on top in that competition as well.
Eastep’s 86-pound grand champion dairy-type market goat brought $3 per pound from Judge Mary DeGenaro, and her 80-pound meat-type goat brought $5 per pound, also from DeGenaro.
Attorney Lynn Maro bought both reserve champion market goats. She bid $2 per pound for Amanda Majirsky’s 63-pound reserve champion dairy-type market goat, and $2.25 per pound for Jake Davis’ 69-pound meat-type goat.
Five meat-type goats averaged $2.35 per pound with champions and $1.50 without. Seven dairy-type goats averaged $2.04 per pound with champions and $1.85 without.
Rabbits. The Davis name is synonymous with champion market rabbit projects, and this year, it was Jake Davis’ turn to reign over the competition.
Davis’ grand champion fryer rabbit earned $225 from Jeff Taylor, and his pen of three meat rabbits brought $255 from grandparents Ralph and Ethel Davis.
Irene Coy’s reserve champion fryer brought $150 from attorney Lynn Maro, and Kim Hill’s reserve champion meat pen brought $315 from Terno and Associates.
Eight rabbit fryers averaged $120.63 with champions and $98.33 without. Ten rabbit meat pens averaged $53.50 per head with champions and $43.13 per head without.
Cheese sale. Heidi Moff earned grand champion cheese yield honors with her cow’s production of 12.34 pounds.
The award is based on a cow’s single day production, calculated into cheese yield.
Moff’s grandparents Dale and Jean Stryffeler, and aunts and uncles Dale and Barb Stryffeler, Greg and Lori Moff, and Tom and Jill Keller paid $1,400 for the champion basket.
Ben Shoemaker won reserve champion honors with a cheese yield of 10.54 pounds. Lisbon Veterinary Clinic paid $1,100 for Shoemaker’s basket.
The 22 lots averaged $759 with the champions; $710, without champions. The cheese basket sale totaled $16,700, and a basket sold by the sale committee brought in an additional $650.
Volunteers. Auctioneers and ringmen who volunteered their time for the sales were Ken, Bill and Wade Baer, Mark Harding, Barry Pidgeon, Don Braham, Chuck Mowry, Darryl McGuire, and Randall and Rudy Kiko.
[Editor Susan Crowell contributed to this report.]
(Reporter Andrea Zippay welcomes feedback by phone at 800-837-3419 or by e-mail at azippay@farmanddairy.com.)