COALTON — Nothing says “county fair” quite like a livestock auction.
In fact, if you take away that event, what you essentially have left is a carnival.
The 2009 version of the Boyd County Fair’s annual livestock auction, which took place Saturday, was another huge success, with buyers shelling out thousands for cows, hogs, sheep, goats, chickens and rabbits raised by local youngsters.
The total amount spent by buyers was $40,784, which was down slightly from last year’s record total $45,400. Overall, though, it was still a good sale, said John McGlone, chairman of the fair board’s livestock committee and a 4-H leader.
According to McGlone, auction day was “payday” for a lot of young people who put in months of hard work raising their animals.
Most of those buying animals at the sale were doing so to support the program and the youngsters, McGlone said.
“But even those who are buying for the freezer are paying above market price,” he said.
That certainly was the case with Heidi Crawford’s animals. She sold two smallish chickens, named McFrizzle and Sizzle, for $380.
“That was a lot better than I expected,” said the 17-year-old Boyd County High School senior. “I would’ve been happy with $20 or $30.”
Crawford said she probably would put the proceeds from the sale toward the purchase of a laptop computer.
The buyer of Crawford’s super roaster hybrids was David Bowling, owner of Bowling Feed & Hardware in Catlettsburg. They were among a number of animals he purchased at the auction.
Bowling said his main intent was to “reward the kids” for the work they put in raising their animals.
“I’m just trying to make sure they don’t give anything away,” he joked.
Livestock buyers again had the opportunity to this year to donate their animals to River Cities Harvest, an organization that provides food to needy families in the Tri-State, and that was what Bowling was doing.
Eleven-year-old Baylee Henderson, a sixth-grader at Boyd County Middle School, got a nice and unexpected bonus when she sold one of her animals, a chocolate-colored bunny named Wrangler Rabbit.
The animal winning bid of $200 came from Bob Sells of Cooke’s Farm Center. In additon to that, Henderson got to keep Wrangler Rabbit when Sells decided to donate him back to her.
It was Henderson’s first year selling a rabbit. Earlier in the auction, she sold her 207-pound pig for $8 a pound.
Kara Williams, 16, another BCHS senior, was happy with the $1.70 a pound that her 1,165-pound black steer, named Diesel, fetched.
She said she was somewhat sad about having to part with the animal, but “I can’t really do anything else with him, so he might as well be productive.”
Selling livestock at auction isn’t without hazards, as 9-year-old Kayla Rice can attest. She was preparing to lead her heifer, June, into the ring to show when her finger got caught in the chain on the animal’s halter. As she was attempting to free it, she said, the 767-pound critter stepped on her foot.
Rice said the $1.50 a pound June brought at auction helped ease the pain.
This year was the third in which Rice participated in the auction. Her parents, Jay and Stephanie Maynard, and her grandmother, Brenda Webb, all said they were proud of the job she’d done with her animals.
“She’s done really good every year,” Webb said.
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John Flavell
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