SALEM, Ohio – With autumn leaves turning various shades of red, orange, and yellow, the sweltering days of August and county fair season seem to have faded into the long ago.
But the last fair Farm and Dairy covered this year ended Oct. 7. Pictures and stories of the junior market sales were included in almost every issue from July 20 through this week’s paper.
Only now can we stop to take a breath, and the opportunity to look back to see how you did.
There are a good many county fairs in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia that were not published in the Farm and Dairy.
The 28 junior livestock sales we did cover, however, recorded some impressive results. With total sales figures available from 24 of those 28 auctions, Farm and Dairy was there to witness and record more than $4 million being raised in support of 4-H and FFA youth in those counties.
A hot bidding contest that drove the price of the reserve champion market lamb at the Washington County, Pa., junior market sale up to $72 a pound, stands out in a class by itself as the highest priced animal for the 2000 fair season. The bid was exceeded only by the $77.50 a pound for the grand champion turkey at the Geauga County Fair, and that was for far fewer pounds.
Yet each one of the sales was packed with eager bidders – businesses and individuals who came to bid up the prices on the animals and to provide support for 4-H and FFA in their counties.
Wayne County, Ohio, came out on top of all the sales reported to the Farm and Dairy for the third year in a row, with its grand total once more edging a little higher than last year.
At $388,052, Wayne County boosted its total sales over last year’s record-breaking total by almost $3,000.
Stark County again reported the second highest sale total with $331,462, and Tuscarawas County remained third highest with $297,052.
Holmes County was fourth with $266,466, and Columbiana County, with a $2,500 drop in sales, dropped to fifth highest at $229,953.
Total sales from the Canfield Fair junior fair livestock sales increased almost $30,000 over last year, to bring its total up to $221.582.
The top selling grand champion beef animal was the baby beef steer shown by Jake White of Ashland County, which sold for $10 a pound. Ashland County divides its beef into two categories, baby beef and market steers.
The top selling grand champion market steer reported was in Geauga County, where Coleen Antalik, with the help of the auctioneer, kept the bidding going to $9 a pound by upping to $300 the amount she pledged back to the 4-H scholarship fund. But Garrett Wirth of Wayne County and Sara Leonard at the Canfield Fair were not far behind with $8 a pound bids on their grand champion steers.
Rounding off the top five grand champion steers were Tuscarawas County, $7.50; Jefferson County, $5.55; and all selling at $5, Marshall County, W.Va.; Harrison County; and Medina County.
Geauga County also had the highest selling reserve champion steer exhibited by Danielle Jernijeic, which sold for $8. It was followed by Tuscarawas County, $7; Wayne County, $4.25; Canfield, $3.50; and Portage County, $3.45.
The highest price paid for a grand champion hog this year came nowhere near the $36 and $43 bids that were received the last two years in Wayne County.
Christina Riggle at Marshall County had this year’s grand champion high bid of $18. Other high bids were Geauga County, $16; Canfield, $15; Wayne County, $11; and Ashland County, $10.
High bid for a reserve champion hog was $8.25, received by Casey Skowran at Canfield. It was followed by Marshall County, $8; Holmes County, $7; Geauga County, $6.50; and Wayne County and Ashland County, $6.
While Adam Such’s grand champion market lamb was outbid by the reserve champion at Washington County, Such still had the second highest selling grand champion in the region at $26 a pound.
The highest price was $28 paid for Johnelle Champion’s grand champion market lamb in Marshall County. Other high prices were Medina County, $20.25; Wayne County, $15; and Ashland County, $13.
After Dean Casciola’s high of $72 a pound for his reserve champion market lamb, other high prices for reserve champions were Ashland County, $14.50; Marshall County, $14; Lawrence County, Pa., $12; Wayne County, $9; and Armstrong County, Pa., $8.50.
The averages of champion and reserve champion sales reported in the Farm and Dairy for the 2000 junior fair market sales are:
Grand champion steers: high, $9; low, $1.95; average price, $4.38.
Reserve champion steers: high, $8; low, $1.17; average price, $2.81.
Grand champion hogs: high, $18; low, $3; average price, $7.31.
Reserve champion hogs: high, $8.25; low, $2; average price, $4.20.
Grand champion lambs: high, $28; low, $3.25; average price, $9.66.
Reserve champion lambs: leaving the high of $72 aside, second high, $14.50; low, $2.30; average price, $6.26.
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