CARROLLTON, Ohio – As area showers cleared out, a hanging fog settled in at the Carroll County Fair. However, this melancholy weather didn’t affect 4-H’ers’ enthusiasm or buyers’ moods July 19 at the junior livestock sale.
The overall sale total hit $108,973.95, exceeding last year’s total by more than $800.
Once again, County Auditor Leroy VanHorne spread his money around and raised guaranteed bids to $195 for lambs; $1,100 for steers; $290 for hogs; $400 for dairy feeders; $140 for market goats; $160 for turkeys; $165 a pen for chickens; and $110 a pen for rabbits.
Snaring two. Micah Snair took grand and reserve with her twin dairy beef feeders. Her 526-pound grand champion brought $1.75 a pound from Don’s Custom Meats, up 25 cents from last year’s champion.
Snair’s 491-pound reserve champion brought $1.35 a pound from Joe and Deb Beadnell, compared to last year’s $1.50 winning bid.
Fourteen dairy beef feeders were sold for a total of $7,480.75, averaging 95 cents a pound with champions and 85 cents a pound without champions.
Falling lamb prices. Lamb prices disappointed 4-H’ers with this year’s sale total of $7,155.10 for 26 lambs, falling more than $3,300 from last year’s record prices.
Bethany Frew continued her successful 4-H career by showing the grand champion market lamb. However, despite auctioneer Darell Gartrell’s coaxing, she received $9 a pound from Dave Evans, $3 less a pound than her reserve champion last year.
Last year’s grand champion brought a record $13 a pound.
Frew also won the award for senior outstanding market exhibitor.
Reserve champion honors went to Leann Johnson’s market lamb, which Unkefer Equipment bought for $4.25 a pound. This price dropped $7.75 a pound from last year’s record bid.
Aislinn Brinker’s reserve carcass lamb brought $4.50 a pound from Kiko Meats, up from last year’s $3 a pound reserve carcass bid.
Ten-year-old Amber Warner showed the grand champion carcass lamb, however due to a rule limiting the number of times a 4-H member can go through the ring, the animal was not auctioned. Instead Warner chose to sell her live 126-pound market lamb to Bevington Meats for $4.
Hog classes. Bethany Frew stayed in the blue-ribbon circle with her 240-pound grand champion market hog, which sold to Carrollton Farmers Exchange for $3.75 a pound. Last year’s grand champion brought $5 a pound.
The 248-pound reserve champion market hog, shown by Aaron DeWitt, brought $2.75 a pound from Thorne’s IGA, down $3.75 a pound from last year.
Rachel Logan sold her grand champion carcass hog to Carroll County Court Judge Charles Johnston for $4.15 a pound, compared to last year’s $3.50 a pound bid.
Steve Black had the reserve champion carcass hog; however, he elected to instead sell his 264-pound live hog to Thorne’s IGA for $1.50 a pound. He could not sell both because of the rule limiting the number of times a 4-H member can go through the ring.
The 108 hogs sold for $44,391.70, averaging $1.73 a pound with champions and $1.67 without.
Beef repeat. Ryan Pape once again took grand champion market steer honors. Disappointed auctioneer Jayme Gandee finally settled for a $1.90-a-pound bid from Pape Drywall for Pape’s 1,267-pound steer.
Last year, Pape’s grand champion sold for a dollar more.
Stacey Johnson sold her 1,220-pound reserve champion market steer for $2.10 a pound, 40 cents more than last year, to Heartland Hills Restaurant.
Johnson also won the senior outstanding market exhibitor award.
Lori VanMeter also had a repeat performance selling her grand champion carcass steer for the same price she sold her grand champion carcass last year. It brought $2.10 a pound from Gerber and Sons.
Corey Slabaugh’s reserve champion carcass steer sold for $1.90 a pound to Joe and Deb Beadnell. Last year’s sold for $2.25 a pound.
Twenty-seven steers sold for $36,245.25, averaging $1.18 a pound with champions and $1.03 without.
Cheese please. In the cheese sale July 16, the sale total hit $8,235 for 19 lots of cheese.
Matt Burkhart took the grand champion awards for his lot that yielded 10.09 pounds of cheese and 1.13 pounds of butter. His lot sold for $550 to Ramsey Hoof Trimming.
Kathryn Burkhart sold her reserve champion lot for $450 to DHI Cooperative. The basket had 9.24 pounds of cheese and 1.29 pounds of butter.
Sale averages were $433.42 a lot with champions and $422.65 without.
Small animals. The small animal sale July 20 totaled $13,116.70.
Nine turkeys sold for $2,080, averaging $231.11 with champions and $180 without.
Aislinn Brinker returned to the ring, this time with her grand champion turkey, which she sold for $335 to State Rep. John Boccieri. VanHorne raised the bid to $410.
The reserve champion turkey, shown by Kelly Pontones, sold to farmer Roger Kiko for $410.
Fourteen pens of three rabbits each sold for $2,485, averaging $177.50 with champions and $164.58 a pen without champions.
Boccieri also bought Wesley DePalmo’s grand champion market rabbit pen for $300. Boccieri donated all the animals he bought to various organizations.
Bethany Frew completed her trip through the winner’s circle with her reserve champion market rabbit pen, which she sold for $210 to Heartland Hills Restaurant.
Chickens, goats. Heartland Hill Restaurant also bought Issac Walters’ grand champion pen of chickens for $330.
Chelsea DeWitt sold her reserve champion pen of chickens to S & S Equipment for $255.
The 28 cages of three chickens each sold for $5,550, averaging $185 with champions and $177.32 without.
Lisa McCaulley took grand and reserve champion market goat honors. She sold her grand champion market goat for $4 a pound to T.A. Refuse, and her reserve champion to Carrollton Farmers Exchange for $4.30 a pound.
Auctioneers for the sale were Gandee, Gartrell and Bill Newell.
(You can contact Kristy Alger at 1-800-837-3419, ext. 23, or by e-mail at kalger@farmanddairy.com.)
