LIMA — For Lafayette’s Gage Wireman, 12, of the Harrod Lively 4-H Club, working with his market lambs is a way of life, as his family raises lambs. So as the Allen County Junior Fair held its livestock auction Friday, Wireman knew exactly where the money he would earn would go.
“I’m saving it up for next year’s project,” he said.
The livestock auction is intended to be a reward for all the hard work that presenters like Wireman put into their animals as they prepare them for the fair, be it lambs, beef or dairy steers, hogs or goats.
“There’s a lot of work because you have to set their legs, work with their legs and walk them around, getting them ready for the fair,” Wireman said.
The money from the auction came from individuals, businesses and organizations coming out to support the families of customers and employees, or even just support young people in agriculture.
“We come out every year,” Chief Supermarket store director Rex Mumea said. “This year, we’re helping customers, but in the past, we’ve had associates that have had animals in this.”
To aid in their cause, presenters and their families often solicit bids ahead of time, hoping to drive up the price for their livestock.
“We get letters in the mail, heartbreaking letters sometimes,” Mumea said. “But we try to support our community and the 4-H.”
Friday’s livestock auction at the Allen County Fair featured 138 market hogs, 57 beef and dairy steers, 61 market lambs and 41 market goats, with chickens and rabbits auctioned Thursday. Auction chairman Clyde Ditto was hopeful at the beginning of the auction to see some good prices come in for the presenters.
“We had it really good yesterday,” he said. “This is their payback for everything they put into their project. They have a lot of time and money invested, and this is their reward for, hopefully, a job well done.”
In terms of numbers, Ditto noted that the number of steers presented at this year’s Junior Fair Auction is down from previous years.
“Steers are an expensive project,” he said. “They take a lot of money. A lot of time, that’s over a year’s worth of investment. But goats are up a bit, I think, this year. Sheep are down a little bit, and chickens are down, but I think that was a result of last year [due to an outbreak of avian flu].”
While Wireman is devoting his sale money to next year’s project, presenters coming out of the junior fair years often devote their earnings to college expenses. Wireman hopes that his time working with lambs will continue, even after his presenting years.
“I want to learn a lot about lambs and how they’re treated,” he said. “I hope to later be a judge for lambs.”
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