Livestock auction is payday for 4-H, FFA kids

The bleachers in the sale barn at the Washington County Fair in Cambridge filled up on Saturday afternoon for the 4-H and FFA market livestock auction.
 The annual sale is always held on the final day of the fair. It’s the one payday 4-H and FFA members get for the months spent caring for and feeding their project animals.
 After subtracting the initial cost of the steer, pig or sheep, and the expense of feed and upkeep, all hoped to see a tidy profit from the sale. Many planned to pay bills and then invest the money in another animal for next year’s fair project.
 The fair livestock sale is also bittersweet for 4-H and FFA kids. They have spent the past 150 days raising an animal that will be sold to the highest bidder.
 “That’s farm life. It’s a learning process,” said Seth Matthews, whose daughter Claire entered animals in the fair.
 Noah Uebelhoer and his sister Abbey each raised a steer for the fair. The animals came from the family’s ranch outside of Cambridge. They were wild steers when they got them, but had since been tamed enough to not mind at all when the Uebelhoers sat on them.
 “It’s hard to let the animal go because you have spent so much time with it. You know its personality,” he said.
 Their steers have been grass fed, which is a popular variety of beef with consumers and a niche market for producers. It does take work to go the grass-fed route to put on weight. Pasture has to be located and fences moved daily so the steers have fresh grass. They also fed them hay, Noah said.
 They said it was a little nerve-wracking on auction day thinking about whether their animals would sell and for how much.
 The 4-H and FFA steer projects were initially weighed back in March. The kids put a lot of time and effort into their care in the six months of feeding since the first weigh-in and the day they were sold at auction.
 Most of the steers brought in at least $2.10 a pound at the auction, plus add-ons that helped boost the total.
 Fair officials estimated 170 kids raised animals and poultry for the fair this year. In 2018, the market livestock sale earned $220,000 for the 4-H and FFA kids.
 Sam Kerner, a junior at Weiser High School and FFA member, brought a prized, ribbon-winning steer to the fair this year. When he got the steer it weighed in at about 765 pounds. With his care and feeding, the animal put on another 400-plus pounds by sale day and tipped the scale at 1,140 pounds. He picked out the animal from the family herd.
 “I go into dad’s cow herd, pick one out and pay him off,” he said.
 He still gets a little sentimental about the steer he raises and sells, but he’s not as emotional these days as he was when he was younger. He’s been doing it for eight years and has his own cattle business, K3 Cattle Company.
 The money he earned from the sale of his steer was earmarked for his future college fund. A portion of the proceeds also went into his cattle business, and he pocketed 10 percent of the sale for his personal spending.
 Fair board member Jon Mills welcomed spectators and bidders in the air-conditioned sale barn for Saturday’s auction.
 Mills went over some of the improvements that were accomplished at the fairgrounds during the current fiscal year.
 He introduced current fair board members and presented the Friend of the Fair Award to former Weiser High School ag teacher and FFA adviser Stuart Nesbitt, who contributed time and energy to the fair for 30 years.