Stark County Fair buyers generous with bids

CANTON, Ohio – Two days, two sales, half a million bucks.
Well almost. The Stark County Fair’s junior fair market livestock sales Aug. 30 and Sept. 2 tallied an unofficial $443,518.45, money that buyers shelled out to support youth from across the county.
Approximately 750 lots crossed the auction block under the gavels of the team of auctioneers from Kiko Auctioneers.
Steers. Ten-year-old Sara Klehm raised this year’s grand champion market steer. Her 1,325-pound crossbred steer captured first place in the 100-head show. The champion sold for $4.50 a pound to Don and Kristen Prather.
Louise Kline was second in the sale ring with her 1,320-pound reserve champion crossbred steer. Paris & Washington Insurance paid $2.75 a pound for the steer.
Kristen Collinsworth’s grand champion carcass steer sold for $2 a pound to Eslich Wrecking and Diana Biller’s reserve champion carcass steer sold for $4 a pound to Paris and Washington Insurance, Kiko Meats and Hometown Veterinary Services.
The steers averaged $1.39 a pound, adding $184,444 to the sale total.
Michael Kobilarcsik’s 1,480-pound Holstein market steer was the rate-of-gain winner, gaining 3.657 pounds a day.
Market steer breed champions included: champion Shorthorn, Amber Shoemaker; champion Angus, Erin Ward; champion Simmental, Amber Shoemaker; champion Hereford, Dana Ward; champion Holstein, A.J. Battershell; champion Limousin, Richard Soehnlen.
Hogs. Tyler Weisel’s 280-pound market hog won the grand champion banner. Dan Frobose judged the field of 253 head.
Hometown Veterinary Services paid $3.50 a pound for the grand champion.
Perennial market livestock winner Louise Kline showed this year’s reserve champion. A coalition of public officials paid $2.50 for the 278-pound hog. Buyers included state Rep. John Hagan, Judge David Stucki, Paul and Dorothy Pahovey, Sheriff Tim Swanson, state Sen. Kirk Schuring, and Family Court Magistrate Priscilla Cunningham.
In the carcass show, Linda Brahler’s 213-pound hog topped the 66 entries judged on the rail. Wolfe Ag Services and Terry Wilson paid $5.50 a pound for her grand champion.
Meagan Rush raised the reserve champion carcass hog, with a liveweight of 243 pounds. It sold for $4.25 a pound to Lantzer Funeral Home.
The hogs averaged $1.50 a pound, including champions, and added $94,425.05 to the overall sale total.
Lamb and wool. The bids were a little slow in coming in the champion lamb sale, as auctioneer Joe Kiko had to work hard to get the bid past $3 a pound.
Louise Kline, whose family has showed numerous champions in all of the large market animal shows at the Stark County Fair, raised this year’s grand champion lamb, also the rate-of-gain winner. Bascom Elevator paid $4.50 a pound for her 134-pound lamb.
The reserve champion lamb, raised by Tyler Baier, matched the grand champion pound for pound, also weighing in at a134 pounds. Frito-Lay paid $4 a pound for the reserve champion.
Buyers warmed up as the carcass lamb winners entered the sale ring, with Rachel Linder’s 104-pound grand champion carcass lamb bringing $6 a pound from Kiko Custom Construction, Miric Show Cattle and Kiko Meats.
Jessica Schrock’s 107-pound reserve champion carcass lamb sold for $6.50 a pound to Smithers Medical Products.
The 67 lambs averaged $2.41 a pound with champions.
Stark County is one of the few counties to offer the wool project for their sheep exhibitors. Winning this year’s grand champion wool banner was Maggi Estock, whose entry sold for $225 to Spring Valley Farm and Dale and Joan Campbell.
The same buyers teamed up to buy Mitchell Estock’s reserve champion wool for $200.
Market goats. The junior fair recognizes two type of market goat champions, those from the Boer meat goat breed and dairy breeds raised as meat goats.
