Despite different format, livestock sale successful

MOSES LAKE — While it was different from what exhibitors and organizers expected back in the spring, the livestock sale at the Grant County Fairgrounds last week accomplished its goal.

Mike Wallace, a member of the committee that oversees the fair’s livestock competition, said the sale attracted good support from buyers. Steer prices were higher than 2019, Wallace said, and lamb and pig prices were about the same.

A minimum price, called a floor price, is established prior to auction, and Wallace said the floor prices were strong. “The kids were supported,” he said.

In any other year, last week would have been the Grant County Fair, and the auction would have been part of 4-H and FFA livestock competition. But 2020 isn’t like any other year, and the fair was canceled in May due to the coronavirus outbreak.

But fair officials, the livestock committee and some state officials worked to set up a livestock sale for kids who had started a project before the fair’s cancellation was announced. Exhibitors still brought their animals to the fairgrounds, but adult volunteers took care of feeding and watering. The auction was online.

Part of raising a fair animal, Wallace said, is bringing the animal to the fair in its most marketable condition. ”The clock was ticking for market readiness,” Wallace said. Most of the animals arrived in very marketable condition.

And buyers were available. “The sale went really well,” Wallace said.

But the sale was a different experience for everyone involved. “It’s a totally different feel and atmosphere and way of having to make it work,” goat judge Vicki Jardine said Thursday, as she prepared to evaluate entries.

Beef judge Clint Sexson said in his opinion it wasn’t as valuable for the exhibitors. They weren’t allowed at the fairgrounds at all, and the judges didn’t get a chance to talk to them.

Sexson said that conversation allows the judges to hear the exhibitor’s story, and explain to them what they’re doing right and where they need more work. Without that, the show was “not as educational, in my opinion,” he said.

Exhibitors did get to hear from the judges, via video on the fair’s social media. Swine judge Andy Miller showed how it was done, moving from pen to pen accompanied by volunteer videographer Terra Pischel.

Most pigs were content to lie on the cool concrete slab in the bed of wood shavings, and paid little attention to the judge or anyone else, until he prodded them to their feet.

The sale actually started Thursday afternoon, as soon as the catalog was uploaded, and closed Friday afternoon. Chuck Yarbro Auctioneers oversaw the sale, and while it was a new experience for the fair it was pretty routine for the auction crew. Auctioneer Jacob Barth said the company has been doing online auctions for six or seven years.

As far as the actual sale goes, an online auction isn’t much different from an in-person auction, Barth said. There’s a time limit on each item, or animal in this case, which can be extended if the bidding is active. Just like at the in-person auction, the next animal waited in line until the previous one was sold.

While some buyers are skeptical of the online format, Barth said, they understood the necessity for the fairgrounds sale. Some of the skeptics even admitted the online sale wasn’t so bad, Barth added.