Carroll Co. buyers raise sale total by $35,000

CARROLLTON, Ohio – The Carroll County Fair’s junior livestock sale July 23 was the end of an era, according to auctioneer Darrell Gartrell.
This year’s fair concluded the Frew family’s hold over the hog and lamb competition. And in this final chapter, Bethany Frew did what she’s done the last 11 years since she started 4-H: dominated.
After taking home this year’s champion hog and lamb titles, Frew’s legacy now includes 12 grand and reserve animals. Her older brother Wesley’s 4-H wins totaled nearly the same.
Although auctioneer Bill Newell urged buyers to reward Frew for her years of work with high bids, her 273-pound champion hog sold for $4.50 a pound, which was down $1.30 from last year’s winner. Thorne’s IGA Pharmacy had the top bid.
Although many champion bids were no higher than last year, the overall sale total leapt by $35,000 to an all-time $148,000 record.
Hot hog prices. Hogs sold particularly well, and auctioneer Gartrell said it was one of the best swine sales he’s seen.
Although fewer hogs were sold this year, the total sale brought in $50,927.90, compared with last year’s $36,546.50.
The 85 hogs averaged $2.47 a pound with champions and $2.36 without. These averages are 80 cents higher than last year.
Taking advantage of these higher bids was Kara Pontones and her 240-pound reserve champion hog, which sold for $3.50 a pound to Trbovich Distributing.
Second-year 4-H’er Ryan Borland’s grand champion hog died the morning after last year’s sale, but things worked out better for him this time around. His 156-pound champion carcass went to Kishman’s IGA for $6 a pound, up almost $2 from last year.
Veterinarian Tina Costarella said Borland’s hog likely died last year from stress.
Dave Evans supported his granddaughter Holly Evans with a $5-a-pound bid for her 180-pound reserve champion carcass.
Experienced showmen. Frew kept up her winning streak with a 131-pound champion lamb from her family sheep farm in Carrollton, Ohio.
Huebner Chevrolet paid $7 a pound for the animal, which is $2 a pound less than last year’s champ.
Another top showman, Leann Johnson, followed in the ring with her 128-pound reserve champion market lamb. After receiving $5.50 a pound for her 2003 reserve champion, Johnson took a winning bid of $8.75 a pound this year from Don’s Custom Meats.
In the lamb carcass sale, Ace Roll-Off ended up with the highest bid of $5 a pound for Danielle Pape’s 66-pound champion. This was down $2.75 a pound from last year’s winner.
Miller Show Stock and Custom Wholesale and Vending picked up Tina Cundiff’s 71-pound reserve champion carcass for $6 a pound, up 50 cents from last year.
Sixteen lambs sold for $6,529.80, averaging $3.79 a pound with champions and $2.82 without.
Dairy beef sweep. Those 4-H’ers with dairy beef feeders went home happy, particularly first-year showman Oksana Tinney.
Tinney’s first trip through the ring was with her 593-pound champion, which brought in $3.25 a pound from Carrollton and Damascus livestock auctions, a price that almost tripled last year’s winner.
But Tinney wasn’t finished. She came back with her reserve champion and Carrollton Farmers Exchange took home the 637-pound animal for $1.50 a pound.
The 24 animals totaled $14,904.40, up more than $4,000 from last year. Averages also jumped to $1.14 a pound with champions and $1.03 without.
Steer total jumps. Sheriff candidate Bud Day kept his hand in the air until he had Garett Davis’ 1,258-pound champion steer for $3.15 a pound, nearly $1 a pound higher than he paid for last year’s top steer.
Heather Kline took home $1.75 a pound from Paris-Washington Insurance for her 1,184-pound reserve champion. That bid dropped 50 cents from last year.
Leann Johnson came into the ring with another champion, this time the 818-pound top carcass steer, which Turner’s Diamond Jewelry of Carrollton bought for $2.40 a pound.
D&D Appliance had the $2.10-a-pound winning bid for Danielle Pape’s 765-pound reserve champion carcass. Both grand and reserve carcass bids dropped by 40 cents from last year.
Although the reserve steer and carcass prices dropped, the overall steer total jumped more than $11,000 from last year to $48,625.30. Averages for the 31 animals were $1.37 a pound with champions and $1.22 without.
Cheese interest. Cheese was a big draw again this year, with 18 lots totaling $9,375.
Holly Evans’ champion yield of 9.87 pounds of cheese and .76 pounds of butter sold to Carrollton Farmers Exchange for $650, which was down $150 from last year’s record.
Dairy Marketing Service and Hein Trucking paid $725 for Kelsie Tullis’ reserve yield of 9.6 pounds of cheese.
Auditor Leroy VanHorne then raised the champion bid to match the reserve, and Dairy Herd Improvement Association members in Carroll County added an extra $20 to each basket.
Averages were $520.83 per basket with champions and $495.31 without.
VanHorne also gave 4-H’ers money so no steer brought less than $1,200, no hog brought less than $450, and no lamb brought less than $250.
Double turkeys. Small animal sale numbers were up all across the board.
Nine hundred dollars from Bob Ney for Congress purchased Zach Devitt’s champion bird, a bid that more than doubled last year’s $400 price.
State Rep. John Boccieri’s $500 bid won Kelsey Wise’s reserve champion turkey.
Eight turkeys added $2,845 to the total sale pot, with averages hitting $355.63 with champions and $240.83 without.
Goats, rabbits. The champion goat was another high seller. The $5.00-a-pound price candidate-for-sheriff Dale Williams paid for Michael Moore’s animal doubled last year’s winning bid.
Randal Moore picked up reserve champion goat honors but because of a rule limiting the number of times a 4-H’er can enter the ring, he didn’t sell it.
Instead he opted to sell his champion rabbit pen for $600. The buyer was Terry Kutcher of Alterations and More. Michael Moore sold his reserve pen for $450 to Stillmeadow Farms. Both prices were up from last year’s $345 champion prices.
The goat sale total was $4,488.60, and the average for the 17 animals was $3.35 with champions and $3.26 without.
The nine pens of three rabbits each sold for $2,550, averaging $283.33 with champions and $214.29 without.
Chickens. High prices continued into the chicken sale with Amy Erwin’s champion pen of three getting $510 from Dream Hill Farm. Crow’s Seed Corn bought Leann Johnson’s reserve pen for $510. Last year’s grand went for $450, and reserve was $300.
Twenty-nine pens of three chickens each totaled $7,725. With champions the average was $266.38 and without it was $248.33.
Auctioneers for the large animal sale were Jayme Gandee, Bill Newell, Darrell Gartrell and Randall Kiko.
(Reporter Kristy Hebert welcomes reader feedback by phone at 1-800-837-3419, ext. 23, or by e-mail at khebert@farmanddairy.com.)