Auction marks end of a great year

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. – The goat and rabbit auction during the Marshall County Fair capped off a great year for the county’s goat and rabbit club.
The club, now in its third year, is starting to hit its stride. Rabbit projects, market and show, were both up and the number of exhibits has now outgrown the year-old barn. Folding tables had to be set up in the aisle to accommodate all of the projects.
Plans are already under way to make more room, as the number of rabbit projects is expected to increase even more in 2008.
This year saw 26 pens of three market rabbits, compared to 16 pens last year.
Good for goats. The number of market goat projects has increased, too. Twenty-one chevon projects were sold during the livestock auction Aug. 2.
The breeding doe project has increased greatly, as well.
An old horse barn was renovated in 2005 to accommodate 48 goat pens. In 2006, four horse stalls were broken down to be used as “herd pens,” so several goats from one farm could share a large pen because of a jump in breeding does.
This year, another horse stall had to be broken down because of a last-minute increase in entries. The number of breeding doe entries totaled 60 this year.
Plans are now being discussed to renovate another row of horse stalls to make 24-48 more pens before next year’s fair.
Dairy goats have also seen more entries this year. They, too, are in a year-old barn and have outgrown their space. About 10 dairy goats had to be housed in the meat goat barn in order to have room for all of them. Plans are in the works to make more area for them also.
The market rabbits, show rabbits, market goats and breeding meat does all showed July 30. Dairy goats were shown Aug. 1. Market projects were auctioned off Aug. 2.
Auction time. At the auction, Adam Clark’s 89-pound grand champion market goat brought $5 per pound from RC Nole-Top Construction. The 85-pound reserve champion market goat, owned by Shelby Harris, went to Midcap Bookkeeping for $5.50 per pound.
Although he wasn’t in one of the top two spot, newcomer Dylan Coulter went home with the highest bid. His 76-pound entry brought $7.25 per pound from Greg Wood.
The market goat sale generated $4,624.72 this year.
The rabbit sale also started out strong with Adam Heintz’s grand champion rabbits bringing $400 from Blake’s Valley Acres and Goddard’s Exxon. Boso and Son Towing paid $300 for Devan Clark’s reserve champion pen of rabbits.
The rabbit sale totaled $3,250 this year.
Awards. Champion and reserve champion exhibitors each received a belt buckle.
The club’s scholarship fund had a big boost from the auction, netting $1,182.50. The total is $300 over last year’s contributions.
Richard Blake, a second-year student at Belmont Technical College studying power plant technology, received the scholarship this year.
Burt, Kenneth, and Chad Richmond auctioned off the animals.