4-H, FFA exhibitors sell animals

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MOSES LAKE - Maaike Mensonides led her Jersey, Ginger, from the Ken Ardell Pavilion, after selling it for $3,300.

For Mensonides, the sale was the culmination of two years of work, raising the dairy cow from the time it was five months old.

Mensonides was one of the 4-H and FFA participants, who auctioned off their animals Friday. Participants sell the animals they've spent at least part of the last year raising.

The people purchasing the livestock range from businesses, which buy the animal and turn it over to a packer, to people looking to buy the animals for their meat, said Lisa Barth, the livestock sale association secretary. The groups setting the tone for the sale are the booster clubs. They collect donations to make sure each exhibitor receives some money for the animal.

Dairy producers participate in the auction for the dairy cows, she said.

"This is the culmination; in the case of a steer, it could be 11 months of work. Steer exhibitors will get their steers in the late fall ... For sheep it could be three or four months. You've got kids that get up and feed their animals before they eat. It's teaching these kids to be responsible for something other than themselves."

Each of the exhibitors receive the money they get from the auction, Barth said. What they do with the money is the child's choice. There are children who save the money for college, or put it back into buying more livestock or feed. In some cases, it could be used to pay off loans used to buy the animals and pay for feed.

The whole process of raising the animal and selling it can be an emotional experience, Barth said.

"You go into your project knowing you're raising a beef animal, and I'm not going to say they're a pet, but it's something you've grown to know," she said. "There's going to be some tears when those animals go onto the truck ... It's a bittersweet moment."

Finishing the project was a bittersweet moment for Mensonides, who said she felt excited and a little sad to finish with the project because she has to say good-bye to the cow. Mensonides was nervous when she was walking the cow during the auction.

"You never know how the cow is going to behave," she said. "I walked them for around two weeks before fair, training them kind of like a dog. I guess it's all depending on their attitude. She did good. She stayed calm."

Ginger was one of the first animals sold at the auction. The 1,100-pound cow sold at a higher price than she expected.

"She's a Jersey and they're not too common, and sometimes don't always go for that much," Mensonides said.

Mensonides has been raising animals for the fair for three years, she said. Her routine includes feeding them and checking the water every day, and before fair she washed the animal often so it got used to it.

"My dad grew up on a dairy, so I got a little bit encouraged to do dairy," she said. "I started with a Holstein, but I saw Jerseys and I loved them, so I started doing Jerseys."

She plans to do it again next year with another one she is presently raising, Mensonides said.

Back in the pavilion, Kaylee Stine held her cow, Alice, during the auction. The cow was calm as she sold for $1,700.

"She's chewing her cud, so that's a good sign," Stine said as she led the cow from the pavilion.

For the 15-year-old, this is the last year she will be participating, she said. The two-year project was really fun.

"I enjoy it. It gives you something to do, and I think it's really good," she said. "It's a good experience to have ... It's really fun. It's something you get to do pretty much all by yourself. It's a really independent thing. You take care of her. You feed her. You kind of train her. Teach her how to walk with you ... I wished I could do it more, but everything comes to an end."

Stine got the cow when it was really young, and had to teach it to bond with her, so it liked her, she said.

"Then you work with her, just putting the halter on her, walking her around," she said.

For 11-year-old Matt Ottley, selling his Hereford steer was part of the family's business. His family lives on a Hereford ranch. The 1,300-pound steer sold for $2.55 a pound, he said. He raised the animal from birth, and spent time leading it around, feeding it and breaking it before bringing it to the fair.

"It's what we do for a living," he said. "I liked it. It was fun."