Erica Schrock raised the grand champion Boer goat, weighing 84 pounds. Janitorial Master Inc. and Commercial Building Services of Ohio paid $6 a pound for the champion.
Jordan McNeil’s 79-pound grand champion dairy breed goat sold to a coalition of buyers who bumped up their own final bid of $4.20 to $5 a pound. Joining to buy the champion was state Rep. John Hagan, Judge David Stucki, state Sen. Kirk Schuring, Family Court Magistrate Priscilla Cunningham and Meagan Todaro.
Jim Kalleker of Kalleker Drywall also bumped up his winning bid of $2.50 to $4 for Tiffany Kalleker’s 92-pound reserve champion Boer goat.
Stark County Farm Bureau paid $4 a pound for Sara Conrad’s reserve champion dairy breed market goat, which weighed 57 pounds.
The 23 goats averaged $2.78 a pound with champions.
Basket of joy. Evan Kiko was nearly overshadowed by the huge Holstein he grabbed by the halter and paraded in the sale ring Aug. 30. But Kiko was clearly in the spotlight as the bids for his grand champion cheese yield basket containing 10.22 pounds of cheese climbed higher and higher.
Coaxed by the chant of Evan’s auctioneer grandfather, James Kiko, buyers kicked it up a notch. The final bid, placed by Biery Cheese, landed at $2,000, an unofficial record.
The reserve champion cheese basket, owned by Ed Weisgarber whose Holstein produced a cheese yield equivalent of 9.34 pounds, sold for $700 to Pro Hoof Trimming.
Prior to the start of the cheese sale, the Russ Kiko Foundation made a donation of $250 in the memory of Stark County dairyman Mike Yoder, who was fatally electrocuted this summer, to the junior fair dairy committee.
The 11 cheese baskets averaged $630.77, with the sale totaling $8,200.
Dairy feeders. Justin Kinser kept his dairy beef feeder string of wins going, claiming the grand champion title this year from a field of 127 calves.
Kinser showed the reserve champion last year and the grand champion in 2004.
His 605-pound champion sold for $3 a pound to Susie Kiko and Kiko Auctioneers.
Laura Schmuki raised the reserve champion dairy feeder, which sold for $2.70 a pound to Conrad Trucking. The calf weighed 480 pounds.
The 127 dairy beef feeders brought in a total of $102,866.25, and averaged $1.45 a pound, including champions.
Poultry. With the local support of Stark County-based Park Farms, the market chicken project has always been a big thing at the Stark County Fair. As it does in several area counties, the company donates the chicks to interested Stark County youth exhibitors and provides care and feeding information.
This year, 117 pens made it to the fair, with a pair raised by Anthony Duerr earning the grand champion ribbon.
A coalition of public officials – state Rep. John Hagan, Judges David Stucki, Mike Howard and Dixie Park – bought the pen for $650, well off the 2005 bid of $1,100.
Laura Bevington raised the reserve champion pen, which sold for $450 to Hometown Veterinary Services.
The 117 pens averaged $184.23, including champions, and added $21,555 to the overall sale total.
Clay Poynter’s 47.50-pound turkey led the field to win grand champion honors in the junior fair turkey show. His grandfather, J.J. Estock, kept nodding until he placed the final bid at $1,000, tying the sale record set in 2004 and matched in 2005.
Venture Restoration paid $500 for Amber Shoemaker’s reserve champion turkey weighing 36.80 pounds.
The 23 turkeys averaged $214.13, including champions.
Rabbits. Daniel Saunier started the Wednesday night sale with his grand champion pen of New Zealand White meat rabbits. Saunier was the grand champion winner last year, too.
A trio of buyers – Eric’s Lawn Care, Terry’s Truck and Trailer, and Fitzpatrick Realty – paid $600 for the pen, up slightly from the $500 Saunier received last year.
Jacob Lundberg’s reserve champion pen sold for $300 to state Rep. John Hagan, Judges David Stucki and Dixie Park, Paul Pahovey, and Pat Fallot.
The seven rabbit pens averaged $191.43, including champions.