Mahoning 4-H’ers raise $250,000

CANFIELD, Ohio – Bidders helped hundreds of Mahoning County 4-H’ers raise more than $250,000 during livestock project auctions at last week’s Canfield Fair.
Sale totals reached an unofficial $251,632, up more than $17,500 from last year.
Steers. He settled for reserve champion last year, but Casey Skowron took top honors in the market steer competition this time around.
Too few buyers and bidders were in the coliseum when Skowron led his 1,340-pound champion into the sale ring.
Grocers Frank Rulli and Henry Nemenz started the bidding war but only pushed the bid to $4.10 per pound, far short of last year’s $8.50 per pound champion bid and only 35 cents more than Skowron got for his 2003 reserve champion. Nemenz Food Stores was the winning bidder.
Rulli tried again, but was bested by Nemenz for the reserve champion steer, too. Khristine Krcelic’s 1,095-pound steer brought $2.10 per pound.
Prices stayed above market for the duration of the steer sale, with 59 steers adding $97,706.50 to the kitty.
Prices averaged $1.37 per pound with champions and $1.31 without. No 4-H’er had a bid less than $1 per pound for the market steer project.
Steer showmanship honors went to Brent Raber, senior; Steve Susany, intermediate; and Darby Elder, junior. Skillathon winners were Katie Houk, senior; Brittany Crowe, intermediate; and Darby Elder, junior.
The 1,585-pound steer raised by Donald Snyder IV took rate of gain honors.
Market hogs. Grocers Nemenz and Rulli Bros. had taken either the champion or reserve champion market hog for several years, and auctioneer Ken Baer looked to the grocers to get bids going for Monica Yeager’s champion.
Bidding started at $2 per pound, and inched upward by quarters as Nemenz and Rulli Bros. buyers nodded. At $8, Sekely Industries jumped in. Applause and hollers echoed in the building when the bid hit $10 per pound, then $11.
In the end, Sekely grabbed the 258-pound hog from the grocers with a $13 per pound bid, just short of the $15-per-pound record bid set in 2000.
Lindsay Yosay sold her 166-pound reserve champion for $8.75 per pound to Esarco Chiropractic Center in Boardman.
Showmanship winners were Casey Skowron, senior; Amanda Smith, intermediate; Taylor Pidgeon, junior; and JR Smith, beginner.
Senior Olivia Myers and intermediate Lisa Pitcairn repeated their 2003 finishes when they won their age divisions of the skillathon. Other winners were Danny Montgomery, junior; and Jessica Lindquist, beginner.
A barn full of 143 hogs brought $76,997.90, averaging $2.10 per pound with champions and $1.97 without.
Lambs. This year’s market lamb competition looked a lot like what exhibitors saw in 2002 and 2003.
In her last year of 4-H eligibility, Lindsay Yosay repeated her 2003 win – and several other years’ wins –