Four records set at Summit Co. Fair sale

TALLMADGE, Ohio – Strong buyer support yielded four new price records at the Summit County Fair’s livestock auction July 29.
A total of 73 projects, including resales, sold for a total $36,035.70. Fewer projects sold, pushing overall sale receipts down nearly $20,000 from last year.
Turkeys. Three of those records came during the small animals sale, and two of those belong to perennial poultry winner Carlena Helms.
Helms’ 35-pound champion turkey netted a record $350 from Sen. Kevin Coughlin, who donated the bird back for resale.
The reserve champion turkey was exhibited by Bryan Ausperk and got a $250 bid from Marilyn Molchan-Wotowiec.
Six turkeys sold for $1,350. Three resales brought $380. Average was $225 with champions and $187.50 without.
Ducks. Helms was back at her record-setting ways during the duck meat pen sale. Helms repeated her 2005 performance, showing both the champion and reserve champion lots.
Her champion got a $285 record from Jim Helms of Jim’s Electrical, and her reserve champion brought $185 from the J.Z.’s Wildbunch Feed the Hungry project. Helms’ grand champion also resold for $120 to benefit the charity.
With resales, the ducks added $590 to the sale total.
Chickens. Joey Ebner repeated his market chicken win from 2005, too, with his grand champion pen of three garnering $300 from Leppo Equipment this year.
Kyle Goodwin sold his reserve champion pen for $225 to J.Z.’s Wildbunch Feed the Hungry.
Six pens of chickens sold for $910, and two resales added $160 to the pot. Pens averaged $151.66 with champions and $96.25 without.
Rabbits. Brian Chessar exhibited the top two pens of market rabbits, and the rapid-fire bidding led to a new record for that project, too.
Bidders started at $200, yelling out higher bids in $100 increments until Davey Tree Service, represented by Lynn Chessar, settled on the final $600 bid. Then, Davey donated the pen back to benefit Feed the Hungry.
Ken Chessar from Stow bid $120 for the boy’s reserve champion lot.
The two pens added $770 to sale totals.
Donations. Exhibitor Kassi Shenigo sold two turkeys to benefit the county’s 4-H Endowment Fund and Save the Fair fund, and Carlena Helms sold two pens of chickens to benefit the endowment and Comet Bees club cage fund.
Total, the four pens brought $565.
Goats. Ashley Estergall repeated last year’s wins in the market goat competition.
Her 65-pound champion brought $100 from Duma’s Meats, and Mindale Farms paid $60 for her 63-pound reserve champion.
The bids were significantly lower than last year, when Estergall earned $200 and $185 for her projects.
Lambs. It was also a repeat for grand champion lamb exhibitor Alisa Shenigo. Her 134-pound grand champion earned a record $8.35 per pound from Leppo Equipment, just a nickel more than the record set in 1998.
However, Shenigo had to settle for having only one of the top two lambs this year. Bill Estergall came on strong to take the reserve champion spot with his 143-pound lamb.
The bidding was less-than-desirable when Estergall’s lamb took the ring, shown by his brother, Paul. Sen. Kevin Couglin bid $3 for the project but had to settle for that price when no contending bidders stepped forward.
Both grand and reserve champions were donated back for resale. The lamb sale added $2,671 to overall sale totals, with each head averaging $440.28 with champions and $217.83 without.
Hogs. Bidding was slow to start in the market hog auction, making auctioneer Jonathan Polcen work the crowd to get the $2-per-pound opening bid.
When the gavel fell, Tim Dombroski got $4.30 per pound for his 265-pound champion. Winning bidder was Pressler’s Meats.
Jerod Belknap sold his 267-pound reserve champion for $3.30 per pound to Rootstown Excavating.
Polcen continued to work hard throughout the market hog auction and at several times had trouble finding bids for the 35 hogs. Prices ranged from 95 cents to $2.15 per pound, excluding champions.
The 35 hogs brought $13,661.35, averaging $381.21 with champions and $343.09 without.
Steers. Alisa Shenigo was back in the winners’ circle with her 1,330-pound champion steer, making it her fourth year in a row to hold the top spot.
The bidding nearly stalled at $1.50 per pound, but another bidder jumped in to give eventual winner Dave Duma of Duma’s Meats a real run for his money. The duo duked it out, bidding by nickels, and a third bidder turned heads when he jumped in on the action late in the game to bid $1.80 per pound.
Club members surrounded the bidders, clapping and shouting encouragement, and Shenigo led her steer to face each bidder when it was their turn to say yes.
Duma ended up with the champion for $2.05 per pound, well below the $3.55 record but a nickel more than Shenigo earned in last year’s sale.
Tim Dombroski sold his 1,169-pound reserve champion steer for $1.80 per pound to Brandywine Construction.
The 11 steers brought $18,054.35, averaging $1,614.30 with champions and $1,469.29 without.
Ringmen for the sale were Andy Stegh and Steve Earnest.
(Reporter Andrea Myers welcomes reader feedback by phone at 800-837-3419 or by e-mail at amyers@farmanddairy.com.)