4-H Livestock reaches $185,456.50

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photo by Cindy Halley | The Frazier family, owners of Colorado Custom Services, poses with the reserve champion lamb they purchased. Colorado Customs Services showed strong support of the 4-H members at the sale, earning the top buyer spot. (L to R) Jim, Aspyn, and Tracy Frazier, Abbie Halley and Paisley Hester
photo by Cindy Halley | The Frazier family, owners of Colorado Custom Services, poses with the reserve champion lamb they purchased. Colorado Customs Services showed strong support of the 4-H members at the sale, earning the top buyer spot. (L to R) Jim, Aspyn, and Tracy Frazier, Abbie Halley and Paisley Hester

resale donates over $8000 to nonprofits

The 4-H Livestock Auction on Friday, August 9 of the Middle Park Fair & Rodeo reached record-breaking sales of $185,456.50.

Auctioneer Randy Lewis sold steers, poultry, sheep, goats, rabbits and swine amongst story-telling, encouragement, a few jokes and even a few lines of the song, “In 1814, I took a little trip.” Lewis has served as the auctioneer for 17 years and knows many of the 4-Hers personally.

The 4-H sale has been a continuous tradition since its inception in 1952 under the leadership of Rod Hinman and has marked the hard work of enterprising 4-H members for the last 67 years.

photo by Kim Cameron |  A BUSHEL OF BUNNIES? Hunter Horn sells his rabbits in the livestock auction.  They were  top-selling rabbits and sold for $450 apiece.
photo by Kim Cameron | A BUSHEL OF BUNNIES? Hunter Horn sells his rabbits in the livestock auction. They were top-selling rabbits and sold for $450 apiece.

The sale requires the commitment of community members to help support the 4-H sale through bidding and buying. Community members also support non-profit through the resale when they donate the animal to be resold for a charity of their choice.

This year animals resold raised nearly $8400. Graduating 4-H member Tel Linke also donated $200 to the 4-H Scholarship. Others receiving money from the resale include the Pickering Scholarship, 4-H Council, West Grand Community Education Foundation, Pet Pals, Grand County Seniors, Cliffview Assisted Living Center and the Menhennett Scholarship.

Top buyer of this year’s 4-H sale was Colorado Custom Services owned by Jim and Tracy Frazier of Parshall, The other two top buyers were Summit Ford and Cold Creek Buffalo.

The steers were the first to sell and the average price of the eight steers was rounded at $5.78 per pound. The champion and reserve steers owned by sisters Taylin and Tally Harthun respectively both brought $5.50 a pound bringing over $7000 apiece. Top-selling steer was owned by Blaire Hester at 1048 pounds and was purchased by Summit Ford for $6.50 a pound.

Next, five sets of poultry were sold by the head. Champion chickens were owned by Aida Hester and were purchased for $375 bringing a total of $1125. Bumgarner Ranches purchased the champion chickens, and in a bit of fun, donated a chicken to each Grand County Commissioner. The two reserve champion turkeys were the top-selling poultry at $450 apiece. They were owned by Emily Perdue and purchased by Cold Creek Buffalo owned by Boyd Meyer. The average price of poultry was a little over $320.

The grand and reserve champion sheep sold next for $1450 and $1350 respectively. Grand champion lamb was owned by Trace Lewis and the reserve champion lamb was owned by Abbie Halley. The average price for the sheep was $1540.90 with Mea Miller’s 190-pound lamb selling the highest at $1900. It was purchased by Mountain Parks Concrete. There were a total of 11 sheep in the sale.

Goats averaged $1332.14 per head with a total of 14 goats sold. The champion goats were above the average with the champion goat owned by Abbie Halley selling for $1500 and the reserve champion goat owned by Trace Lewis selling for $2000.

Five pen-of-three rabbits were also sold by the head. Grand champion and reserve champion rabbits both brought $300 apiece for a total of $900. The grand champion rabbits were owned by Amber Hester and the reserve rabbits were owned by Caleb Artherholt. The top-selling rabbits were purchased by Murdoch’s in Fraser from Hunter Horn for $450 apiece. The average sale price for rabbits was $290 per rabbit.
Keeping atmosphere at the sale light, Auctioneer Lewis commented the “Bunny market is strong.”

The final animals to sell were the 4-H market pigs which Auctioneer Lewis called, “Fine swine.” The 34 pigs ranged in price from $18 a pound to $6 a pound with an average price of $9.94 a pound. The grand champion pig was owned by Jackson Salyards and sold for $9.50 a pound. The champion pig tipped the scale at 279 pounds and was purchased by R&R Electric. The reserve champion pig was owned by Madison Mullinex and weighed 247 pounds. It sold for $10 a pound.

Others contributors to the sale efforts were Peak Construction and Murdoch’s of Silverthorne who both donated $3000 to cover commission fees and trucking fees for the 4-H members, and businesses also gave add-ons to animals sold in the sale. An add-on is an additional sum of money added to the 4-Hers total sales and helps each 4-Her equally.

Auctioneer Lewis said of the auction, “It was a good sale with a lot of community support. I have been to a lot of sales this summer and this may have been the top sale I have been to all year. Everything was impressive.”

photo by Kim Cameron | Commissioner Richard Cimino was a first time buyer this year at the Middle Park Fair & Rodeo.  Here he is pictured with Gracean Hoesli. The Hoesli family will be moving to North Dakota this year.  Her father is extension agent Travis Hoesli who has served in the position for nine years.
photo by Kim Cameron | Commissioner Richard Cimino was a first time buyer this year at the Middle Park Fair & Rodeo. Here he is pictured with Gracean Hoesli. The Hoesli family will be moving to North Dakota this year. Her father is extension agent Travis Hoesli who has served in the position for nine years.